I've spent the last couple of days trying to get info on Italian futurism and guys like Fillippo Marinetti and their influence on machine/art culture in Italy and how it fuelled contempt for classical music, literature and the visual arts in the first few decades of the 20th century.
This, after reading a brilliant article in Harper's magazine called "Quitting the Paint Factory", by Mark Slouca. Here's an excerpt--can't link because it's not available online. November issue.
--About Bush clearing brush from his property in Crawford.
"This was brush clearing as a statement, a gesture of impatience. It captured the man, his disdain for the inner life, for the virtues of slowness and contemplation. This was movement as an answer to all those equivocating intellectuals and Gallic ponticators who whoud rather talk than do, think than act. Who could always be counted on to complicate what was simple with long winded discussions of comlexity and consequences. Who were weak."
Now, who does this sound like? A quotation from Marinetti, shaper of Italian futurism:
The new man would communicate by "brutally destroying the syntax of his speech. He wastes no time in building sentences. Punctuation and the right adjectives will mean nothing to him. He will despise subtleties and nuances of language". All of his thinking, moreover, would be marked by a "dread of slowness, pettiness, analysis and detailed explanations. Love of speed, abbreviation, and the summary. "Quick, give me the whole thing in two words!"
This article is fantastic social commentary and illuminates something very interesting. It details the flattening of speech, for one. It's not just Bush, but he's the exaggeration that illuminates the trend. Quick, how many people under 40 do you know who speak in a robot like monotone, and with great speed?
The Italian futurists had a hand in shaping the future and played a very strong role in supporting Mussolini's fascism, (by idolizing the purity, effectiveness and annihilating aspects of brute force ), though most of their own artistic achievements lost all cache in the decades after the war. They did a better job of actually predicting our times than anything. In today's high tech world, the speed and immediacy of computers, together with an ignorance of history and a collectively shortened attention span has produced an excellent petrie dish for the same sort of rise of fascism.
There isn't a lot about Italian futurism online. But if you google "Micheal Ledeen, futurism" and get onto the "Kos" site, and then hit "cache"- you'll find some interesting info.
Thoughts anyone?
Full Version: Italian futurists, fascists and Micheal Ledeen
On an "allied" subject I've just watched the third and final part of a documentary on BBC2 "The Power of Nightmares". It seems unlikely that the US will allow this to be shown as it explodes many of the myths which the PTB need you to believe in, in order for them to continuously erode your basic rights.
There are various premises to this series but the major message is that the terra org alQ having an organized wordwide network of thousands and sleeper cells is a total fabrication by the neo-cons.
In the days of Kennedy and before him politicians were able to exude the politics of hope and it worked.Since then, however, hope has not really worked and has been replaced by fear as the cohesive force in the population. Until the various riots in the 60's liberalism had been considered the way to go in the US.
A minor philosopher Strauss saw what he considered the failings of liberalism and considered new ways of coercing the population into orderly conduct along the lines of "old-fashioned" or biblical values and norms.This ideologue(Strauss) and his followers(neo-cons)
had their vision of what was good for society and the people as a whole.They also knew that it was often necessary to lie to and deceive the people "for their own good".For these Straussians the society they felt would be closest to their "utopia" would be one in which there was order.--Er müss ordnung sein.
Liberalism was intolerable because it lead to disorder and moral decadence.Lying to the population in order to achieve the end result was always acceptable;the end always justifying the means.And so fear became the major emotional blackmail agent of these Straussians to keep order.Fear of the Russians and when that empire imploded,fear of terror.As the politicians could no longer successfully deal in hope,they need to deal in fear and propose themselves as the protectors of the people against the "terrorists" or the Russians or whatever they choose.
Funnily enough,at this very same time an Egyptian named Kutha(sp?) was in the USA and witnessed what he considered to be society's moral decay through liberalism.He returned to Egypt quickly and laid the foundations for Muslim Fundamentalism.He saw that his countryfolk were open to the ways of the US and were rapidly becoming Americanized.He wanted to put a stop to this decadence which he saw as destroying his country's society and traditions and wanted to bring about a change to a fully Islamic state.
In that respect the Staussians and Kutha were very close in their ideologies(one Judeo-Christian the other Islamic). The Islamic revolution that Kutha attempted to release on his own country failed miserably as the violence and death associated with his "struggle" were too much for his countrymen to bear and they rejected it.
