by dada » Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:29 pm
Maybe we could unpack this a bit, I think it gets at what I see to be the basic "social dilemma" in mass culture. Our dear leader of the free world makes official statement displaying complete ignorance of historical fact. Now Russia can't reply officially, setting the record straight, because then it looks like saying, "our meddling is nothing compared to America's meddling."
But "setting the record straight" does have a home in mainstream media, in the mainstream alternative represented by corporate outfits like RT and offguardian. It is the "other side of the mainstream dialectic," marketed to consumers that identify with the mainstream alternative brands.
Now those who "set the record straight," on American meddling, but don't identify with the mainstream corporate alternative, can take the third mainstream option, which we'll call the "progressive liberal blogosphere," in the context of Internet. Beginning in the early years of the new american century, in the circle around air america, and is now a longstanding by Internet standards, successful "mainstream alternative" spinoff social group in its own right. The basic thrust is the "you can't make this shit up" take, which is the topic of this thread. Like the Stewarts and Olivers, politics delivered with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
The dilemma then is presented to transgressive culture as a choice between pointing this out, which reinforces mass culture in all social strata, a digging in of the heels. Or not, and giving mass culture nothing else to push against.
The question then is what will help most, reinforcing the social structure of mass culture, or staying out of it, letting mass culture unfold without a transgressive voice to rally against. So it's like a matter of a pushing of society, a kind of social accelerationism, or letting it go on its merry way without interruption. The dilemma is in figuring out which tactic to take at each moment, to help bring the society of mass culture to its ultimate and inevitable breakdown point sooner rather than later.
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.