I went to a rally/march last weekend. I got the date/time from the local Palestine coalition's IG post. There were a couple/few hundred at the rally. The subsequent march crossed a pedestrian mall that was having its grand opening after a long construction closure - there was booths and bands and food and a bit of a crowd - our march stopped dead in the intersection and nice speeches were made by JVP reps and Palestinians while the normies had to walk through it or just watch. It was fucking awesome, but it was no less a nearly impotent spectacle the same way hero-posting for Gaza online is. The only real diff was one was RL and somebody probably got HSV or covid and everyone got some exercise.
I watched Sumud Flotilla for hours and hours on the livestreams as they sailed the final stretch to Gaza up until they got water cannoned and boarded and the streams went dead. The action was important to me, I helped sponsor at least one boat through financial donation online, it represented a tiny point of light in the dark sky of humanity's failures. Then I watched the videos each sailor had made to be posted once they were taken prisoner. As they requested, I contacted gov't reps and the state dept demanding action towards freeing them, this being somewhere north of the 20th time haranguing them re: Palestine. I'll do it all over again with Freedom/Thousand Madleens. Yet, again, just more spectacle, until I'm on a flotilla myself, I suppose, and even then...
Some of the flotilla sailors were released. I wondered if their experience and efforts were also just pointless spectacle (just a publicity stunt, per zionists, until they were reduced to calling them hamas per usual). Then a rumor surfaced that their presence distracted IOF enough that Gazans were able to fish. That seemed like something, if it wasn't fake. Some thanked their followers through the internet for their efforts in contacting authorities to get them out. That also seemed like something. And the Italians got pissed enough to strike. There's probably many little somethings that have sprouted from the flotilla, but also a great expanse of nothing but spectacle.
I'm not entirely sure what my point is with all that story, it's mostly just a general lament. For Gazans, nothing would be better for them without the internet. Maybe not that much worse either. Fuck.
Information without power is impotent. Power without information is erratic. We need both to be effective. Yes, information alone cannot shut down the Gaza genocide. But information has changed the landscape of power. Witness the huge demos in Europe. Witness the new laws restricting speech and assembly in the UK (which, btw, are also tanking the legitimacy of the mainstream parties and media). Witness too the rush to control all sources of information (tik tok, the “anti-semitic (sarc) CBS news). Why try to control it if it has no bearing on power? Why spend billions to manage the news if the news/info makes no difference? It doesnt, and I bet you know this too.
Where you are absolutely right is that we need more than info. We need power and given the lay of the neo-liberal land for the vast majority this can only come via organizing structures of resistance. This project also requires information, but also much much more. So, your take on the Spectacle is cute, but I doubt that you really believe it as stated.
crowds on the streets signifies little. i can point to many recent instances of street protests and movement -- many more violent than the anti-israel ones achieving little. we can point to the anti-austerity movement in greece 15 years ago, for instance, ended with the left party swept into power still doing austerity. sorry but you are still wedded to the spectacle.
As your quick reply indicates, we are all still wedded to the spectacle. But that is not the point. The point is whether you are correct in saying information has nothing to do with power, the strong version of your thesis. I say no. You say yes.
Demos: yes they are not sufficient. But they are not nothing. Demos were part of ending the Viet Nam war. The huge mobilization against the war scared the shit out of the elites and had an effect of ending the carnage. Was it quick? No. Was it necessary? I say yes. Similarly the demos in Italy are serious, especially if they are prelude to strikes blocking transmission of arms to Israel. So too the ones in the UK, which look close to toppling the gvmt of Starmer. Will this be a step forward? I dunno. But it is an effect of the daily videos from Gaza. So too Harris’s defeat in the last election. Polls seem to bear out the claim that she lost because of Gaza. This means she lost because of what people could daily see happening in Gaza. No videos, no backlash against her. I could go on, but you get the point.
The convincing version of your position is that without organizing and political structure information does not lead to change. Nobody would argue with this. But you are arguing for far more. Namely that the information we got from Gaza has had and will have zero impact on politics going forward. In fact, it will delay any hope for change by diverting attention from the necessity to organize. This is a cute position, but I dont believe it for a moment. Nor do the powers that be. They are very unhappy about the relatively open i formation space, and we all know why. They told us; it’s what caused, in their view, the decline in popular support for Israel! And they care about this for they believe, as I do, that over time such consensus support matters even in the pitiful excuse for a democracy we have in USA. So sure, rail against info as spectacle, but in the end what people dont know will hurt them AND OTHERS. And our overlords know this or they wouldnt be working so hard to control the space.
I think AI is unintentionally doing the job for us: once all digital content are easily falsifiable and most is no longer generated by humans, the only purpose for the internet is fantasy. It becomes unusable or valueless since the information quality itself drops to zero. I think this will be accompanied by censorship as well, because why not?
