Thanks - I would not repeat what I tried to think in my other email (just sent) but basically my idea is: first, let's shape our own horizon. It will serve as an attractor. Maybe not a theological one, but a cosmological one. Best FN __________________________________ ________________
On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 7:47 PM Kurtz, Steven <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Frédéric, > > > I wish I had a simple answer to that very important question. The > negatives are easy. No to censorship. I am not even sure that is possible > if some business or institution actually wanted to. Censorship, to the > degree it's possible, only serves to reaffirm their positions. No to the > university, because universities have such a limited capacity to attract > the Gnostics. Most of these folks do not go to university at all, and if > they do, go to religion based universities, or stay in the more > right-oriented parts of a secular university like business schools or > economics departments. Like most people, they don't leave their comfort > zones for places where confirmation bias and consensual validation are not > readily available. > > > My belief is we have to go to them wherever that may be, and using their > rules put some different narratives out there. We need our own stories and > theology to pitch. For example, this may not exist after covid but, I have > suggested going to Christian summits and argue their points from the last > century. The lord's work is separate from politics. Those who believe that > Christ is King only function within this monarchical system (meaning no > need to vote in the secular world). Character in leadership > matters. Leaders should offer a moral example; those who don't should not > be supported (no more Trump and most politicians for that matter). Argue > for a more traditional concept of the elect (which is being horribly > abused by Christian illiberals and prosperity ministries). Anything to > muddy the water from the churches to the chat rooms. Only direct > engagement will slow this nonsense. > > > With even madder groups like Qanon we are only limited by our imagination. > No rules exist there so we can make up whatever we can imagine, and this > can all be done on-line. New theologies. New Messiahs. New conspiracies. > The crazy train can be slowed or perhaps even derailed (made less > dangerous). I am sure the madness cannot be eliminated, but it doesn't have > to be completely out of control. As long as no one engages with it except > through complaint or with secular persuasion techniques (the Al Gore > power point, or data analysis) its only going to continue to spiral out of > control. SK > ------------------------------ > *From:* Frédéric Neyrat <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Sunday, December 6, 2020 6:58 PM > *To:* Kurtz, Steven > *Cc:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: <nettime> Fw: Has the right gone full Alt_? > > Dear Steven, > > Thanks for your analysis. I've a question about one sentence: > > "...if it is not accompanied by a massive intervention campaigns into the > Gnostic networks of alternative reality": > > How, according to you, might we do that? > > - Do you mean, like, forbidding a certain number of > communication/technological uses, i.e. using censorship? As far I > understand, in the US reality - altereality? - it will be very difficult > (more possible to do that in France for instance); > > - or intervening in participating and trying to trigger dialogues with the > Gnosticists? But is it not precisely this dialogue that is impossible, I > mean: it is a suppression that is at the root of what you call Gnosticism > (in the way you use this term), a cleavage/Spaltung preventing a real > dialogue from happening (if there was, for the e-Gnosticists, an alterity > different from the monster that QAnon conjures up, then there will be no > e-Gnosticism, correct?) > > -unless we think that the technological *bêtise* - to borrow from Bernard > Stiegler - might be treated in the University, hence the function of > education. I totally believe in education's role, but are US universities > still trying to form/inform a middle class, or, said differently, are US > universities able to access/speak to those who endorse the hellish religion > of the anti-world? (strange religion that has replaced the Other world by a > world without others). > > My best, > > Frédéric Neyrat > > __________________________________ > ________________ > > > On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 5:24 PM Kurtz, Steven <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hey Brian, welcome to the wilderness my friend. I have been yelling about >> this for many years, but basically talking to myself. All the knowledge in >> the world about surveillance capitalism, postfordism, and neoliberalism >> doesn’t help much (a little with concepts of alienation and its other treks >> into psychology) when the question is best answered by the history of >> religion and comparative religion. My education was certainly deficient in >> these topics, although I have been trying to remedy this situation. Even >> while I witnessed the rise of the religious right at closing decades of the >> last century, I never thought it to be more than a political problem. Now >> it’s clear that the “political problem” is