From: steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 17:40:51 -0000 (GMT) Subject: Re: Refusals, Passions and Palindromes bizarrely i understood it the way you propose below... steve > Bah! What I meant to write in my last mess.age is that > Derria-Baudrillard's space allows for a thinking for a space other > than the proto-Stalin/Hitler space that Eric's prescient observation > makes for. What I was trying to say is that the > palindrome-anagram-Francis Ponge signature is suggestive of what might > be un/done...a thinking other/wise... > > And yet! What a slip I have committed! For as I read back over my > mess.age --to my horror!!!-- I have suggested something completely > opposite from that!! My sentence sez what I do not mean for it to > say! And that moreover, some might regard such a slip as completely > perfect! Oh, the reversibilty! Oh, the iterability! Oh, what faces > I have yet to lose! > > feog-geof > > > Quoting gvcarter-AT-purdue.edu: > >> >> Eric/Steven, >> >> IN GINUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMINIMUR IGNI >> >> --We Go Round and Round in the Night and Are Consumed by Fire-- >> >> ...This palindrome, which Libero Andreotti begins his essay >> "Architecture and >> >> Play" in _Guy Debord and the Situationsit International_, is not only >> the title >> of one of Debord's last films, but leads to the conclusion >> (re-beginning?) of >> >> Andreotti essay, which notes a quote by Renato Poggioli's notion of >> the avant- >> garde movement towards "an obscure sacrifice to the success of future >> movements," and, too, is suggestive of the another line from Debord, >> "All revolutions enter history and history rejects none of them; and >> the rivers of >> >> revolution go back to where they originated, in order to flow once >> again"... >> >> Such 'obscure sacrifices,' or what Baudrillard might call 'fatal >> strategies,' >> >> are interesting to th.ink about, particularly w/ regard to the >> palindrome and >> >> anagrams. Baudrillard, who is dis/connected w/ the Situationists, >> explicates >> >> an interesting approach to language via the latter in the final >> chapter of _Symbolic Exchange and Death_, "The Extermination of the >> Name of God," which >> >> examines Saussure's unpublished fascination w/ anagrams in ancient >> texts. Unpublished because, as Baudrillard puts it, "Saussure falls >> into the trap of >> >> scientific validation, in the superstition of fact." >> >> Baudrillard's fatal strategy...anti-semiological, reversible, neither >> ontological nor mystical...plays along this tightrope between >> Saussure's unpublished possibilism of the anagram and his fetish for >> facts...such space, >> >> which I would suggest shares something w/ Derrida's choral opening of >> the signature of Francis Ponge, which both marks itself through the >> etching of a >> >> stone (fr. common noun "francis") and erases itself with a sponge >> (s.Ponge), is >> the realm of a thinking, as Eric so horrifyingly puts it, where Stalin >> and Hitler become "prototypes of a kinder and gentler fascism"... >> >> Such a line has has me turning to another fatal strategy, Don >> Delillo's _White >> Noise_, wherein the main character is chair of the department of >> Hitler studies >> at the College-on-the-Hill under the fear of the The Airborne Toxic >> Event. >> >> "The sound of boots on the packed snow, the contrails streaked cleanly >> in the >> >> high sky. Weather was very much the point, although I didn't know it >> at first." >> >> geof-foeg >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Quoting Eric <ericandmary-AT-earthlink.net>: >> >> > Steven wrote: >> > >> > A link has been posted on one of the founders of the Situationists. >> > Anyone >> > well versed on the group, or perhaps in particular, psychogeography? >> > >> > Steven, >> > >> > >> > It is arguable that the real political and economic issue of the >> > twentieth century was not between socialism and capitalism (slavery >> > versus freedom as the ideologues would have it) but something darker >> > and more sinister. One could argue that the growth of >> > industrialization gave birth to a radically new society of control >> > in which masses were simultaneously created and managed using the >> > newly formed propaganda tools of the emerging electronic media. >> > >> > From this perspective, it wasn't really the so-called political >> > opposition, left versus right, liberal versus conservative, but >> > something at a much deeper level that was driving the process. From >> > this perspective Stalin and Hitler were not exactly failures; they >> > represented merely the early and necessary attempts at a kind of >> > social and political experimentation - the prototypes of a kinder >> > and gentler fascism. >> > >> > Over time, the elites began to realize that centralized planning and >> > explicit forms of oppression and censorship were merely >> > counterproductive and unnecessary. It was possible instead to have a >> > decentralized totalitarian system with 'free' markets and >> > 'democratic' elections that would give the masses the illusion of >> > freedom while still maintaining the requisite controls through the >> > pressures of a wage economy and a media geared towards keeping the >> > populace passive and entertained as well as anxious and fearful. >> > >> > It was Huxley's Brave New World that triumphed in the end and not >> > merely Orwell's 1984. >> > >> > For all the conventional talk of individualism and competitiveness, >> > perceptive analysts such as Virno have commented on what they call >> > the communism of capital. The current global economy is sustained >> > by a shared and cooperative infrastructure based upon networks >> > derived from computer and communications technology. Mergers and >> > transnational integration become necessary in order to consolidate >> > operations more effectively. >> > >> > The radical possibility remains that these changed technological >> > conditions could usher in a life of greater leisure and freedom from >> > anxiety in which individuals would be free to explore the inherent >> > possibilities of life beyond a market economy; engaging life as play >> > and participation rather than as enforced authoritarian modes of >> > boring full-time work and passive recreation. >> > >> > Instead the working stills (and it is all of us) are now working in >> > more dead end jobs than ever before. Meanwhile, fear and terror >> > situate themselves inexorably within the quotidian. That is the new >> > "revolution of everyday life". >> > >> > These depressing thoughts come the day after an election in which >> > perhaps the most fascist U.S. president in history, one who has >> > committed impeachable crimes and murdered thousands of Iraqi >> > civilians has been re-elected in a 'mandate' by people who claim >> > they were voting on behalf of morality. >> > >> > Lyotard in his later years spoke of a postmodern fable of >> > development in which humanity becomes extraneous to the needs of the >> > system. In a strange way, it is echoed today by Christian >> > left-behind fundamentalists who are unconcerned with history except >> > to the extent that it can hasten the rapture and the return of a >> > vengeful Jesus, at the sight of which the secular liberals will have >> > true hell to pay. For Jesus is a true terrorist and hell is his >> > ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The old Jesus who spoke of >> > peace and mercy is merely for wimps. Today's supply side Jesus is >> > packing. He belongs to the NRA and the GOP. >> > >> > In the frenzy of this sadio-masochistic piously democratic carnival >> > I think fondly tonight of Guy Debord and his society of the >> > spectacle. History has hardly superceded his idea today. At best we >> > have fulfilled it. >> > >> > As we look at a populace that continues to act against its own >> > political and economic interest in the name of morality obscenely >> > fixated on sexual and gender issues that begin and end in the >> > bedroom, in which evangelical Christians and resentful conservatives >> > unwittingly serve the interest of global elites, I ask the following >> > question in good Kantian form: >> > >> > How is a postmodern situationism possible today? >> > >> > eric >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >> >> >>
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