That America is not able at present to accomplish meaningful tasks is we submit beyond question. Even the WaPo raises the matter; it is now that obvious.
The Warlord’s regime deserves much if not all the credit for this current atrophy. For the reasons we have set forth here at length re fixation on hyper-real narrative control, “working towards the Leader” ethos in the cadres, etc. But the Warlord simply built upon the already pregnant possibilities. In that way, he, Cheney, Cher Condi, Karen Hughes, A.G.A.G. et. al. — they are just another symptom, too.
A hyper-real society may forget how to build satellites that work, levees that function, or the fundamentals of bridge engineering dating back to Roman times. Our military in Iraq even subcontracts intelligence to private companies (currently British). But such a twitching, psychologically fractured society does function and in its own way, produce things. Consider William Gibson’s new novel:
In Spook Country, Gibson’s latest, a woman named Hollis Henry has just arrived in Los Angeles on assignment for a magazine called Node to investigate “locative art,” an underground movement of tech-savvy artists into the mapping, annotation, and holographic reshaping of virtual space. Cayce and Hollis are in similar circumstances for the exact same reason.
Spook Country is a sequel of sorts to Pattern Recognition, an extension of its territory and themes. Masterminding the narrative of both is the sinister and seductive Hubertus Bigend, founder of the avant-garde advertising firm Blue Ant. In Pattern Recognition, he’s described as “a nominal Belgian who looks like Tom Cruise on a diet of virgin’s blood and truffled chocolates.” His Wikipedia entry in Spook Country describes him as the child of a wealthy industrialist and a sculptress with links to the Situationist International.Bigend is Gibson’s image of hyper-capitalist consciousness evolved to such sophistication that it becomes indistinguishable from art, philosophy, even magic. Advertising for Bigend isn’t a means to make money, but a method for tapping into the ancient reptile mind at the base of consciousness and culture.
In Pattern Recognition, he engages Cayce to locate the author of “the footage,” a sequence of enigmatic film clips randomly posted on the Internet that spawn a global cult of enthusiasts and explicators. When Spook Country reveals the utterly banal use that Bigend makes of this knowledge, the effect is chilling. More disturbing is the sense that he may be the only character in these stories who’s discovered a way to embrace and diffuse the accelerated terrors and inchoate anxieties of the post-9/11 world.
After 9/11, Woolsey and a bunch of Booz Allen know-nothings ran around town talking about America’s unique vulnerabilities as a ‘networked society’ as if this blinding glimpse of the obvious was divine revelation. (Well, actually it was to the smokestackers in the Administration).But a nation adrift, lost to the song of the hyper-real is far more fragile than even Woolsey can imagine. A people can forget how to shape their future, how to build and how to assert themselves (beyond spastic episodes of eruptive violence). How far into the dream have we gone?
P.S. We are enjoying Alfred Molina and “The Company” on TNT so far more than the narcissistically self-conscious and self-congratulatory “The Good Shepherd.” It not only is more relaxed in its approach, but the aesthetics of Ridley and Tony Scott are evident, making it less ponderous than DeNiro’s bloated effort. Alexandra Maria Lara from Downfall proves a great casting choice, and Michael Keaton is an interesting Angleton — far more nuanced (if not accurate) than Damon’s bland cipher.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Tragic, but not rising to the Hitchian spectacle in NY re ANS.
http://www.observer.com/2007/art-world-shivers-after-lovers-double-suicide
Dr Leo Strauss says
Kramer has elevated performance art to a new plateau. If he was a musician, he would end by smashing his kit.
Gibson’s stuff is pretty accessible — not like Gene Wolfe to the Stiftung, who writes like the jungles of Cambodia as filmed in Mexico for bad Chuck Norris movies.
It’s also amusing to see Newt pointing out we can no longer accomplish goals, etc. — yet his prescription is *exactly* what decadence prescribes — more special, ad hoc solutions pasted on top of the existing incoherence. It’s really quite astonishing how utterly predictable Newt is and he doesn’t even know it.
A Random Quote says
“The whole absurd scheme was blowing up, as anyone should have seen it would. Nixon could probably still have saved himself had he thought about it clearly.”
~Conrad Black
On Nixon’s Fall
Aldershot says
Re Kramer, holy shit.
The Gibson novels sound fascinating. Are they a difficult read?
Well said:
“But a nation adrift, lost to the song of the hyper-real is far more fragile than even Woolsey can imagine.”
Too lazy to look, but there’s a youtube clip where McCluhan (sp) talks about how people physiologically react when watching TV. I can attest to this, as there have been times I’ve given up TV for awhile, and when I finally sat down to watch, I could actually feel a relaxation response, as if my blood pressure were dropping, or something.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Kramer gives good television:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWksEJQEYVU
Dr Leo Strauss says
That’s one of the ironies of Angelton’s sick think. His own subordinate, Ed Petty, later in the molehunt clusterfuck, compiled a massive collection of inferences, connections to blown operations, etc. and produced a towering analytical indictment of Angleton himself, saying there was an 80-85% chance Angleton was the mole, running Golytsin. Petty’s report reached and pre-occupied the highest levels of management, although Colby, never an Angleton-phile, dismissed it out of hand.
Just like a North Carolina prosecutor demonstrated, once the apparatus utters “J’accuse”, the institutional momentum usually is awesomely destructive to the target, regardless. There was a reason Congress passed the Mole Relief Act.
Comment says
re Angleton – Doc, do you think he was the mole himself, playing for keeps?
Comment says
Baudrilliard’s illumination of the hyper-real was a bit like Machiavelli’s “Prince” in the sense that critics mistoke both for prescriptions or recommendations or ideologies or progams.
Just turned on c-span post GOP Iowa debate and Dubya is babbling about the broken bridge like a lost youngster.