Other Islamic revolutionaries indoctrinated by him ,that attempted similar violent revolution in their own countries ,were also similarly rejected by their own people.
Among his followers before he was executed by the Egyptian authorities was the Egyptian doctor Al Zawahiri (right hand man of OBL).
Actually OBL was really only the "money man" when he joined the group in Afghanistan.He was a convert to the ideas of the Islamic revolution but was much appreciated for the fortune that he brought with him.When the Russians invaded Afghanistan,the CIA under Casey saw fit to provide the Mujahadin and the OBL group with $1 billion and Stinger missiles etc to fight the Russians there.
After the Rusians had been defeated and their empire collapsed OBL's group considered themselves as the prime contributor the empire's collapse.Just as the US claimed the credit by forcing them to bankrupt themselves by competing in the arm's race.The truth is that the system had been rotten to the core for ages and would have imploded all by itself.
The training camps set up in Afghanistan processed thousands of recruits but were primarily populated by Islamic fundamentalists who ,for the major part,only received training in ideologies and not as international terrorists.Very few ever saw or met OBL there. A handful were perhaps chosen for a full terrorist training but the idea that thousands were trained and reurned to Western countries as "sleeper cells" is pure fiction invented by the people whose need is to scare their populations.
Despite thousands of arrests throughout the West of suspected terrorists (in sleeper cells!) no or very few convictions have been obtained.In the series various intel guys were interviewed and one guy told about meetings with some neo-cons.The neo-con with the best imagination and the direst scenario,got all the attention even though it was pure fantasy for which they had no intel or evidence.
Tests that have been done on "dirty bombs" in an urban environment suggest that NOBODY would die from the radiation effects which could be cleaned up quickly.And that the major problem with such an attack would be caused entirely by the panic that would ensue.The gubmint should be informing people that in the event of a dirty bomb being used they should not panic because there is no need.The PTB however
do the exact opposite--they hype it up for their own purposes.
One of the conclusions of the series was that AlQ does not exist in the form which we are being led to believe.Most of what we are led to believe is pure hype.AlQ is a rag-tag group and is hardly organized in any major way.The only thing to fear is fear itself and in this respect it is desirable for the goverment to keep you as scared as possible as this suits their purposes very adequately.
So,always look on the bright side of life--and whistle a happy tune of defiance.
There are various premises to this series but the major message is that the terra org alQ having an organized wordwide network of thousands and sleeper cells is a total fabrication by the neo-cons.
In the days of Kennedy and before him politicians were able to exude the politics of hope and it worked.Since then, however, hope has not really worked and has been replaced by fear as the cohesive force in the population. Until the various riots in the 60's liberalism had been considered the way to go in the US.
A minor philosopher Strauss saw what he considered the failings of liberalism and considered new ways of coercing the population into orderly conduct along the lines of "old-fashioned" or biblical values and norms.This ideologue(Strauss) and his followers(neo-cons)
had their vision of what was good for society and the people as a whole.They also knew that it was often necessary to lie to and deceive the people "for their own good".For these Straussians the society they felt would be closest to their "utopia" would be one in which there was order.--Er müss ordnung sein.
Liberalism was intolerable because it lead to disorder and moral decadence.Lying to the population in order to achieve the end result was always acceptable;the end always justifying the means.And so fear became the major emotional blackmail agent of these Straussians to keep order.Fear of the Russians and when that empire imploded,fear of terror.As the politicians could no longer successfully deal in hope,they need to deal in fear and propose themselves as the protectors of the people against the "terrorists" or the Russians or whatever they choose.
Funnily enough,at this very same time an Egyptian named Kutha(sp?) was in the USA and witnessed what he considered to be society's moral decay through liberalism.He returned to Egypt quickly and laid the foundations for Muslim Fundamentalism.He saw that his countryfolk were open to the ways of the US and were rapidly becoming Americanized.He wanted to put a stop to this decadence which he saw as destroying his country's society and traditions and wanted to bring about a change to a fully Islamic state.
In that respect the Staussians and Kutha were very close in their ideologies(one Judeo-Christian the other Islamic). The Islamic revolution that Kutha attempted to release on his own country failed miserably as the violence and death associated with his "struggle" were too much for his countrymen to bear and they rejected it.
