Pit Schultz on 5 Oct 2000 19:41:14 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> HORST MAHLER: THE ROLE OF A SAD SACK |
hi richard, this is exactly what i meant a while ago. anti-capitalism is likely to grow exactly in times of economic depression. like in the 'bleierne zeit' of the mid 70ies was the time of the oil crisis. i would not say that extreme anti-capitalism is wrong at all, but one has to have good arguments that it doesn't turn into anti-semitism, or some kind of short-cut, or chauvinist ersatz hatred, some kind of jugendbewegung which militarizes in its desperate isolation. what has been left of the left shifted to the middle or is still licking its wounds. organized right wing grassroots extremism is popular especially in euro regions were people feel lost, have no work, etc. austria and east germany are at the fringe of the "middle" class euro zone... kosovo showed how easy it is to militarize public discourse and shut up even the brightest intellectual brains and light in them the fire of war frenzy and moral panic similar to the first world war. what will happen if this potential shows up around another conflict line within a larger political context or economic downturn? i have no big hope in our public intellectuals, not even the positive effects of mailinglists within an extended media war after the model of kosovo. singular figures like mahler might have impressivly strange biographies, but do not count as they are just representing the tip of an iceberg. cut it off, climb on it, and shout loudly, the ice will still be there. such playing with the signifiers, just adds up to a special kind of mediaactivist simulacra, a kind of poser-activism which just operates on the symbolic and simplifies thought around mass symbols and sloganomics. an effective critique has to go to the roots, become more radical, maybe theoretical, which means it has to think about the conditions and not harmonize them with the means of science, state and perception management, like schroeder or blair obviously try to do. best /pit _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold