Journal of the mental environment
I‘ve always been obsessed with ambiences and aesthetics as well as dérive, détournement and other ways of changing the tone of my everyday life. Guy Debord and the Situationists are my heroes. They were the first to sense that something had gone terribly wrong at the heart of our culture – that a stultifying boredom and sameness was creeping into our lives. They plotted a revolution to overthrow “the society of the spectacle.” Their approach was very effective: don’t argue with people, make them live!
And in 1968, people suddenly did. In Paris, they took to the streets, erected barricades, fought with police, occupied offices, factories, hospitals, railway depots and universities. They sang songs, issued manifestos, and sprayed slogans like ‘Live Without Dead Time’ and ‘Down With The Spectacular-Commodity Culture,’ all over their city.
“Art students demanded the realization of art; music students called for ‘wild and ephemeral music;’ footballers kicked out managers with the slogan ‘football to the football players;’ gravediggers occupied cemeteries; doctors, nurses and the interns at a psychiatric hospital organized in solidarity with the inmates,” wrote Sadie Plant in The Most Radical Gesture. “People who had worked in offices and factories all their lives suddenly broke from their daily routines and… lived.”
“People who had worked in offices and factories all their lives suddenly broke from their daily routines and… lived.”
At the height of the uprising, people marched in Bonn, Rome, London, Tokyo, New York and dozens of other cities around the world; students in universities revolted. For a few heady weeks, a tantalizing question hung in the air: Could this be the beginning of the first global revolution?
But the spell broke. The moment passed. This revolt against consumer capitalism was not to be. And since then, for the past 40 years, we’ve descended deeper and deeper into the spectacle. It’s omnipresent now. We’re in it and it’s in us. We’re living in what Debord, in the last years of his life, described as the “integrated spectacle,” characterized by “incessant technological renewal; integration of state and economy; generalized secrecy; unanswerable lies; an eternal present.”
If we could see beyond the incessant commercial chatter of our everyday lives, we would realize that our Western way of life has reached a dead end… that the twin towers of our civilization – scientific rationality and individual freedom – crashed to the ground a long time ago.
And we would realize that the only thing that can save us now are infusions of new blood from other civilizations: heavy hits of spontaneity from Brazil, inspirational flows of group consciousness from Japan, fusions of filial piety from China and India and constant whiffs of religious devotion from the Islamic world.
In this issue of Adbusters, we sift through the detritus of Western civilization to see what we can salvage. If you find something, let me know.
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Not entirely clear what Kalle is always talking about, but this I know for sure: he is a good influence for me to get outta my "standard operating procedure" mindspace.
What I feel our culture/way of life is missing is a balance between rational thought and intuition. Older, traditional cultures had the wisdom to honor that aspect of what we are born to be. That part of us gets the shit kicked out of it from so-called civilization. We are not whole beings as a result. I get so tired of reading the same old lefty rant that (near as I can tell) worships rational thought as if another perspective was advocating for its elimination. What I seek is a balance. What I advocate is finding your own balance. No New Age bullshit from this writer! What I sense is that we are lost because we are not the whole beings we were designed to be.
There is a book but not just a mere book. Holy Qur'an from Allah The Creator and Sustainer of the World. A user manual from Allah The Creator of mankind for Allah's creation: human being all over the world till the end of the world. Brought to you by Allah's messenger: Muhammad (peace be upon him). "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's (last and final) messenger." : )
Allah's Servant: Did you read the editorial? Your comment seems to prove his point: "that the twin towers of our civilization – scientific rationality and individual freedom – crashed to the ground a long time ago."
Religion...ANY religion...is completely at odds with scientific rationality and individual freedom.
So, are you saying it's a GOOD thing that western civilization has come crashing down?
If so, I'd have to disagree. I'm a big fan of scientific rationality and individual freedom.
How is religion inherently counter to personal freedom? Methinks you have probably misinterpreted what you don't understand. And what exactly does "personal freedom" mean?
I am rational.
"Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, and the ships which sail through the sea with that which is of use to mankind, and the water (rain) which Allâh sends down from the sky and makes the earth alive therewith after its death, and the moving (living) creatures of all kinds that He has scattered therein, and in the veering of winds and clouds which are held between the sky and the earth, are indeed Ayât (proofs, evidences, signs, etc.) for people of understanding." [Qur'an surah al-Baqarah / The Cow 164]
I am rational.