Other Islamic revolutionaries indoctrinated by him ,that attempted similar violent revolution in their own countries ,were also similarly rejected by their own people.
Among his followers before he was executed by the Egyptian authorities was the Egyptian doctor Al Zawahiri (right hand man of OBL).
Actually OBL was really only the "money man" when he joined the group in Afghanistan.He was a convert to the ideas of the Islamic revolution but was much appreciated for the fortune that he brought with him.When the Russians invaded Afghanistan,the CIA under Casey saw fit to provide the Mujahadin and the OBL group with $1 billion and Stinger missiles etc to fight the Russians there.
After the Rusians had been defeated and their empire collapsed OBL's group considered themselves as the prime contributor the empire's collapse.Just as the US claimed the credit by forcing them to bankrupt themselves by competing in the arm's race.The truth is that the system had been rotten to the core for ages and would have imploded all by itself.
The training camps set up in Afghanistan processed thousands of recruits but were primarily populated by Islamic fundamentalists who ,for the major part,only received training in ideologies and not as international terrorists.Very few ever saw or met OBL there. A handful were perhaps chosen for a full terrorist training but the idea that thousands were trained and reurned to Western countries as "sleeper cells" is pure fiction invented by the people whose need is to scare their populations.
Despite thousands of arrests throughout the West of suspected terrorists (in sleeper cells!) no or very few convictions have been obtained.In the series various intel guys were interviewed and one guy told about meetings with some neo-cons.The neo-con with the best imagination and the direst scenario,got all the attention even though it was pure fantasy for which they had no intel or evidence.
Tests that have been done on "dirty bombs" in an urban environment suggest that NOBODY would die from the radiation effects which could be cleaned up quickly.And that the major problem with such an attack would be caused entirely by the panic that would ensue.The gubmint should be informing people that in the event of a dirty bomb being used they should not panic because there is no need.The PTB however
do the exact opposite--they hype it up for their own purposes.
One of the conclusions of the series was that AlQ does not exist in the form which we are being led to believe.Most of what we are led to believe is pure hype.AlQ is a rag-tag group and is hardly organized in any major way.The only thing to fear is fear itself and in this respect it is desirable for the goverment to keep you as scared as possible as this suits their purposes very adequately.
So,always look on the bright side of life--and whistle a happy tune of defiance.
Courage, l'audace -- I hymn the man at the wheel . . . .
Do you think my VW Jetta counts?
Seriously, Italian futurism seems to have been an attempt to solve the problem of the fear of death, or the fear of life's meaninglessness. The Futurists championed action -- daring, speed, defying death -- an Achillean aesthetic solution.
Mussolini defied death by giving Italians a stake in the past and future greatness of Italy. The individual might die but the state and its glory would live on; one's efforts on behalf of that glory would give one's life transcendendant meaning.
Both of them should have read Ecclesiastes.
Do you think my VW Jetta counts?
Seriously, Italian futurism seems to have been an attempt to solve the problem of the fear of death, or the fear of life's meaninglessness. The Futurists championed action -- daring, speed, defying death -- an Achillean aesthetic solution.
Mussolini defied death by giving Italians a stake in the past and future greatness of Italy. The individual might die but the state and its glory would live on; one's efforts on behalf of that glory would give one's life transcendendant meaning.
Both of them should have read Ecclesiastes.
Thanks for the interesting reply, Brown One. I'm trying to get an esthetic sense of this administration, and your input about deception is crucial. There are quite a few cultural trends converging here. The one that's interesting to me is the vapid fundamentalist Christian veneer overlaying an HR Giger type of gothic darkness. A repulsive symbiosis of mechanical and biological force, that uses Christianity as a "cloak of invisibility". We're able to see the pure amoral will propelling the beast forward, but many can't, they're too impressed by the cloak. The republican movement and social sphere is ENTIRELY UnChristian. The beast doesn't reflect, it has no respect for history, poetry or philosophy. It simply wants to expand, to grow, to conquer through parasitism, using govt. systems. It's always busy, on the move.
Apres, The real powers that be, the ones who are able to use a variety of old and new methods to propagandise are pragmatists. And as pragmatists, they will use everything at their disposal to accomplish their goals, which leads into some strange territory. The reason the movie, "The Matrix" had such profound appeal is it gave form to this idea.
http://www.mactonnies.com/trans.html
I guess for a lack of better descriptors, you'd could call them transhumanists. In other ages, they were known as Occultists.
