- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
I don't think Lucas is capable of being insincere in his "beliefs." He doesn't operate on that level of complexity. When Lucas gets political, he strikes me as a primitive who has come across a mysterious, modern tool with an unfathomable purpose, and reasons that it must be for getting laid.And with Lucas, politics are just a tool where he can advocate for himself. He is very insincere with his beliefs. With Lucas he just cares about his handouts and that since he is a stinky hobo.....All Lucas cares about is his tugboat check, stuffing his face, and chasing poonaner. He just believes having all these fake political viewpoints will help connect with the baby zooms.
When Lucas talks about the evils of capitalism, "money power," and right wing types in general, it's tempting to dismiss him as insincere and full of shit: a buffoon saying things he doesn't understand because he thinks it will win him the attention and approval of smart-pretty-interesting-girls. There may be some truth in this, but it overshadows a more important point.
For Lucas, politics are a cope. More than food even. It's not just a method for ensnaring Zoomer baes.
Lucas's "beliefs" are convenient for him, and he's made it clear that politics are a crucial element of his grand, personal narrative. The story that Lucas uses to explains himself, and his experience, to himself. The things he tells himself to makes sense of his disastrous life, and plot his future. Inasmuch as Lucas is capable of preparing for the future.
In this narrative, Lucas must account for how he is both plenty good, but miserable. He's against everything he lacks, until he has it, in which case he ardently supports it. He opposes everything he feels denies him what he's due. He supports whatever promises him what he's due. He attributes all of his misfortune and failure to external causes, and "politics" are a fantastic scapegoat. The world's fucked up, not him. Damned capitalists and right wingers and so forth. Politics allow him to explain how he is both plenty good, and living as a hobo. This is probably more valuable to Lucas than any good will he get from Zoom Zooms.
And politics also allow Lucas to connect his pathetic, sad little struggles to the broader world that is indifferent to him and his frustrated desires. Don't you know that Spokane's cruel apathy to Lucas's sexual urges is actually an important part of the great political and social questions of our time, like racism and classism and income inequality?