Bob Schwartz

You can’t fight and eliminate myth. You can try. You can drive it away and banish it, but it will always turn up within the city walls. Because it is inside you and all the citizens.

When I began reading comic books, I didn’t know those stories were myths. When I first heard the stories of the Bible, I didn’t know those were myths. In the big world, something about these myths proved to be irresistibly and unstoppably popular. Comic book myths became an entertainment mega-industry. Religious myths laid the foundation for the beliefs of billions.

Enlightenment and modernism took on the task of demythologizing. That project has never been wholly successful. It is instead like whack-a-mole: bash one myth down and another will pop up. You may not recognize something as myth, but there it is. Bigger than life, embodying truths that defy everyday experience and evidence. Not only bigger, but more significant.

As the essayist Joan Didion wrote, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Maybe instead of trying to stop telling ourselves stories, maybe instead of trying to loosen our embrace of myths (both impossible anyway), maybe we keep conscious of the myths, try to let go of the unhelpful ones, and try to choose better and more beneficial ones.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

I am not, it goes without saying but saying anyway, a prophet. But we sometimes confuse prophets with those who predict the future, which they sometimes do. Mostly they just observe what is happening and say what they see. This post from eight years ago observes that “Trump recognizes that anything or anyone that cannot help him or that might harm him must be destroyed.” Same person, same power, same scorched America. This time bigger flames.

scorched-earth: relating to or being a military strategy involving deliberate and usually widespread destruction of property and resources (such as housing and factories) so that an invading enemy cannot use them.

Trump knows nothing about history or about military strategy. He is, as his closest advisers have said, an idiot. But instinctively, he recognizes that anything or anyone that cannot help him or that might harm him must be destroyed.

A scorched-earth strategy has been used throughout history. In America, this has happened a number of times, including most famously during the Civil War. General Sherman’s March to the Sea, including the burning of Atlanta, caused $100 million (1863 dollars) in damage to Georgia.

Trump’s March includes the attempted destruction of government institutions, public servants, the free press, the rule of law, truthfulness, core American and moral principles, and more. In this, he has been aided and abetted by numerous Republican enablers, who either don’t realize that this is a scorched-America strategy, or who do recognize it and want to be part of the victorious army.

In war, it must be devastating beyond description to watch the land you love, live in, and have developed be totally destroyed. In America, we are learning how that feels.

It would be hard to name a band more willfully strange that managed to score two Top 20 hits in the 1980s than Was (Not Was). Pairing bent but danceable funk/disco rhythms with surreal lyrics that found the humor in everything from accidentally strangling a friend to a quickie wedding in Las Vegas, the group also had a knack for lining up unusual collaborators; throughout their discography, one can find guest appearances from Leonard Cohen, Ozzy Osbourne, Doug Feiger, Mel Torme, Kris Kristofferson, Wayne Kramer, and Frank Sinatra, Jr., among many others.

Was (Not Was) was masterminded by Don Was (born Don Fagenson) and David Was (born David Weiss), longtime friends who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, Michigan. Was (Was Not) used a constantly shifting cast of musicians on their recordings, though vocalists Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens were in many ways the public face of the group, giving a personality and continuity to their body of work. The group earned a rabid cult following and great reviews with the off-kilter dance tracks of their self-titled 1981 debut, and their second LP, 1983’s Born to Laugh at Tornadoes, gave them the opportunity to work out their ideas and ambitions on a major-label budget. But it was 1988’s What Up, Dog? that briefly made them stars with the singles “Walk the Dinosaur” and “Spy in the House of Love,” whose grooves finally caught the ears of the radio audience.

–Mark Deming, AllMusic

Was (Not Was) continued on and off for years after What Up, Dog?. The record industry didn’t know exactly what to do with them. Don Was has gone on to be a producer for major artists.

Videos for their two biggest hits are below. Also is a video from 1992, Shake Your Head (Let’s Go to Bed), notable for the singing of Ozzy Osbourne and the presence of Kim Basinger. Once you’ve seen these, seek out more Was (Not Was), starting with the albums What Up, Dog? and Are You Okay? Talented musical misfits are perfect for those who love a groove or a sweet melody and have smart and misfit ears.