And once governments further weaken protections on financial data and identity, it no longer is a safe place to do business.
Likewise human created things, even what was thought of as ridiculous crap become valuable niche commodities by virtue of being made by real people, the same way organic food became marketable with the emergence of factory farming.
yes, that's the accelerationism talking. i think you're right -- that ai will push us to do something...but it won't do the work for us. we'll still have to band together with other human beings around us to accomplish anything.
Without the internet I may not have become the person I am now. For many of us this is the case. Some of that is good and some of it is not. Occasionally I wish I wasn't so self-aware and in my head- it makes enjoyment difficult.
OK, who’s kidding who? World history is nothing but a dismal succession of totalitarian genocides. The Web is a panopticon that cleverly provides us with the illusion that “it’s different this time” while gathering data about us so that we can be targeted for liquidation later on.
I was recently in Portugal where in 1974 a group of young military officers tired of the 80-year dictatorship’s repression of the people who they were supposed to be defending. I suppose that if enough young officers read enough of our postings they might refuse orders to kill their own people. History has also seen a good number of Praetorian revolts. Victims have no choices; perpetrators do.
BTW, the word “grizzly” has to do with being “grizzled” or “to express dissatisfaction or resentment, usually tiresomely” while the word GRISLY is “inspiring disgust or distaste.” I find mass-murder to be GRISLY.
Another wonderful post regarding those that deeply (in as much as the psychopathic child deeply think they deserve all the toys) feel that we have too much privacy,too much autonomy,too much money and not enough ads and notifications.
The very idea of empathy, walking a water-less mile in someones' crappy imported plastic moccasins, does not enter.
The spectacle relies on lack of context, the AI revolution relies on the removal of context.
But...we will always be joe chip until we turn into joe fernwright.
"We are all too far removed from issues that matter to most of us and have no power over the forces that govern our lives...The Spectacle gives us the illusion of power...of doing something, of projecting our will and being in the world."
In addition, your initial examination of the emergence of nihilism with the Soviet collapse, seems to make you sensitive as well to the metaphysical void we also presently face in the West. (See Emanuel Todd).
"Banding together" somehow is the present immense challenge.
I went to a rally/march last weekend. I got the date/time from the local Palestine coalition's IG post. There were a couple/few hundred at the rally. The subsequent march crossed a pedestrian mall that was having its grand opening after a long construction closure - there was booths and bands and food and a bit of a crowd - our march stopped dead in the intersection and nice speeches were made by JVP reps and Palestinians while the normies had to walk through it or just watch. It was fucking awesome, but it was no less a nearly impotent spectacle the same way hero-posting for Gaza online is. The only real diff was one was RL and somebody probably got HSV or covid and everyone got some exercise.
I watched Sumud Flotilla for hours and hours on the livestreams as they sailed the final stretch to Gaza up until they got water cannoned and boarded and the streams went dead. The action was important to me, I helped sponsor at least one boat through financial donation online, it represented a tiny point of light in the dark sky of humanity's failures. Then I watched the videos each sailor had made to be posted once they were taken prisoner. As they requested, I contacted gov't reps and the state dept demanding action towards freeing them, this being somewhere north of the 20th time haranguing them re: Palestine. I'll do it all over again with Freedom/Thousand Madleens. Yet, again, just more spectacle, until I'm on a flotilla myself, I suppose, and even then...
Some of the flotilla sailors were released. I wondered if their experience and efforts were also just pointless spectacle (just a publicity stunt, per zionists, until they were reduced to calling them hamas per usual). Then a rumor surfaced that their presence distracted IOF enough that Gazans were able to fish. That seemed like something, if it wasn't fake. Some thanked their followers through the internet for their efforts in contacting authorities to get them out. That also seemed like something. And the Italians got pissed enough to strike. There's probably many little somethings that have sprouted from the flotilla, but also a great expanse of nothing but spectacle.
I'm not entirely sure what my point is with all that story, it's mostly just a general lament. For Gazans, nothing would be better for them without the internet. Maybe not that much worse either. Fuck.
Information without power is impotent. Power without information is erratic. We need both to be effective. Yes, information alone cannot shut down the Gaza genocide. But information has changed the landscape of power. Witness the huge demos in Europe. Witness the new laws restricting speech and assembly in the UK (which, btw, are also tanking the legitimacy of the mainstream parties and media). Witness too the rush to control all sources of information (tik tok, the “anti-semitic (sarc) CBS news). Why try to control it if it has no bearing on power? Why spend billions to manage the news if the news/info makes no difference? It doesnt, and I bet you know this too.
