Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 08:57:07 -0400
From: Ralph Dumain <rdumain-AT-igc.org>
Subject: Re: Adorno on TV


The discussion about ironic/cynical obedience/collaboration reminds me of
Peter Sloterdijk's CRITIQUE OF CYNICAL REASON, surely the philosophy book
of our time.

I spent most of the 70s boycotting television, (never fear, I caught all of
COLUMBO on reruns), and when I started watching again, I was outraged at
what I saw almost every second, having had lost the habit of being
violated.  (How quaint that I should have bothered to dissect the ideology
of TRAPPER JOHN MD and QUINCY and BARNEY MILLER in view of where we're at
today.)  TV is such an irresistable baby sitter, though, that once I
learned to tolerate what I hated, I could keep on going indefinitely.
What's going to happen next?  One can tolerate just about any piece of crap
imaginable; sometimes there's a perverse fascination (I wouldn't call it
ironic distance) in viewing what one despises over and over in a continual
confrontation with one's enemy.  Freud's repetition compulsion?

As low as my standards have become, one must draw the line somewhere.  When
they were on, I would not watch MARTIN or LIVING SINGLE (more than once).
I still refuse to watch JERRY SPRINGER, and I would rather put my eyes out
before ever having to endure another episode of ALLY MCBEAL.


At 12:59 PM 6/7/99 +0100, S Mure wrote:
>In article <Pine.SUN.3.96.990606201016.24956A-100000-AT-orion.oac.uci.edu>,
>Matthew Levy <mlevy-AT-orion.oac.uci.edu> writes
>>> 
>>> A nod and a wink, life goes on...
>>> -- 
>>> Simon Smith
>>> 
>>
>>I disagree with this explanation ... yes irony is a way that we adjust
>>ourselves to capitalism, which can impede moral engagement ... but that
>>does not equate to being able to dismiss rock music as "manipulative" or
>>to say that people are "addicted" to soap operas ... that reading just
>>reifies and mystifies the psychological and aesthetic phenomena that the
>>Frankfurt school were getting at, and further plays into the fascism of
>>our time (which is full of "experts" telling us we are "manipulated" or
>>"addicted").
>
>Of course nobody needs these 'experts' to tell them they are being
>manipulated or that they are addicted. Like I said -
>
>"People I know who are addicted to soap operas are really quite
>conscious of the way they are being manipulated, but nonetheless go on
>consuming."
>
>Nobody needs experts like Neil Postman to tell them that - they'll tell
>me themselves with that wry grin 'I'm afraid I'm a bit of a soap opera
>addict myself'. It's a matter of what Jay Bernstein calls 'seeing
>through and obeying', which is at the core of cultural consumption
>today. I really don't believe addiction is too strong a word for the
>need one may have for that kick or thrill to punctuate their working
>week. 
>
>When someone regularly watches MTV and tells everyone what crap it is, I
>cannot believe that what must be the most violently authoritarian pop
>cultural form yet created is not damaging their ability to think in more
>than spasmodic jerks. 
>
>>  Everytime someone tells me they don't watch TV or listen to
>>rap music or whatever as if they expect me to praise them for this, I see
>>another form of fascism masquerading as enlightenment - another opposition
>>between "freedom" and "slavery" that makes "slave"=everybody else (people
>>who watch too much TV, like repetitive music etc.) and makes "free"=me
>>(the one who can discipline himself to transcend these things)
>
>Indeed, (though I think you overuse the word fascism somewhat), there
>are no islands. I'm a vegetarian, but I don't turn it into a speciality
>makes me free. Like I say, I do the ironic consumption thing myself.
>Anyone brought up in this society has commodity exchange in their
>bloodstream. Adorno went to films (though maybe not exactly for
>pleasure!) and felt that he came out 'stupider than before'. I wonder
>how good a protection this irony really is...
>
>One major function of music, for example with university students, is to
>allow people to do two things at the same time - e.g. they will listen
>to music and read their course work - which ensures that they manage to
>avoid paying full attention to either. This seems to be an important
>function of music nowadays.
>-- 
>Simon Smith
>
>