"Allah has created every moving (living) creature from water. Of them there are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs, and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills.
Verily! Allah is Able to do all things." [Qur'an surah An-Nur / The Light 45]
: )
Allah never existed. Therefore you believe in a lie.
Cheers!
The basis of the anti-consumer revolution will have to be based on the fundamentals: water, food, energy, land. That leaves endless room for cultural creatives to work with, though - but if those basic needs are not cleanly met, everything else collapses. Some of the detritus of the 20th century that's worth saving and passing on to the future for that end? Clean energy technology, communication technology, solar PV technology - that is all useful. Medical knowledge, scientific knowledge - that's what people will need in the the future as well.
We just need to stop using so much stuff, and learn to live within our means...and become nonconsumers more than overconsumers. The pharmaceutical industry moans about nonconsumers, and describes us thus:
"Some Pacific countries, like Kiribati, are populated by what ethnologists call nonconsumers: people who need just a little cash to get by and once that need is met, prefer to spend time with their family, go fishing or sleep."
Non-consumers of the world, unite! We are the greatest threat to the lunatic global economic order that exists today.
Just say no. No, I won't buy your crappy overpriced sweatshop merchandise, or if I have to, I will wear those shoes out, fix up holes with glue and rubber, re-sew the seams, and make sure the next pair I get is made locally - if that's even possible any more.
If the clothing you wear was made by slaves... what does that mean?
Waste = food theory says consumerism is better than non-consumerism.
However I absolutely agree that every citizen should be as self reliant as possible, producing as much of their food, and energy independently as they can.
That's just good economics. Too a point.
There is this one book called the Voluntary servitude, by E. La Boétie, in where he discusses the impossibility of people who grew up in a dictatorship to break free from this mindset because one doesn't know how it is life outside this mindset.
I see and read all these bits about situationism and I can't help but think of Susan Sontag saying "to speak of reality becoming a spectacle is breath taking provincialism". Is to apply to the whole world this single educated point of view, from the rich part of the world where media has become entertainment.
The world out there is so far away from this. Spend sometime where your mobile phone don't work and there isn't electricity, where people have families and lives and problems that you never heard of and never will. Where people use t-shirts with corporation logos like enron and halliburton, but they never heard of these companies: They just need something to wear.
Open up and see it from a different perspective, acknowledge them and try to listen. Remember Roy's & Berger's words, to Love and be loved.
Islam from Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful guidance for all human being living on earth till the judgment day. Good Luck! :)
Without a doubt Guy Debord was a great person and still is a great inspiration. But still it's a problem that people seem to forget to question what were the weak points in his concepts. I believe that Debord did not forget to question at least some of them, for example the problem that before 68', there were not enough young people (like today in Europe) for a broad movement.
He also saw the problems of a "spontaneous revolution", as well as the danger of consolidation and hierarchical structures - and Debord and his group drew the consequences of this.
Debord somehow was a revolutionary without hope. Maybe he broke down because of his perspicacity and his consequent acting.
Debord was really the "first to realize something had gone terribly wrong....stultifying boredom and sameness..." ? Please, Debord is awesome and important, but you need to reread your Kiekegaard -- covered the bases you mention here much earlier. Noble intentions, but lets not get sloppy or ahistorical.
what do you do that is so important. you make art for a video game company you get to go to work every day and sink into the awsome world of art and self expression, of course you enjoy it and feel its important. you get to excercise your imagination all day long at that desk. humans are more like a plague than anything. every other species on this earth seems to be doing just fine withought oil, gas, buildings and prada desiner bags. but we seem to have some sick need to need. all im saying is we should all fuck off and let this planet be, becaus this planet would be paridise withought us. of course not all humans are consumers that is why everyone comments on this site right? wich contidicts my point and im very confused about the world.
I disagree. Here are my arguments:
1. Other species of animals don't have symbolic thinking, which is why they don't need designed stuff. I personally think symbolic thinking is awesome, and, eventually, will allow us to create things truly independent of the natural world.
2. Nature is not a paradise (depending on your subjective view of paradise). Nature is really awful. That is why we left. Brutality, murder, cannibalism, rape, all of these things are part of the natural world. The natural world is inherently UN-just. We humans can imagine a world where the weak and infirm aren't the victims of the strong, that is the basis of all of our moral ideas. And I think that is worthwhile.