Where you are absolutely right is that we need more than info. We need power and given the lay of the neo-liberal land for the vast majority this can only come via organizing structures of resistance. This project also requires information, but also much much more. So, your take on the Spectacle is cute, but I doubt that you really believe it as stated.
crowds on the streets signifies little. i can point to many recent instances of street protests and movement -- many more violent than the anti-israel ones achieving little. we can point to the anti-austerity movement in greece 15 years ago, for instance, ended with the left party swept into power still doing austerity. sorry but you are still wedded to the spectacle.
As your quick reply indicates, we are all still wedded to the spectacle. But that is not the point. The point is whether you are correct in saying information has nothing to do with power, the strong version of your thesis. I say no. You say yes.
Demos: yes they are not sufficient. But they are not nothing. Demos were part of ending the Viet Nam war. The huge mobilization against the war scared the shit out of the elites and had an effect of ending the carnage. Was it quick? No. Was it necessary? I say yes. Similarly the demos in Italy are serious, especially if they are prelude to strikes blocking transmission of arms to Israel. So too the ones in the UK, which look close to toppling the gvmt of Starmer. Will this be a step forward? I dunno. But it is an effect of the daily videos from Gaza. So too Harris’s defeat in the last election. Polls seem to bear out the claim that she lost because of Gaza. This means she lost because of what people could daily see happening in Gaza. No videos, no backlash against her. I could go on, but you get the point.
The convincing version of your position is that without organizing and political structure information does not lead to change. Nobody would argue with this. But you are arguing for far more. Namely that the information we got from Gaza has had and will have zero impact on politics going forward. In fact, it will delay any hope for change by diverting attention from the necessity to organize. This is a cute position, but I dont believe it for a moment. Nor do the powers that be. They are very unhappy about the relatively open i formation space, and we all know why. They told us; it’s what caused, in their view, the decline in popular support for Israel! And they care about this for they believe, as I do, that over time such consensus support matters even in the pitiful excuse for a democracy we have in USA. So sure, rail against info as spectacle, but in the end what people dont know will hurt them AND OTHERS. And our overlords know this or they wouldnt be working so hard to control the space.
I think AI is unintentionally doing the job for us: once all digital content are easily falsifiable and most is no longer generated by humans, the only purpose for the internet is fantasy. It becomes unusable or valueless since the information quality itself drops to zero. I think this will be accompanied by censorship as well, because why not?
And once governments further weaken protections on financial data and identity, it no longer is a safe place to do business.
Likewise human created things, even what was thought of as ridiculous crap become valuable niche commodities by virtue of being made by real people, the same way organic food became marketable with the emergence of factory farming.
yes, that's the accelerationism talking. i think you're right -- that ai will push us to do something...but it won't do the work for us. we'll still have to band together with other human beings around us to accomplish anything.
Without the internet I may not have become the person I am now. For many of us this is the case. Some of that is good and some of it is not. Occasionally I wish I wasn't so self-aware and in my head- it makes enjoyment difficult.
OK, who’s kidding who? World history is nothing but a dismal succession of totalitarian genocides. The Web is a panopticon that cleverly provides us with the illusion that “it’s different this time” while gathering data about us so that we can be targeted for liquidation later on.
I was recently in Portugal where in 1974 a group of young military officers tired of the 80-year dictatorship’s repression of the people who they were supposed to be defending. I suppose that if enough young officers read enough of our postings they might refuse orders to kill their own people. History has also seen a good number of Praetorian revolts. Victims have no choices; perpetrators do.
BTW, the word “grizzly” has to do with being “grizzled” or “to express dissatisfaction or resentment, usually tiresomely” while the word GRISLY is “inspiring disgust or distaste.” I find mass-murder to be GRISLY.
Another wonderful post regarding those that deeply (in as much as the psychopathic child deeply think they deserve all the toys) feel that we have too much privacy,too much autonomy,too much money and not enough ads and notifications.
The very idea of empathy, walking a water-less mile in someones' crappy imported plastic moccasins, does not enter.
The spectacle relies on lack of context, the AI revolution relies on the removal of context.
But...we will always be joe chip until we turn into joe fernwright.
I like what the dick did with those names.
I , now the the tense,present future, should have wrote:
The very idea of empathy; walking a water-less mile in someones' crappy imported plastic moccasins, without being obliterated, does not enter.
This is why I pay you the big bucks!
"We are all too far removed from issues that matter to most of us and have no power over the forces that govern our lives...The Spectacle gives us the illusion of power...of doing something, of projecting our will and being in the world."
In addition, your initial examination of the emergence of nihilism with the Soviet collapse, seems to make you sensitive as well to the metaphysical void we also presently face in the West. (See Emanuel Todd).
"Banding together" somehow is the present immense challenge.
Yasha... hold this thougt, can you come up with a CogSec primer for us always online normies?
I wouldn't call it "security" but yeah I should maybe try to draft one up.