much more than that as we >> witness religious illiberalism taking over nations all over the globe, and >> unfortunately, the left doesn’t have the categories to understand this at >> the grass roots level, let alone act against it in any reasonable manner. >> We do well at understanding this phenomenon in terms of power >> constellations at the top of the hierarchy (our traditional comfort zone), >> but as to the rest of it the critique seems to consist of “Why are people >> acting crazy?” >> >> >> >> I am the first to admit I have no systematic analysis of this “crazy,” >> but I do have a few scattered thoughts that I am trying to order. First, we >> have seen this crazy before, and have seen it for centuries. I believe what >> we are witnessing (particularly in the US) is a Gnostic revival. It’s just >> not in a form we are used to, or we wouldn’t see it as crazy at all, but >> just as another religious faith. The devoted are out fighting the >> demiurge—the experts, the deep state, scientists, and others rulers of the >> false real in an effort to get beyond the flawed knowledge of authority to >> that of deep esoteric knowledge derived from personal transcendental >> experience and shared in fellowship among those who know (those who have >> been red-pilled). >> >> >> >> Many outlets for this way of being are readily available. It’s best if >> it’s able to survive virtually as social media platforms will help with >> expanding the fellowship over vast territories and with its separation from >> the forces of the demiurge. Gnostic groups do not require a messiah, >> although it’s fine if there is one. The cult of Trump is evidence of that. >> But they can also be decentralized groups such as in the yoga and wellness >> community* where an aristocracy of influencers lead the flock, or a >> distributed network like Qanon, which is fundamentally leaderless. All of >> these groups, and we must include the Evangelicals, LDS, and conservative >> Catholics, are concerned most with the elimination of ignorance even more >> than the elimination of sin. In fact, in this century sin has become >> much more tolerable than ignorance. (I should note that this list of groups >> is very intersectional and probably should also include the virtual >> social justice warriors cancelling people who don’t understand the >> difference between sexual orientation and sexual preference. Just not >> woke—the left’s equivalent of the red pill.) The reason knowledge is so >> important is that it can function as a virtual glue to build community and >> a way for many members to say I may not be educated like the members of the >> demiurge, but I am more intelligent and better informed, but most >> importantly, the goal is transformation—to be a part of a constellation >> that gives you the power to transcend the limits of a false given. Take the >> red pill and emerge anew. I don’t want to play down the former two >> reasons for becoming a part of the Gnostic front. They are significant. For >> Evangelicals and other conservative Christians the breaking of the >> spiritual consensus in the West in the 60s was traumatic, and the erosion >> of a national spiritual life has continued ever since. From their >> perspective, Gnostic revelation could bring back the consensus. The fact >> that yoga and wellness can commune with evangelicals through Qanon or >> anti-vax seems to be an indication of this possibility from a Gnostic point >> of view. For the greater Trump cult, being viewed as ignorant rubes by >> their educational superiors (now more than ever as Trump continues to loot >> and grift this class) has been a source of aggravation. Gnosticism proves >> their greater intelligence and their superior knowledge that in turn acts >> as a real power lift to their pride and well-being. The elite of the >> Republican Party understand this desire and are taking advantage of it. In >> part, this is why the Republican Party is becoming the working class party >> in the US. >> >> >> >> We do need a new ecological aesthetic (CAE just did a book on that), and >> we do need a new political theology. I can’t help but think of the anti-vax >> motto—“You have data, but we have stories.” But none of that does any good >> if it is not accompanied by a massive intervention campaigns into the >> Gnostic networks of alternative reality. This is such a significant site in >> the lives of millions, and we ignore it at our own peril. >> >> >> >> *I want to make clear that with the exceptions of Qanon and anti-vax I am >> not indicting every person who participates in these various groups—only a >> variable subsection is a part of the Gnostic front. Membership tends to >> happen in spiritually-oriented groups since they are most of the way there >> already. >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> >> on behalf of Brian Holmes <[email protected]> >> *Sent:* Friday, December 4, 2020 8:29 PM >> *To:* Max Herman; a moderated mailing list for net criticism >> *Subject:* Re: <nettime> Fw: Has the right gone full Alt_? >> >> >>> The new aesthetic for the conservative base can be reasonably >>> well-understood as a cooptation of the alt_ or insurgent aesthetic. It >>> offers something like the liberating euphoria which progressives felt about >>> 20 years ago. Conservatives can like, tweet, dox, spam, hack, and >>> everything else which formerly were chiefly the