I just want to say one thing. If you were not being ironic when you said "infusion of new blood", i am very sorry to disappoint you.
Coming from brazil, i must say there is no new blood. There is no spontaneity here. To make it short, there is very little hope here. Dont know for sure 'bout the other countries, but if you were talking about culture, it is no good. We have lost our original identities a long time ago...our way of life is a mere copy of america's (except that a lot poorer). Western culture swallowed it all, we just reproduce it, mixing with some other shit we make here. What you hear from brazil is just pure propaganda, something made up by the same persons you fight against.
Well, of course i dont believe the world is hopeless. Maybe hope lies within the poor countries. What I think is that only by minimizing our dependency (economic, politic, cultural and all other kinds) we might someday change your logic of consumerism and free market. To do so we would have to unite, become strong together, so that we figt against the american empire.
My point being made, i suggest you guys to really search what's happening in the rest of the world, a lot more deeply than what shows on tv
You are saying this from a Class A+ perspective. We are both brazilians here discussing in english, that presumes we grew up on a rich background and had a lot of more privileges than the majority of people here. I agree to a certain extent what you are trying to say here, but i must add, however, that your idea that we 'lost' our original identities is flat wrong. Maybe for our class, the sense of identity is somehow compromised by external influences. But for the majority of people this grassroots level of culture still much alive and kicking. We both know that Brasil is a huge land that can't be boxed in from a certain perspective: There is new blood here and there is spontaneity here and most of all there is a *lot* of hope.
You are asking questions of man that can only be answered by the creator.
assuming there is a creator.
Islam
one day while mindlessly consuming in London Drugs I "thought" (silly me, to think I had a real thought, when indeed what was going on was some kind activity the product of a kind of social cannibalism) that I might "consume" a copy of Adbusters, just to have a look at what Kalle et al had to say these days. Upon reading about Kalle's obsession with ambiences I discovered to my dismay that, by definition, I have not lived, for all these 40 years "in the workforce" I have made my living as an OFFICE WORKER, perish the thought! I wonder if Sadie Plant could have had the humility to wonder if she could have been wrong in her judgement of "People who had worked in offices and factories" (all their lives, who suddenly broke from their daily routines and....LIVED!). Not likely, and, more likely the Sadie Plants of the world are of the ilk of people who, in my experience as an "office worker" would look upon me as if I really was as empty a vessel as they imagined one is by virtue of one's occupation in society, and, horror of horrors, Sadie would NEVER be so foolish as to have to make her way in the world by working in an OFFICE!...well, Sadie knows that working in an OFFICE means you're BEING an office worker. And, on that note, I guess it makes no difference whatsoever what's going in inside my being-in-the-world, how could I know, when there is the wisdom of "Sadies" to enlighten me? How fortunate for us that we had the situationist intervention to illuminate our darkness!
Here is what I am doing for myself, to combat empty spectacle. I recommend the steps I am taking to others.
Take these three books:
The Definitive Book of Body Language by Barbara Pease
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Power by Bertrand Russel
1. Photocopy every page of these books and then cut each page into sections which would fit comfortably on top of the area of an index card.
2.Tape each cut section to the lined face of an index card. Tape only along the top end so that the photocopy fragment may lift to reveal the lined index card below, an ideal place to put questions phrased to invoke the important information of the photocopy fragments, and to make other notes.
3. Arrange neatly on faom boards with two thumbtacks to each index card so that they don't move around. These giant foam boards of answers and questions regarding the function of human consciousness makes the ultimate vaccination against mood disorder.
4. Master these three books and a magical expansion of your consciousness towards how and why your mind does the work it does is guaranteed to occur.
It is the lack of rational thinking and inability to exercise individual freedom by many people that fuel consumerist culture. As long as you allow someone else to tell you who you are, what you need, and what you should do you will be a part of it. Take time to be alone and decide these things for yourself instead of following the herd. People have the ability to overcome their destructive tendencies, but it takes courage.
As you say, but let's consider the deeper mind-body (physical/psychological) implications of that notion:
"It is the lack of rational thinking and inability to exercise individual freedom by many people that fuel consumerist culture. As long as you allow someone else to tell you who you are, what you need, and what you should do you will be a part of it."
