Mass Delusion

August 31, 2004

Last night at the Republican National Convention, former NYC mayor Rudolf Giuliani inserted his own brand of vintage disinformation by reversing the meaning of John Edwards’ “Two Americas.” While Edwards has sought to bridge the great divide between two Americas – those who reap the riches and those who don’t – Giuliani implied that Edwards was actually preaching FOR two Americas, one for each of John Kerry’s positions on the issues. A double assault on the Democractic message and another great victory for Republican propaganda.

Clearly, this kind of political spin is undermining the nation’s effort to have an honest dialogue on the issues. When disinformation becomes the norm, truth is thrown out the window through the blatant manipulation of public opinion.

The Republicans will use any tactic, no matter how distorted, to shift public attention away from the real issues, because it is there that they don’t have a leg to stand on. It is only through the political spectacle that they can bring about the great illusion they aspire to, deceiving a nation of robotic brethren who drift deeper and deeper into a state of mass delusion.

IMHO : A bloggers panel for the Imagine Festival

August 30, 2004

The WYSIWYG Talent Show

Curated by Andy Horwitz
with Dan Rhatigan

Moderated by Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine.com)

Panelists:
John Aravosis (americablog.blogspot.com)

John Perry Barlow (barlow.typepad.com)

Cam Barrett (camworld.com)

Jen Chung (gothamist.com)

Douglas Rushkoff (rushkoff.com/blog.php)

Julian Sanchez (reason.com/hitandrun)

This event is presented as part of the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas, a citywide cultural festival designed to inspire, instigate and support civic engagement. From August 28 - September 2 the Imagine Festival will present over 100 cultural events in 6 days including concerts, performances, forums, town meetings, exhibits, screenings, and other issue-based artworks.

[Visit c u l t u r e k i t c h e n for more of my rants, musings and raves.]

What's the Matter with Politics? Home Shopping, That's What

August 29, 2004

The Great Backlash began with the coming together of two very different political factions: traditional business Republicans…with their faith in the free market; and working-class “Middle Americans”…who signed on to preserve family values.

For the former group, the conservative revival that resulted has been fantastically rewarding…After all, they are wealthier as a class today than ever before in their lifetimes. But for the latter group, the aggrieved “Middle Americans,” the experience has been a bummer all around. All they have to show for their Republican loyalty are lower wages, more dangerous jobs, dirtier air, a new overlord class that comports itself like King Farouk—and, of course, a crap culture whose moral free fall continues…

Thomas Frank
What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

Lisa Sells Class on QVC
(Quicktime Movie, 13.2 MB)

After a hard day at the office I often enter the house, grab a beer if I’m in a “red state” of mind or a glass of Chardonnay if I’m feeling “blue” and sit down to hours of entertainment watching QVC. Yes, this home shopping network is the best way to decompress after hours of project management and endless meetings. I never buy anything, but my family questions my sanity nonetheless. I watch with amazement.

How do they sell those things to all those people? Diamonique to NASCAR replicas. I love the way those perky “SJ’s” (selling jockeys) make everything from scrapbook-making kits to 18K gold sound so, so delicious. They talk as if they are describing sumptuous treats from a high-class menu. Where do they find the words? How do they talk like this non-stop? My mouth waters. Everything sounds so good —extra authentic.

To buy is to be. And the buying public calls in to express their satisfaction and to profess their love.

Simultaneously, I am amazed by how many people express their adoration for George W. Bush and the Republican Party. They are selling us something too. Many of my friends are shocked to know that somewhere close to half the population is susceptible to their selling pitches. How could this be? The facts to the contrary seem so clear.

I’ve been ruminating about this attraction. And I am finding a striking correlation between home shopping and the political landscape (both Republican and Democrat).

"A non-linear networking phenomena"

August 28, 2004

spasticrobot: A Wende for Our Times; NYC, the GOP and hundreds of thousands of techno-protestors

The Result

And so the stage has been set. Hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions will be arriving in a city full of citizens already hostile to the political party that has chosen to hold it’s National Convention in their city for reasons of emotional manipulation. The police and city officials have set up a number of strenuous and overly aggressive methods of control.

That this event will be anything less than similar to Sterling’s description of the Wende is doubtful. At the very least a very large number of protestors will participate in one of the most varied, vocal and interesting political protests in American history. At the most extreme, the massive disturbance will awaken a number of American citizens to what the Bush administration is really up to and set off a sequence of events that will alter our political landscape.

What if Bush wins?

Bush has been a boon for many members of the creative class. Not that people needed a war on terrorism to find a reason to deride him creatively. Once he became the appointed president, all creativity broke lose. There’s the art, banners, music, essays, blogs, plays, performances, concerts, documentaries, films, books. The list of creative activity goes on and on. If art is a means of communication, then we’ve been witness to the longest and loudest venting of creative discordia this country has seen in a long time.

Still, I am uneasy. A lot of the work I see out there comes across as reactionary; meaning, it may be art, but in the end, a lot of the work comes as out of a knee-jerk reaction against Bush. This is exactly what Roberta Smith picked up on in her recent article, Caution: Angry Artists at Work

The Republicans have triggered an intense reaction on several fronts, and one of them is artistic. The convention, which opens on Monday at Madison Square Garden, has stimulated the city’s sprawling cultural sector at the grass-roots level. Or perhaps it has provided the context in which a grass-roots activism building since the 2000 election could come into the spotlight. Political fervor is being translated into art in mediums that range from painting and sculpture to Web art to political ephemera. At the moment, President Bush and the G. O. P. are the chief art-world targets: no one seems to have a critical word to say about the failings of the Democrats.

One could argue that NYC is awash in anti-Bush or anti-Republican sentiment due to the convention, but I cannot help but feel after the convention is over, the art installations put away, and the votes tallied, all this creative energy will be for naught. If change is about having a different face in the White House and not about changing the politico-economic system that gave us Bush, what if George Bush did win the election and, even worse, by an ample margin?