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Dear <<empyreans>>,
As for the T-Effect, I wonder about the -ism accompanying it, which has
been globally bruited: Populism.
Brexit, said a friend: overnight GB became Little England; he left NZ 30
years ago, only to find himself, 30 years later, on another small
parochial island.
What I wonder about Populism is what the Left can do with it. It really
wants to do without it. But, without it, it plays to a niche market,
plays its tune of Moral Truisms (not to be confused with T-isms), while
trying to avoid giving off superior airs.
Zizek has of course commented on this. (hear:
http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/zero-squared-95-zizek-and-the-double-blackmail/)
How strange are these reversals: the Reactionary and Moral Left! So much
is hateful, should one reserve any for the de-politicisation of the Left
that goes with Populism? The Left, can we afford to call the trinkets of
its moralising kitsch? given the monolithic absurdity, surpassing
miraculous (forget AI!), of an elected President with the emotional
maturity of a six year-old?
Best,
Simon Taylor
http://squarewhiteworld.com/
PS:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/20/roy-cohn-donald-trump-joseph-mccarthy-rosenberg-trial
On 09/03/17 09:06, Alan Sondheim wrote:
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Apologies for late entrance, under the weather; apologies for a
poorly- worded post as well -
Like everyone, I've been following politics closely, and have been
involved in resisting. What I want to focus on here, however, is the
overall effect the election and events leading up to the election, has
had. I protested Vietnam here in Providence, and recently several
times again, I've stood on the same spot on the capitol steps, taking
roughly the same photograph. In the late 60s/early 70s, there was a
sense that 'we' had accomplished something; soon it was clear that
business as usual was returning with a vengeance. But we thought
things like the voter's rights act were here to stay. When T ran in
the primaries, I was sure from the beginning he would win - I've lived
in Luzerne County, PA, and West Virginia; I feel I understood his
racism and brutality from the beginning - his sarcasm was both typical
and unnerving, and his constant slurs meant that the 'older' news -
which requires a lag for analysis - would be off- guard constantly. T
used both the oldest - insulting, bullying - and newest - Virilian
timing - means to keep himself and his rhetoric in the news; at the
same time, there was no (and still is no) coherency in the rebuttals.
I don't think he planned this as a strategy; I think this is T to a T,
but that's irrelevant. The result, however, has been as brutal as he
is - the center and left (so to speak) suddenly involved in the
appearance of a new world where racism, not tolerance, has become the
norm for many. Not only have racists come out of the closet (to the
extent they were in one), but fledgling racists have been encouraged
to come forward. As a Jew for example, I watch, now,
verbal/phone/email attacks on Jewish institutions escalate as more
people join in the 'fun.' The worst of it is that so many groups and
classes have been written out of the republican discourse, except for
condemnation and tarnishing; this is clearly a white and
fundamental-christian world that not only dominates, but basically
refuses compromise, unless one or another 'ethical violation' forces
the issue.
People I know are distraught; I heard from someone at CNN that
everyone there was crying election night; a psychologist I go to said
her patients have increased enormously as a result of the T-effect.
There are internal and external domains; we participate in actions of
all sorts on one hand, and try to handle our own and others' miseries
(as they do us) on the other. The external is clear: RESIST!; the
internal is more problematic, since many people's anger goes all the
way down, and eats them alive - as does the depression, anxiety, etc.,
all brought on by what appears to be the suddenness of the change of
direction of what I keep calling Amerikkka - for lack of a better word
to describe a new landscape, what appears to be a new landscape. And
even in writing this initial email, I find myself holding back,
correcting, not wanting to offend, wanting to be politically correct,
unsure of myself. The result for many is a kind of inextricable
knot/not; even though we have the usual 100% hindsight, we were
unprepared. So the questions might be - how do we proceed, from here,
as human beings, as _persons,_ internally as well as externally? How
do we learn to sleep at nights, to remain calm, to continue what might
be considered a project of forbearance and empathy? I keep thinking of
other examples of resistance (Sartre's writings for example, however
his stance is read), going over Arendt's Totalitarianism, Frantz
Fanon, trying to make sense of a typical mashup of daily headlines:
GOP health care plan: Ryan downplays backlash as doctors express
opposition; Afghanistan: IS gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul
military hospital; THE MEMO: Presidential code smashed under Trump;
Girl statue faces Wall Street bull to fight gender inequality;
International Women's Day: Strikes and protests around the world; Fire
at Guatemala Children's Shelter Kills Nearly 20; To fund border wall,
Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security; Why
Hawaii says Trump's new travel ban is still unconstitutional; FBI
Director Says Encrypted Messaging "Shatters The Bargain" Of American
Liberty; Sen. Tim Kaine's son among several arrested after protesters
disrupt Trump rally in Minnesota; 21 times Donald Trump has assured us
he respects women; Senators ask FBI for evidence of Trump wiretap
claim; The Statue of Liberty went dark overnight; Steaks, wine and
stacks (and stacks) of paper: The Trump White House loves its props;
Why Trump's $1 trillion promise to deliver infrastructure jobs may not
happen this year; and Secret Marines group is still sharing nude
photos amid scandal.
This is fast-forward news; our 'internal time consciousness' and our
minds literally can't keep up; if Facebook creates depression on a
'normal' day of widely successful posting content - what is the result
of a constant bombardment of brutality - a bombardment which is also
necessary on a fundamental level? What is to be done?
- Alan
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