Rational thinking tells us that our emotional responses and so-called ego responses have an evolutionary component. Fear sharpens the senses and causes one to focus on the local environment, and a "big ego" might allow a wounded animal to survive when another might have collapsed and died.
To follow this argument, you do have to accept that our fellow mammals have emotions and egos that are fairly similar to our own, although less complex. The main difference at that basic animal level is that we humans, unlike animals, can describe our emotional states using written language. Animals communicate their emotional states using chemicals, sounds, verbal signals, facial expressions, etc. (but so do humans!).
Religious theologians would tell you that these core emotions are dangerously destructive, and might allude to the role of Satan in human affairs, or point to the example of Eve and the serpent. Secular atheists might tell you that such emotions are also dangerous, in that fear and anger can override rational thought processes and cause people to behave like wild animals.
Some will tell you that love and happiness are always beneficial emotions, but others will point to Orwell's "Ministry of Love" as evidence that any emotional state can be twisted to serve less savory agendas.
What we have now, along these lines, is an entire class of professionals who make it their business to override rational thinking by the use of emotional manipulation - first, fear, greed, lust, rage, arrogance, and second, happiness, love, family affection, and national patriotism. All come into play in the world of advertising and public relations.
The first category is the coercive one, based on "negative emotions". The standard definition is:
"Coercive persuasion attempts to force people to change beliefs, ideas, attitudes or behaviors using psychological pressure, undue influence, threats, anxiety, intimidation and/or stress."
The second category is the seductive one, based on "positive emotions". You really see this in pharmaceutical ads. They are never detailed or technical or negative - no dying patients in hospital rooms - but are rather light, fluffy and free-flowing - images of smiling happy people holding hands, walks through fields of grass, and not much else.
These techniques of emotional manipulation are common to all societies. They've been used by priests and politicians for centuries, but have reached new heights of sophistication in the 20th century, but as you say, they all have one thing in common:
They don't work well with rational, self-aware people who have a good grip on their emotional states.
I sometimes wonder if the high rate of mental illness in U.S. society is a reflection of this... maybe the last thing that some people want to see is widespread cures for mental illness - because emotionally unstable people are much easier to control?
I think the point has something to do with a certain level of enlightenment. The anonymous poster that states people are just doing what they want to do is making a very lazy argument, well actually no argument with any kind of thought, perhaps this even illustrates the point.
Through endless consuming of the thoughts and ideas of others people lose the ability to judge for themslves and become like sludge, their sludgelike expectations fulfilled by sludgeproducers interested only in returns on production, thus the search for profit becomes the only genuine impulse in modern culture, all other impulses being subjugated to it.
Culture as a forum for reflection, providing society with potential for self improvement is suffocated and becomes an empty reflex aping the supposedly genuine moments that preceded it in the search for revenue for invisible decision makers in the background.
The lack of genuine intention in the resulting cultural produce is self evident on a subliminal level to the viewer and thus contributes nothing but a continued erosional mass dulling of the senses of those unfortunate enough to be exposed.
I think it's a fairly considered statement. I'm not advocating that lifestyle, in fact, I think trendy people are really mundane and worthless.
But I recognize that, most people aren't interested in thinking for themselves. This is just an element of our biology. Not everyone in a tribe NEEDS to be thinking or asserting themselves as individual. They just want to contribute to the tribe and raise their offspring.
I'm not saying that they should live that way, or that mainstream American culture is of any value at all, I'm just saying that if someone genuinely wants to live like a bubble head, who is kalle lasn to deny them that?
"Let people do what they want to do. Just don't let them hurt each other, and keep longevity in mind."
How? By consuming each other to death?
What exactly do you mean by "consuming each other to death"?
dear "anonymous" you may have realized by now that your having to ASK what it means i.e., "consuming each other to death", means YOU don't get it and are NOT deserving of a reply from editorial staff...I don't see that they have taken the trouble to reply to your inquiry, correct me if I am wrong.
Yes, I DO get is. I'm simply asking for a clarification in terms, so that I can betetr address the question and provide a reasoned answer.
"Consume each other to death" is a charged statement to make, and I want to understand what exactly is being stated before trying to refute, or defend the statement.
Calm the FUCK down and THINK.
Yes, human beings are born consumers. We need to consume in order to survive, to persist. However, if we don't curb our natural instincts to consume everything around us, we will certainly die out like dinosaurs.. trapped by their own size and prehistoric instincts.