music by brett van donsel
Experiments in Fiction and Reality — Catalan Separatists and Reckless Meme Necromancers: “Meme magic is a tempting, but dangerous practice, and the practitioner has to be very careful, lest he risk falling prey to the demons he has conjured.” The Outpost
Survivalist Epistemology: “Will to power existed long before Nietzsche named it, and thus here we are. Nothing about human nature has fundamentally changed since Pol Pot ordered the slaughter of the scholars, and he was merely the latest strongman whose most despised enemy was the effete command of abstractions.” Sonya Mann
Rogue Anguish Wave Part I – In Defense of a Life Without Shame: “You have two choices here: react or surrender. You can just give up on being an individual thinker, like everyone else is doing right now. Shout out their buzzwords like you believe them. But do not forget: cowardice is the only true sin for someone who values dignity. It will eat you inside out. I propose something else entirely; I propose exit. Escape. Not only through material means, which in itself is insufficient, but truly escaping: tell that boring monologue inside your skull that you delude yourself into thinking is ‘you’ to fuck off. ‘You’ do not exist – at least not in the way that they have been tirelessly trying to convince you of through countless decrepit years, hexing their ‘you’ into your body. Kill the Parasite-King you have been hosting for so long; bring forth the voice from within that knows you are the sole master of your anguish. Not their voice, and not mine either, for I only propose that ‘you should become who you are.’ Suffer for the right reasons – the reasons you believe are worthy of sorrow. Not because of shame. Especially not because of shame the Church of Progress is trying to sell you.” Nerve Abolition
Sacrificing the Founder: “For Nietzsche, the purpose served by critical history would be to create space for new monumental history. This is a version of the sacrificial cycle. When the relics of monumental history have been cleared away, new myths arise to furnish a sense of collective purpose. But today, the acid bath of critical history seems fated to dissolve such myths before they can take hold. Whatever is elevated must be laid low. In this accelerated sacrificial cycle, only anti-myth can prevail.” Outsider Theory
The Gaslighting of Parasite: “I am late to this but Parasite, now available on streaming services, is the most willfully misinterpreted movie that I have ever seen. The conventional interpretation is so obviously wrong that I cannot but think that it is anything but a collective gaslighting. The conventional interpretation is that the film is about inequality and on the surface that makes sense. After all, there is a rich family and a poor family, and an upstairs and a downstairs, and everyone knows that inequality is the problem of our age so despite the subtitles this Korean film must be a version of what we expect to see. Hence, Manohla Dargis writing at the New York Times says ‘The story takes place in South Korea but could easily unfold in Los Angeles or London.’ True but not in the way she imagines! Rather than a conventional discourse on ‘inequality,’ Parasite is deeply, shockingly, politically incorrect, even subversive.” Marginal Revolution
The Spoiled Brat Cycle: Why Communicating the Old-Fashioned Way Will Keep Us Sane: “Maybe we’ll go back to sending letters, or use email in more interesting ways (dating apps where you communicate via email?). In all of this, a good skill at being negatively capable plays a big part. Removing the direct and reactive aspect of synchronous communication makes us face the uncertainty of when or if we’ll receive a response. We are faced with the void, much like when people used to send carrier pigeons. On one side it’s a great refreshing thing. On the other it’s scary. especially when we’re addicted to insane levels of dopamine and quick responses. But i believe a fair amount of uncertainty is always good. Some studies show that when we don’t know, we are more likely to actually dig deeper and in a more systematic way into the information we do have.” Negative Capability
Werner Herzog: “I’m Fascinated by Trash TV. The Poet Must Not Avert His Eyes”: “I have to spread fear among the audience, that’s what I do.” The Guardian