Ain't It Awful

Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy

AIN’T IT AWFUL

“Ain’t It Awful” becomes a game, then, when the player overtly expresses distress, but is covertly gratified at the prospect of the satisfactions he can wring from his misfortune. [i]  -Eric Berne, Games People Play

Set up: The misery of the Awful world begets profits. Let me steal your attention and make you feel impotent.

Clinical explanation: Well-trained psychotherapy patients speak in longform when they land on the therapy couch (Status Update). Despite this, many less-well-trained patients are unsure how to structure the time in the office. A default pastime is referred to as Ain’t It Awful (AIA). This is a stereotyped and repetitive form of being that is structured by fill-in-the-blank-type transactions. Unlike a psychological game, a pastime does not have an ulterior motive or an emotional payoff. A pastime is composed of descriptions and discussion without emotional affect.

Eric Berne classified Ain’t It Awful (AIA) as primarily occurring at parties or social gatherings. The keyword is “Nowadays.” This provides direction and closure to interpersonal transactions such as “Ain’t [insert political party] Awful?” Or “Nowadays, kids are constantly on the screens.” The advantage of this pastime is that these subjective claims of an illusory “They” and fixed “Nowadays” both structure the person’s interpersonal time and reinforce their passive orientation to life: “the world” or an imaginary “They/Other” is the cause of their problems.

Zen Masters have transcended gameplay, instead maintaining sincerity. However, they will engage in pastimes to connect and receive strokes (when they aren’t meditating in a cave). Bodhidharma states “that people nowadays don’t understand” the Dharma. [ii] The people he would meet in his day were “superficial.” [iii] Bodhidharma understood that religious fanaticism, which is a common element of fascism, was not-Zen:

…then people nowadays who recite a few sutras or shastras and think it’s the Dharma are fools. [iv]

Prior to Bodhidharma’s arrival in China, the teachings of the Buddha were being practiced in an Awful way. This being the case, the rhetorical, Ain’t It Awful (AIA), is apparent. In the psychotherapy sphere, the patient will state how Awful their job is: “I sit at a computer all day…” Or, fatigue or exhaustion, is described in the context of the concept of “burnout.” (See how-hard I’ve Tried). Eric Berne referred to this occupational form of Ain’t It Awful (AIA) as Coffee Break or Water Cooler when employees bemoan their employers: “Look what they are doing to us now.” [v] Berne (1964) understood that the game form of AIA found White in a Victim or one-down position. In the game-form of AIA, White is seeking injustices from those playing Aggressor roles, so White can complain to Black (Confidant). The slogan of the AIA as a game is “Misery Loves Company.” [vi]                                       

Distinctions must be made between AIA and the derivative game of Emigration (see War games). White is playing Emigration when the emphasis is on rhetorical claims of mobilization. Despite the seeming desire to move on, White remains sitting on the spot. For example, the security of a dysfunctional marriage or salaried job White dislikes is maintained rather than an Emigration. In contrast, the Media pastime or game of AIA emphasizes pacification and impotency as it relates to collective social and political change: “Ain’t It Awful Trump?” or “Ain’t It Awful Climate Change?” (see below). Interpersonally, intimate relationships are a source for Awfulness, especially if White has found themselves on the sidelines based on a previous misadventure: “Ain’t Polyamorous Relationships Awful?”

In a group therapy session, Dr. Black observed a sophisticated version of AIA. The group members each took turns proclaiming how Awful their jobs were for several minutes (Water Cooler). Then, the revolutionary-minded White spoke about the cultural conditioning of the “colonizer mindset” and how it “controls and subjugates people.” (Bar Stool). Here, White was using the AIA pastime to secure themselves in the Influencer game.

The source of problems in AIA are “the world” and/or an undefined “They.” In this manner, AIA as a game involves a “shadowy figure” who is described as They. [vii] In contrast, the Immigration game uses They to denote the migrant as an Other who is viewed as inferior or barbaric: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” [viii] On a 2024 Joe Rogan podcast, Rogan and comedian Jimmy Dore engaged in the pastime—discussion and description without an ulterior motivation—of Ain’t It Awful (Bar Stool variety).

In this section of the interview, Joe Rogan examines the obvious: Homeland Security and the FBI were agent provocateurs at the January 6^th, 2021 storming of the Capitol. The “They” is the national security state (NSA, CIA, FBI, military-industrial complex, etc.): [ix]

Jimmy Dore: [January 6^th was used as] an attempt to criminalize Trump and criminalize his political movement. The same grand jury the same Rico statute that They used to indict Donald Trump in Atlanta They used to also—same Rico statute same grand jury—to indict the Stop Cop City protestors. And ya know when I made that case to Cornell West, I go “Do you see the game that’s being played now?” Because then They are not only criminalizing their political opponents in the United States, They’re doing that all around the world they did that in Pakistan. So, Imran Kan that stood up and said “people of Pakistan do not want to go along with NATO’s wars anymore,” he immediately threw him in jail. Now he’s a criminal…. They didn’t want Lula to be president, so they threw him in jail, right. So, They thought the center-right guy was gonna win, but then the far-right guy Bolsonaro won. The Trump of Brazil, ….so They had to let Lula back out of prison cause he is the only one who can beat him but then once they beat him They made it illegal for Bolsonaro to run for president again…and it is the same shit… (italics AA)

