Thanks to Orrin's recent reference, I just re-read Lipstick Traces and a good deal of the book is about this subject. Well, maybe the whole thing is implicitly about this or should have been explicitly about this...
Anyway, the Situationists were the instigators of the '68 French Revolution/Uprising and they were very concerned with the culture/leisure/politics trifecta, obsessed really.
Their "pose" had a lot in common with Fascism in that it was a "Third Way" between economic liberalism and Marxism... They abhorred boredom which was what happened when one filled the leisure time crated by economic liberalism with "being entertained" or "observing" or by implication "engaging in politics". Instead, one should "live"... Now, what they thought "living" was, was clearly not what a conservative thinks it should be, but there is the shared repulsion at the entertainment society and ironic detached observing that the American Left loves so much...
I guess, both sides (situationists and conservatives) saw "entertainment" and "politics" as essentially bad bargains and tools that "they" (whomever they are) use to maintain control.
Something I personally agree with, as I've always believed that politics itself is essentially unconservative....
And then this leads one back to Mailer's (!) insight that there are Left and Right conservatives with the Situationists being Left conservatives...
Twn
· 1 year ago
Ah, Lipstick Traces. I really enjoyed that book & there was even a CD you could buy that was the soundtrack to it. Of course, a lot of it is first-class BS, but it's entertaining BS and Marcus, if I remember correctly, admits in the introduction that he's basically indulging in a drawn out self-indulgent riff.
That book was all I needed to know about the Situationists and follower groups; check out the source material & a lot of it's impenetrable hooey.
bennyonesix
· 1 year ago
Mr. Siegel is right on the edge of the final insight but then fumbles.
I'd say he more than fumbles, he gets it backwards.
The culture affords people independence from politics and is, therefore, intolerable to liberals.
Exactly, as they say "all politics is personal" and the author is completely wrong when he attributes that sentiment to McCain/Palin...
One final thing, he also biffs the "humiliation" thing... McCain speaks of his being "broken" in christian terms. it's not the humiliation, it's the salvation that's important.
All Comments
Anyway, the Situationists were the instigators of the '68 French Revolution/Uprising and they were very concerned with the culture/leisure/politics trifecta, obsessed really.
Their "pose" had a lot in common with Fascism in that it was a "Third Way" between economic liberalism and Marxism... They abhorred boredom which was what happened when one filled the leisure time crated by economic liberalism with "being entertained" or "observing" or by implication "engaging in politics". Instead, one should "live"... Now, what they thought "living" was, was clearly not what a conservative thinks it should be, but there is the shared repulsion at the entertainment society and ironic detached observing that the American Left loves so much...
I guess, both sides (situationists and conservatives) saw "entertainment" and "politics" as essentially bad bargains and tools that "they" (whomever they are) use to maintain control.
Something I personally agree with, as I've always believed that politics itself is essentially unconservative....
And then this leads one back to Mailer's (!) insight that there are Left and Right conservatives with the Situationists being Left conservatives...
That book was all I needed to know about the Situationists and follower groups; check out the source material & a lot of it's impenetrable hooey.
I'd say he more than fumbles, he gets it backwards.
The culture affords people independence from politics and is, therefore, intolerable to liberals.
Exactly, as they say "all politics is personal" and the author is completely wrong when he attributes that sentiment to McCain/Palin...
One final thing, he also biffs the "humiliation" thing... McCain speaks of his being "broken" in christian terms. it's not the humiliation, it's the salvation that's important.