tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585108785719101644.post1729453098832100861..comments2013-05-25T11:05:18.126-07:00Comments on Society for Comparative Vandalism: McKenzie Wark RespondsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699471508149895050noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585108785719101644.post-59464176945203346612013-05-25T11:05:18.126-07:002013-05-25T11:05:18.126-07:00Hi there. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
You...Hi there. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. <br /><br />Your point about "trumpeting... exceptional individuality" is well taken. That would be a central element of the spectacle's seductive power: it promotes a banal form of self-identity within a generalized mediocrity, with one's individuality only being recognized to the degree that it adheres to the dictates of the spectacle. Or, more simply, the spectacle is a mirror that reflects what IT wants to see, and to the extent that you except the distorted image looking back at you as you own, you get a sense of self-worth and a sense of belonging to a greater whole. "Pernicious" is exactly the word.<br /><br />There is a fundamental tension at the core of Situationist theory, which is the notion of autonomous, liberated individuals acting collectively of their own accord. I can't claim to have solved the issue, except to say that it seems to sometimes work among smaller groups of people.<br /><br />But then again, the divide and conquer aspect of our spectacular society makes it ever more difficult....<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04699471508149895050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585108785719101644.post-82702469952702896782013-05-25T05:43:55.306-07:002013-05-25T05:43:55.306-07:00For me, this is the crux of the argument is this: ...For me, this is the crux of the argument is this: is there an outside to the "belly of the beast" or does radical politics require that we admit that we ARE the beast, not simply for building and enbling a specific system, but for our propensity to build systems at all? Many systems are useful, and debates over how things are often significant. My own propensity for folly, though significant, does not measure up to the coordinated and caustic lattice of predation that motivates our common desire to critique spectacle. But what makes the spectacle so pernicious is not it's location or the degree towhich we are habituated into it, it is the degree with which it resonates with our own desire to belong and to be individuals. Remove the entertainment industry and consumer society, and we will be tempted to recreate distorted systems of belonging and contrive ill schemes for trumpeting our exceptional individuality.davin heckmannoreply@blogger.com