These forms of AIA are played from the intellectual, analytical, and the judgmental part of the personality structure, i.e., the Parent ego states (see The Zen of Transactional Analysis chapter). Therefore, AIA can be played in self-righteous, punitive, or even malicious ways. [x] For example, “Ain’t It Awful Critical Race Theory?” This version undermines public education in favor of the neoliberal “school choice.”

There is a psychological homeostasis that occurs when one’s views are shared by others, e.g., social media. So, when the psychotherapy patient (White) is playing the game version of AIA, then the ulterior motive is a desire for sympathy from Dr. Black who plays the Confidant role. White also finds it easy to influence others because each player simply jumps on board the AIA train with their critiques of “the world.”

The Blemish game is a derivative of AIA that involves petty disagreements. Here, White feels bad about themselves, so White finds an Othered group titled, “They,” who are no good. [xi] White proceeds into a long monologue explaining why They are no good as an admonishment of their own Blemishes. White actually they themselves are no good. Berne (1964) noted that authoritarian leaders play a totalitarian version of Blemish: “Ain’t Secular, Liberal Democracy Awful?” This is the most extreme and sinister version of Blemish. White will critique other countries and ideologies (“Communist China!”), races (“Not 100% Aryan.”), and religions (“Radical jihadists!”). In the end, the individual promotes a cultural politics of despair. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century of Germany, this led to the reactionary formation of the Third Reich. [xii] For Berne, White’s ulterior motive is the ascension and maintenance of power, which leads to “serious historical repercussions,” [xiii] such as the German Nazi Party’s final solution.    

Original game(s): In the original game version of Ain’t It Awful (AIA), White seeks injustices from other people. Once the injustices are collected, White’s subjective data is used to complain to a third party, i.e., Black or Dr. Black. Therefore, White is in an Aggressor role to push for injustices or in the passive Victim role to easily be bullied. In the psychotherapeutic form, AIA is played to extract sympathy from the psychotherapist or group members, while structuring sessions at the surface or intellectual level. This often includes sulking: “Ain’t It Awful How My Mom Treated Me?” Children are certainly terrorized by authoritarian sex-negating conditioning. However, sulking is a replacement for genuine affect expression, e.g., anger. When sincere, a pastime of AIA, “The patriarchal conditioning of children is Awful,” will lead to revolution. [xiv]

The “Alcoholic” or Addict game version of Ain’t It Awful is the recounting of trials and tribulations related to substance use, e.g., car crashes, arrests, detox visits, domestic violence, etc. At Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings around the country, groups of people sit in a circle, one-by-one, structuring their time playing AIA: Rock Bottom, Mine Is Worse, Hangover, Martini, and There I Go Again.

Thesis: As noted, in psychotherapy, Dr. Black becomes the Confidant role to White’s misery. [xv] In the Media game version, Black passively receives the injustices of “the world” via algorithmic suggestion. For Black, the injustices reinforce their own sense of impotency, while temporarily evading thoughts of their own death. As opposed to the isolation of the virtual world, twentieth-century radio and television broadcasted content to assemble people. As digital media became videofied and personalized in the twenty-first-century, online content has regressed back to television, e.g., streams, podcasts, and channels. However, the regression to television (videos) dis-assembles the user from real world communities of human bodies. Fascism redefined community and self to converge with the state. [xvi] The new form of U.S. iFascism in the twenty-first-century redefines identity: it is branded and incorporated not with the state, but with the corporate state (see Notes on Fascism).

In the Media game version, the promotion of Awfulness is the con, i.e., invitation into the game. Black’s weaknesses include boredom, an inability to look away from Awfulness, and the psychological hunger for their time to be structured. Therefore, the smartphone is an ubiquitous time-structuring device.

In the fantastic 1984 novel, White Noise, every Friday night the blended family sits down together in front of the television set to consume the Media’s AIA game:

There were floods, earthquakes, mud slides, erupting volcanoes. We’d never before been so attentive to our duty, our Friday assembly. […] We were otherwise silent, watching houses slide into the ocean, whole villages crackle and ignite in a mass of advancing lava. Every disaster made us wish for more, for something bigger, grander, more sweeping. [xvii]

In the twenty-first-century, Awful injustices are sought out and collected within personalized filter bubbles or chosen from assembled options. We train the algorithms to better train us with personalized propaganda we Like. In contrast to the communal family gathering in White Noise, the Awfulness is now hyper-individualized as opposed to a general broadcast. People do not gather in mass around the television or even movie theaters (too many Mass Shooter games). Nowadays, people independently review the Awfulness within their contrived newsfeed, i.e., live updates from the immediate past. Wait a minute, now we are playing AIA while describing AIA!

The Black Mirror episode titled “Joan Is Awful” reveals the Media game version of AIA. The CEO of the fictional streaming monopoly Streamberry—itself a parody of Netflix—is asked about the creation of personalized content: “Why awful? Why is it all so negative?” The CEO replies that the corporation attempted more positive content, but the test subjects didn’t buy it: 

It didn’t chime with their neurotic view of themselves. What we found instead was when we focused on their more weak or selfish or craven moments, it confirmed their innermost fears and it put them in a state of mesmerized horror. Which really drives engagement. They literally can’t look away. [xviii]

The Stay Up game is a derivative of the AIA and AI (Artificial Intelligence) Media games. The three games rely on the proliferation of social media, gaming, videos, and communications apps that harvest data on the user for exploitation and sleep deprivation. These games promote the user to continuously engage with the software in an insomniatic manner. However, Stay Up and AI uses hype and AIA uses misery. Both script people to sit on the spot, which maintains the status quo (see, See how-hard I’ve Tried).

Aim: The aim of the Media game AIA is to hook The Little Fascist of the mass consumer base. Therefore, the consumer of Media games must forever be in a state of mesmerized horror: “I cannot believe this! I’m disgusted! … More, please.”  For example, what do you think about children taking puberty blockers? (see Gender Identity). Insert, the AIA game and Black will Like, comment, and subscribe for more Awfulness as if gender constructs and gender fluidity are the fissures of the declining U.S. empire. The Media game version of AIA stokes fears (even terror) and anger to benefit the bottom line. The more vitriolic the story, the more engagement and the higher the profits. With artificial intelligence and bots (see AI game), the communication, reproduction, and dissemination of Awfulness is automated without material or labor. Content is recombined outside the means of physical production:

Under the immaterial mode of production that now prevails, more information and more communication mean more productivity, acceleration and growth. [xix]

Interpersonally, one must establish that something is Awful and then each person adds their notion(s) of how Awful that thing is. The Media games aim is not sympathy. Instead, the aim is to provoke apathy in their unthinking consumers. On the psychological level, the viewer thinks, “Oh Dear! We’re all gonna die!” (see Climate Change). The individual is inundated with stories about their own personalized Others. For example, with other political parties, “They” are all (a) fascists, (b) socialists or (c) Marxists (or both). More generally, “Do you see how kids are raised nowadays?” (see Mental Health).

The corporate or legacy media promote emotional arousal in the viewer via stories, headlines, and interviews about the Awfulness and ostensible divisiveness of the moment. The framing of “the world” as Awful based on cliché dichotomies (Republican versus Democrat, left versus right) packaged as For or Against, e.g., abortion, same-sex marriage, gender fluidity, police, etc. This is the most efficient way to steal people’s attention and eradicate critical thinking. The result is that every individual becomes enclosed in a personalized bubble of Awfulness.

ANALYSIS

• Thesis: Let me steal and monetize your attention to get you to sit on the spot.

• Antithesis: Disengage from online Status Updates and become a digital nobody.

• Aim: Impotency and isolation.

• Roles: Rescuer / informer (“Look at this Awfulness!”) and Victim (user).

• Dynamics: 24-hour news, social media, scrolling, passivity.

• Examples: (1) Legacy media. (2) State-department talking points (propaganda). (3) Political con artists. (4) Warmongering.

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[i] P. 111, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[ii] P. 107, Pine, R. (1987). The zen teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press: New York.

[iii] P. 111 & 113, Pine, R. (1987). The zen teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press: New York.

[iv] P. 13, Pine, R. (1987). The zen teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press: New York.

[v] P. 110, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[vi] P. 85, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[vii] P. 110, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[viii] P. 64, Editor, Rosenfield, G. D. & Editor, Ward, J. (Eds.). (2023). Fascism in America: Past and present. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[ix] p. 4, Parenti, M. (2002). The terrorism trap: September 11 and beyond. City Lights Books: San Franscico.

[x] P. 109, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[xi] P. 112, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[xii] Stern, F. (1961/1974). The politics of cultural despair: A study in the rise of the Germanic ideology. University of California Press: Los Angeles, California.

[xiii] P. 112, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[xiv] Reich, W. (1949). The sexual revolution: Toward a self-regulating character structure. Translated by Therese Pol (4^th edition). Farrar, Straus, Giroux: New York. (orig. pub. in 1934)

[xv] p. 85, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.

[xvi] p. 7-8, Berezin, M. (1997). Making the fascist self: The political culture of interwar Italy. Cornell University Press: New York.

[xvii] P. 64, DeLillo, D. (1984/2016). White noise. Penguin Classics: New York.

[xviii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Is_Awful

[xix] p. 9, Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York.