----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
Dear Randall,
I understand and share your anger about the current temporary holder of
the title of US president, but I wonder whether the focus on "diabolical
fakery" and the introduction of XTreme TRUMPology targets the core of
the problem. Bertold Brecht made an observation once, that by
continously mentioning the "Führer" and his name, one would just make
addititonal propaganda for the NAZIs, and he came up with a solution: He
introduced a fake profession for Hitler, and called him "Der
Anstreicher". This is German for someone who covers dirty walls with
fresh paint to hide the dirt underneath. By doing so Brecht made a joke
on Hitler's failure in getting accepted at the painters Academy class in
Vienna, he reminded his readers on Hitler's whitewashing attempts, but
at the same time he avoided repeating the name of the political enemy.
Brecht faked the professional title of Hitler, but he did so in working
against his regime. I think that we need not spend half of our lives in
correcting all of the lies and the fake facts of the president's
administration, but rather look at political problems from a viewpoint
that goes beyond personification of political activities conduction in
favour of a concrete political system, i.e. turbocapitalism, without
assigning it to a demon or a devil. Do you see what I mean? It is hard
to find mediatic truth within the political system we are forced to live
in. How can messages of a tweet length format be true anyway? And why do
we still hope that communicating on the basis of such would leave a
chance for truth, correctness or appropriateness? The difference between
true and false and the problem of keeping such a distinction as a valid
guide for action is a matter that is rooted in a mediatic structure and
a political system. The man with the yellow hair is just a puppet of a
wider interest structure and once he leaves - I am afraid - we cannot
celebrate having solved the problem. My main point here is that I think
a personalisation of a political problem distracts from the problem.
Having said so, may the man with the yellow hair soon stumble and fall.
Best
Mathias
--
Prof. Dr. Mathias Fuchs
Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM)
Scharnhorststr. 1, C5.318
21335 Lüneburg
Co-Editor Journal Digital Culture & Society
http://www.transcript-verlag.de/zeitschriften/digital-culture-und-society/
Co-Editor Journal of Performance Research, Vol. 21 (4)
http://www.performance-research.org/
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2017 16:14:52 -0400
From: Randall Packer <rpac...@zakros.com>
To: soft_skinned_space <empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Week 4: Welcome Lindsay Kelley, Anna Munster,
Randall Packer, and Ana Valdex
Message-ID: <cf7c86be-63dd-4eb9-83af-65d4b6bb1...@zakros.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Dear List:
Since August of 2015, I have been chronicling the TRUMP phenomenon, which I
refer to as XTreme TRUMPology. Here are 50 posts I have written to date:
http://www.randallpacker.com/category/xtreme-trumpology/
I see the developing fake news issue as the catalyst of a much greater problem:
the intentional distortion of reality for the purpose of gaining political
control. Fake news is a means to an end, what happens when morally bankrupt
demagogues are in pursuit of absolute power.
To this end, it beholds us to construct critical ?weapons? that we can use to
deconstruct and defuse this diabolical fakery, and it is my hope, that during
this next week, the empyre list can serve as both a virtual roundtable for
discussion, as well as a space for developing tactical methods we can employ as
media artists, theorists, and educators in our everyday lives and work. Some of
these methods have already been identified in past weeks? I hope to see more!
These are dangerous times and I am interested in the kinds of critical tools we
can develop collectively to combat the torrent of fakery and disinformation
that is consuming our government, our country, and the world.
It?s time for action.
Best, Randall
--
Prof. Dr. Mathias Fuchs
Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM)
Scharnhorststr. 1, C5.318
21335 Lüneburg
Co-Editor Journal Digital Culture & Society
http://www.transcript-verlag.de/zeitschriften/digital-culture-und-society/
Co-Editor Journal of Performance Research, Vol. 21 (4)
http://www.performance-research.org/
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