because I fear the future, not the reaper

[blustocking]

"Some people refuse to accept the fact that reality is becoming indistinguishable from representation in a qualitatively new way. They find permanent refuge in the belief that nothing is new under the sun. They already understand what they need to understand in order to understand everything else. These same people tend to think it's deep to talk about historical pendulums swinging back and forth. Anyway, they never fail to remind us at some point, in that special perhaps-I'm-missing-something tone, as if reluctant to spoil the speculative fun, they never fail to remind us that there have always been representations and choices and etc., etc., and isn't what's going on now just more of the same?"


Talking about media/advertising blitz (Times Square as an example)...

"Everything is firing message modules, straight for your gonads, your taste buds, your vanities, your fears. But it's okay; these modules seek to penetrate, but in a passing way; it's all in fun. A second of your attention is all they ask. Nothing real is firing, nothing that rends or cuts. It's a massage, if you just relax and go with it. And why not? Some of the most talented people on the planet have devoted their lives to creating this psychic sauna, just for you."

--from Thomas De Zengotita's book Mediated: How The Media Shapes Your World and The Way You Live In It

Highly, highly recommended.
I think I have to buy my copy now, since I've marked it so many times.

Comments

[ponsonbybritt.livejournal.com]

I've never really bought into the whole the 'media/advertising is evil' bit that Adbusters and its ilk preach. As a psychologist, I take a rather cynical view of human nature. That it's inherently self-centered, and by our very nature we don't like to think deeply. This makes the general population narcissistic and yet gullible. Corporations aren't perpetrating some sort of mass-market conspiracy, it's human beings excelling at human nature.

so many choices, you are your own person

[blustocking.livejournal.com]

So, since the 50's, since the beginning of time, human beings have not changed...society has not changed and our values have not changed? I see.

There seem to be shades of gray that you are missing. I don't completely subscribe to the Adbusters mindset (did I mention Adbusters, or did you assume), but I honestly don't see how someone can ignore how instant communication/advertisments have changed the face of human nature.

Man may have always been self-centered, but his ego wasn't always stroked with such greed-fueled ferocity.

[ponsonbybritt.livejournal.com]

I didn't assume, I merely used Adbusters as an example. Hey, I used to read it. They just seemed to be drowning in their own Kool-Aid.

I don't believe we are wholly our own person. Genetics, hormones, and neurochemistry have a greater control over us than we like to believe. And while that may not seem a greatly different argument than society controls us, the difference is society is created by humans with their genetics and hormones and neurochemicals. One is higher up on the influence ladder.

So no, I don't believe human nature has changed that greatly since the 50s. The infamous Milgram experiments of 1961 and 62 showed just how great a pushover we were/are even back then (I was just following orders). I'm not saying the media don't do anything, I'm just saying they don't do anything special than we've always done to each other. They may magnify the issue, but we are no worse depraved than we have always had the potential to be.

[ponsonbybritt.livejournal.com]

All of this, of course, doesn't mean I won't try and check out this book. It definitely sounds interesting and I certainly buy what appears to be its initial premise (popular culture is deteriorating). I just happen to think that that's part of human nature too...

[(Anonymous)]

Your boy de Zengotita may live in my house. Failing that, a man with the same name bearing an uncanny resemblance to the book photos lives there. Strange that he'd be a renter, but perhaps Harper's is thrifty with the coin. If it is him -- nice guy. Always says hello. Next time he's around, I'll pinch his ass for you. bvs

[blustocking.livejournal.com]

Please do. Make sure he knows where it came from.
His brainmeats please me.

p.s. I'm sorry I've been lacking in the communication department. I'm having a weird time.

[spritek.livejournal.com]

warhol covered this. we're taking images in far more quickly than we can filter them, or their symbolic meaning. their imprints are more powerful than anyone quite realizes, but brushed aside generally due to their subtletyones forcibly distant relation to ones subconscious.

HYPERREALITY.