[MD] Neopragmatism isn't pragmatic.

[gav]

my initial reading list is full of hemingway and
kundera and kerouac is great too. actually i think
hemingway is probably in another league as far as
writing talent goes. personally i think he is the
measure.
vaneigem's 'rev of everyday life' and debord's
'society of the spectacle' are free off the net. and
very much worth a look.
baudrillard was like wading through treacle a bit... i
understood what 'the perfect crime' was about only
after my MOQ upgrade had kicked in.

entry point? to what exactly.

--- MarshaV <marshalz at charter.net> wrote:

> 
> Hi Gav,
> 
> This post is very interesting, but I somehow missed
> your initial 
> reading list?  I didn't know where to start, so I
> ordered, "The 
> Conspiracy of Art" Jean Baudrillard.  Which book
> would be a good entry point?
> 
> Marsha
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 05:39 PM 10/30/2006, Gav wrote:
> >hey dave,
> >
> >Baudrillard's 'perfect crime' is a book about (to
> use
> >MOQese) the murder of primary reality by
> intellectual
> >reality (which he likens to a mirror i seem to
> >remember) which then usurps its position, hence
> no-one
> >knows its been murdered: 'the perfect crime'.
> >
> >the situationists i could talk all day about. in
> fact
> >i need to add another book to that lit list i
> knocked
> >out last week: 'the revolution of everyday life' by
> >raoul vaneigem.
> >
> >the situationists were reacting against
> 'spectacular
> >society'. spectacular society is that mode of being
> >when one is but a subject gazing at objects,
> >spectating upon rather than participating in life.
> >alienated existence. they tried to see things
> >differently: life as a series of open-ended
> >situations, integrating the individual.
> >
> >the situationists were definitely not postmodern.
> >indeed postmodernism, it could be argued, arose
> >because of the failed revolutionary project of the
> >situationists. may 68 was really a purely
> existential
> >rebellion...which makes it all the more
> interesting.
> >
> >in a way the existentialists were a precursor to
> the
> >sits. the sits were trying to get past the ethical
> >vagueness of the existentialists and they realised
> the
> >problem was a metaphysical one. they were still
> stuck
> >in SOM though because they reacted against the
> >'objectification' of the world with a call to a
> return
> >to the 'subjective', by which they acually mean
> >immediate experience.
> >
> >'the society of the spectacle', by guy debord, uses
> >the words of other philosophers only, rearranged to
> >convey his own meaning. the sits came up with
> >'detournement', the idea of using the language and
> >imagery of the dominant (spectacular) paradigm
> against
> >itself, hence 'adbusting'.
> >
> >other key concepts include:
> >psychogeography: the effects of environment on
> >consciousness, intended or otherwise.
> >
> >recuperation: the tendency of the spectacle to
> rapidly
> >appropriate novel cultural/intellectual
> developments
> >under a reductive label (eg as  another '-ism'),
> which
> >is then added to the rest of the spectacle....naomi
> >klein almost understood this in 'no logo'.
> >
> >as far as power goes there is that vaneigem quote
> from
> >them that starts my 'student life' paper:
> "oppression
> >reigns becasue men are divided, not only among
> >themselves, but also inside themselves. what
> separates
> >them from themselves weakens them and is also the
> >false bond that unites them with power, reinforcing
> >this power and making them choose it as their
> >protector, as their father."
> >
> >this 'power' is the giant pure, and simple.
> >to me power is usually a social level thing, along
> >with fame, money, status, etc.
> >
> >so what we have is a metaphysical/epistemological
> >situation which suits the giant nicely: the
> spectacle.
> >the alienation implicit in such a view of the world
> >leads to fear and a general belief that the giant
> is
> >necessary in a hobbes-ian kind of way to protect us
> >from each other.
> >
> >i guess nietzche's 'will to power' is a need to
> >disengage from the giant and direct our own lives.
> i
> >think the giant is a problem because it is so huge.
> >remember the giant is the social level and the
> social
> >level of the west is one relatively homogenous
> culture
> >that probably feeds off more than a billion people.
> >
> >in the past social levels ended at cities or
> >relatively recently at countries. incorporating
> maybe
> >thousands or millions of people, but billions! in
> the
> >past the giant would have been more manageable, but
> >the modern western giant feeds off the insecurities
> of
> >so many... it is a mega-obese paranoid control
> junkie.
> >
> >culture needs to be developed and directed by
> >individuals, rather than being commodified and
> added
> >to the spectacle for passive consumption. we are
> >talking about the intellectual level guiding the
> >giant, not the current reverse situation. to do
> this
> >we need to weaken the giant: to cut him down to
> size.
> >and as i said before: community is intellectually
> >guided society. decentralize!!
> >
> >nice one on the dirty three! here's hoping you will
> >see em live soon. i am off to brisbane's first
> >alt-country music fest next month. i have a new
> fave
> >genre!
> >
> >later bro
> >gav
> >
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