Brown One, If you read the book, The Painted Word, by Wolfe, you can draw comparisons between the promotion of modern art and the promotion of modern terror groups. In the early days of abstract impressionism, artists would pretty much just fling paint at a canvas, (Pollack being a perfect example of this.) The art critics described what the artists were doing, their motivations and etc....They drew up categories and placed the artists into these categories. The artists were amused by this, but started to paint in a way that reinforced what the critics were saying about them, strengthening the category into which they were placed and attracting new adherants, all in the name of exposure and power.
Though Al queda was a handful of people, their critics are doing the same thing. Now terrorists will describe and self categorize themselves as Al Queda, regardless of whether they have any real links to the small group, or not. It's like "Will the real Al Queda, please stand up." The core reality will be lost in the mists of time, but we'll have an Al Queda.
Talk about the administration creating it's own reality through stealth, intelligence operations, manipulation of human psych and sociology.
Apres, The real powers that be, the ones who are able to use a variety of old and new methods to propagandise are pragmatists. And as pragmatists, they will use everything at their disposal to accomplish their goals, which leads into some strange territory. The reason the movie, "The Matrix" had such profound appeal is it gave form to this idea.
http://www.mactonnies.com/trans.html
I guess for a lack of better descriptors, you'd could call them transhumanists. In other ages, they were known as Occultists.
Brown One, If you read the book, The Painted Word, by Wolfe, you can draw comparisons between the promotion of modern art and the promotion of modern terror groups. In the early days of abstract impressionism, artists would pretty much just fling paint at a canvas, (Pollack being a perfect example of this.) The art critics described what the artists were doing, their motivations and etc....They drew up categories and placed the artists into these categories. The artists were amused by this, but started to paint in a way that reinforced what the critics were saying about them, strengthening the category into which they were placed and attracting new adherants, all in the name of exposure and power.
Though Al queda was a handful of people, their critics are doing the same thing. Now terrorists will describe and self categorize themselves as Al Queda, regardless of whether they have any real links to the small group, or not. It's like "Will the real Al Queda, please stand up." The core reality will be lost in the mists of time, but we'll have an Al Queda.
Talk about the administration creating it's own reality through stealth, intelligence operations, manipulation of human psych and sociology.
| QUOTE |
| Talk about the administration creating it's own reality through stealth, intelligence operations, manipulation of human psych and sociology. |
Exactly what Suskind talked about--there is a new reality. It is the fantasy of those in power and that's why it is reality-in a totalitarian sort of way!
The Ministry of Truth already exists.Wonder when they'll announce the appointment of the head honcho?
| QUOTE (The brown one @ Nov 5 2004, 07:51 PM) |
| One of the conclusions of the series was that AlQ does not exist in the form which we are being led to believe.Most of what we are led to believe is pure hype.AlQ is a rag-tag group and is hardly organized in any major way. |
Quite right. Al Qaida simply meant "the base," referring to a meeting point, not an organized group.
OBL at most was a labor contractor who lost 19 temps.
He's caught in a sticky wicket now, trying to live up to the absurdly magnified role that US propaganda assigned to him.
Probably he's backed off on direct threats, since he has no capability to deliver on them.
His videos need a bass groove to get any MTV distro ...
The funny(peculiar) thing about the series PoN was that Sammy's Manhattan project got a split second mention-it was almost "subliminal".
The only thing that was said that the guys whodunnit may have been recruited at some point by Sammy but that they were passed to ---- someone else for operational control and planning.The name was mentioned once only and in passing and I just didn't catch it.Don't own a VCR either.
It struck me as strange that the maker of the series seemed to skirt around it--maybe he's making parts 4,5 and 6 or it was doctored to enable showing on Beeb.
The only thing that was said that the guys whodunnit may have been recruited at some point by Sammy but that they were passed to ---- someone else for operational control and planning.The name was mentioned once only and in passing and I just didn't catch it.Don't own a VCR either.
It struck me as strange that the maker of the series seemed to skirt around it--maybe he's making parts 4,5 and 6 or it was doctored to enable showing on Beeb.
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