playground of the other >>> side. The surge of dopamine delivered by these aesthetic behaviors can be >>> understood as a delayed version of the 1996 internet, specially branded and >>> targeted at those who were not part of the earlier phase and resent both >>> its participants and their value system. >>> >>> >> This is totally true for the alt_right, and the survivors of those >> heavily dopamined days of the 90s should know it better than anyone else >> (unless they're still doped out on Intel, or just stuck wherever they >> landed). In my case I felt this turnaround with all the bitterness of the >> culturally displaced, starting four years ago. >> >> You're right Max, this kind of thing always happens and one has to move >> on, that's the personal lesson. >> >> However, the alt-right is only a hipster suburb of ultra-conservatism, >> and I think its aesthetics are a detail. Just as the big mistake of the >> dopamine binge was to think that everyone was about to join your wild high >> (precarious cognitarians as the leading edge of class consciousness!), so >> in our day, the alt-right is just another bunch of nerds with attitude. It >> looks big when you stumble into one of their chat rooms, or cafés if they >> actually have such things (maybe in the Milwaukee suburbs?). It's not >> really so big though, just as the counter-globalization movement wasn't. >> >> I've moved on to different questions. >> >> Here's one of them. It turns out that on closer examination, what has >> really metastasized over the past 20 years is the corporate capitalist grip >> on the sprawling, palpitating world of religious communitarianism. This is >> the cancer you can see in Mitch McConnel's eyes, this is what Amy Coney >> Barret embodies to extremes of smug pathology, and this is the only >> explanation for the kinds of insanities that have come out of Donald >> Trump's mouth over the last few days in particular. Only people who judge >> their daily lives by what some pastor tells them concerning God and the >> Devil could possibly accept the concocted drivel of pro-life, pro-gun, >> leader-cult nationalism that is now served up, to overwhelming effect, by >> the cynical pols of the so-called evangelical movement. It's not really a >> movement, though, but an exactingly constructed motivational machine, by >> far the most dangerous political technology in the world. White supremacy, >> neonazism, extreme libertarianism and the alt_right are just feeder streams >> that swell this foaming current and give it the complexity and power to >> dominate a declining imperial order, which it is still doing in the US >> despite Joe Biden's win. I think the old liberal/progressive hegemony has >> been all but overwhelmed by religious nationalism. We better fight for our >> worlds, folks, because if not we are going to lose them all. >> >> On the left, we have always wanted to believe that the rapaciousness of >> monopoly capital would drive the workers and peasants to our side. "The >> real enemy is the Koch brothers and their dark money," we'd say, "and the >> rest of the confusion will disappear once that becomes clear." Now it's >> urgent to identify, not just the leaders and their aims, but the entire >> cultural/political complex that is giving the present its twisted and >> disheartening character. Because as conditions get worse, the veil doesn't >> fall. No, the religious fervor grows. Katherine Stewart has written what >> seems to be the best book on this stuff, and she puts the growth dynamic in >> a nutshell: >> >> "That’s the way inequality works. On the one hand, it creates >> concentrations of wealth whose beneficiaries are determined to manipulate >> the political process to hold on to and enhance their privileges. On the >> other hand, it generates a sense of instability and anxiety among broad >> sectors of the wider public, which is then ripe for conversion to a >> religion that promises authority and order." >> >> That's Karl Polanyi's double movement. The alienation of globalized >> capitalism grows by leaps but bounds - but the powers that emerge to stop >> it prove much worse than the disease they were supposed to cure. >> >> On that basis, a gang of monopoly capitalists have created a national >> popular religion, and right now they hold the Senate, the Supreme Court and >> the Presidency of the United States. These folks have global reach, and >> anyone who was justifiably worried about Opus Dei a few years ago, has not >> seen anything yet. The cosmological battle is already three-quarters won, >> and we hyper-educated godless anarchists from the cities have barely even >> noticed it was happening. To fight back, we need something a lot more >> powerful than another tech-driven euphoria. Without a transcendent sense of >> cross-racial, multigendered community to match the horrid archaisms of the >> right - and without some new version of the Messiah, I'd say - we are >> cooked. >> >> Walter Benjamin understood this kind of thing very well, but his >> categories are far too out of date to help us. It's time for the >> contemporary left to develop, not just a new ecological aesthetics, but >> even more, an updated version of political theology. >> >> >> --> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] >> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > >
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