Interesting to see how skepticism is used against any access to truth - a perversion of the term (no skepsis, except used as a way to produce a bubble against any real experience). Perversion of the Enlightenment too: think "for" yourself (I quote your text) is not think "by" yourself: "for" yourself is like "preserving our way of life" (another quote) - "our," always "our," mine - I, me, and myself. Again: no otherness, except caricatured (Lovecraft's country). Instead of religion, thinking in psychoanalytic terms seems necessary to me, even though no psychoanalysis is possible at a collective level, Freud lamented. Best, FN __________________________________ ________________ Website: Atopies <https://atoposophie.wordpress.com/> _______ ALienstagram <https://www.instagram.com/alienocene/>
On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 10:25 PM Luke Munn <[email protected]> wrote: > Kia ora Nettimers, > > Been writing on QAnon recently, which highlighted several of the themes > discussed here, so have attached the PDF for those interested. It's an > academic article, with the genre conventions that brings with it, but > hopefully pretty readable and accessible. > > best, > Luke > > > > *Have Faith and Question Everything: Exploring One Year of QAnon Posts * > > QAnon is an influential conspiracy theory that centers on a nefarious > “deep state” network. At the core of the movement is Q, an unknown > individual claiming to have classified access. This article examines one > year of Q’s posts. These posts are read by followers, who follow the > “crumbs”, find new information, and bake them into conspiratorial > narratives. Faith is one key theme, scripture and spiritual language > gesturing to an apocalyptic battle between the children of light and the > children of darkness. Skepticism is another key theme, a stress on the > enlightened individual who employs free-thought to uncover the truth. These > twin themes champion the questioning individual who constructs > counter-narratives while supporting a tight-knit community that employs > powerful religious narratives. This unique blend contributes one > explanation for QAnon’s ability to mobilize an increasingly large and > diverse following. > > On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 at 17:02, Frédéric Neyrat <[email protected]> wrote: > >> thanks! >> >> the conclusion differs from SK's one: >> >> "JEFF SHARLET I don't think they can. I almost think they shouldn't try. >> This is one of those things, the harder you push against it, the stronger >> it's going to become. I think we need to just keep on speaking clearly, >> transparently, plainly, showing the sources of data, laying it out and >> not trying to argue with a conspiracy. You can't win that argument. There's >> no point in which the believers are going to say, oh, now I see. >> >> BOB GARFIELD I think we should try and do the real work of democracy and >> build something beautiful democracy we haven't yet had maybe and let them >> join if they want. But we don't counter evangelism with our own >> evangelism. >> >> So, if one imagines a counter-evangelism though (and not just "data" and >> "transparency" vs darkness), the problem is that a religion cannot just be >> conjured up *ex nihilo *(can it be?). Maybe we need to return to >> something Kant thought: reason (not understanding/data etc) as having the >> capacity to create its own horizon, its own aims. A horizon of beauty and >> justice and truth. >> >> Truth is not a datum, it's its destruction (old Lacano-Badian-Hegelian >> distinction between knowledge/object and truth/subject). I would say: how >> can we create situations in which truth, as a subjective experience, might >> occur? >> >> Brian says: the Messiah. Precisely what cannot be anticipated, imagined, >> embodied before the fact. Anti-religious in a way - or it's like faith >> against belief; Qanon is full of belief but deprived of faith, that is to >> say the confidence in an absence, the confidence based on >> this-Other-who-does-not-exist. DT & co are the obscenity of that which >> refuses the absence, the obscenity of a rejection/denial of the lack - >> never concede, never concede that there is a lack, never concede the >> genocide of natives, never concede finitude, etc.). A Messianic experience >> is an experience of truth. But it cannot lead to a church. >> >> What would be a Messianic experience for the mass? No idea. A Messianic >> New Deal? Or a revolution. But which one? >> >> FN >> >> >> _________________________________ >> ________________ >> >> On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 7:46 PM Ryan Griffis <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Coincidentally, I just recently heard an interview with Vanity Fair >>> writer, Jeff Sharlot, about the very topic of Gnosticism, relative to these >>> concerns. I found it fairly convincing… >>> >>> >>> https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/ancient-heresy-helps-us-understand-qanon-on-the-media >>> >>> Take care everyone, >>> Ryan >>> >>> > Message: 1 >>> > Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2020 23:23:08 +0000 >>> > From: "Kurtz, Steven" <[email protected]> >>> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >>> > Subject: Re: <nettime> Fw: Has the right gone full Alt_? >>> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> >>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" >>> > >>> > 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 phenomen >>> > on 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 und >>> > erstand 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 t >>> > hrough 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. >>> > -------------- next part -------------- >>> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >>> > URL: < >>> http://mx.kein.org/pipermail/nettime-l/attachments/20201206/d08918e0/attachment-0001.html >>> > >>> # 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: >> >> # 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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