I’ve been hiding in the forest, in the woods. Up in the mountains. In the wild. I hadn’t gone back to town for some time now. Ryan, as I see, has taken care of this place. He proves, as always, responsible and competent. Ever mindful of the many unhomes that, fortunately or otherwise, we share.…
Tag Archives: Fascism
[The Terracotta warriors] [Continues "Change in the Regime of Power"] Like any regime of power trying to reach its goal (the docile body), disciplinary power has methods specific to it, its unique way of proceeding. It also employs specific instruments to carry out these operations, to execute the procedure. Together, these methods (procedures + techniques…
[Jacques-Louis David's rendering of Napoleon's coronation] In Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault traces the genealogy of social control, specifically the ways in which the State has disciplined (made manageable, kept in line, made to obey) its populace (usually by punishing)—whether in confronting criminality, disease, (preparation for) war, (economic) production, education, . . .—activities in general…
[Image from masternewmedia.org] [Continues "The Surge"] As the war effort was going on abroad, another war was being waged at home: the war of information, with the news media at the forefront. Frontline chronicles how the mainstream media was used by the White House to help build its case for war in Iraq. The media,…
[Title page of Hobbes' Leviathan] In “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” Louis Althusser contributes to the Marxist discourse on the relationship between the base and the superstructure in order (as implied by his rhetoric) to go beyond it. Recounting the basic framework of what he calls a “metaphor of topography,” Althusser explains that “Marx conceived…
[A chart of secret societies] In an overture to fascism, a preliminary suggestion as to what underlies its potency (to capture the masses, to make one desire to be led, one’s own repression, that then connects with social oppression (of the other, e.g. the Jews, but also of the supporting populace itself, i.e. of oneself)),…
[Rembrandt's Saint Paul in Prison] So, coming straight out of our last conversation (about their playfulness, their promiscuity, i.e. their connectivity), we’re still talking about desiring-machines. (Either) Ryan and I (or, more precisely: /). (Or) Aless and /. S/he asks me (one of them, ‘can’t remember who) (/ suspect after the Dionysian celebration that commenced,…
A new group called Radical Thought has been created on Facebook. If you don’t have an account, you can create one there, and then go directly to the group’s site. If that doesn’t work, once you’re already logged-in, go to Groups, and then on the search field, type in “Radical Thought.” (In my experience, there’s…
[Masochism and its rejection] I’ve been here in Germany for almost two months now, and, for all that time, every single f**king weekday, with the annoyingly loud ring of my alarm clock, I’ve been waking myself up early in the morning, taking a shower to make myself somewhat presentable to the outside world (as best…
[Arbeit Macht Frei by Heidi Winner from Incredible Art] Walter Benjamin is often criticized by other Marxists for his positive prognosis and advocacy of modern mass art. (In this light, he is set against Theodor Adorno, who deploys polemical attacks in his essays on the culture industry.) The common view is that Benjamin, in “The…
