Desember 7th 2011

OBSESSION
& DUTY
IS THERE NO ALTERNATIVE
Content in order by writers:
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Nicolas Siepen
Henrik Srlied
Alex Wengshoel
Bente Aanestad Tungland
Clio Flego
Eirik Fagerheim
Hilde Marstrander
Kre Grundvaag
Laura Frattolillo
Maija Liisa Ingebrigtsen
Maria Dorothea Schrattenholz
Martha Kristin Wallevik
Matti Aikio
Pia Mathea Leine
Shameer Nyland Ali
Sigmund Carlsen
Vivian Srli
rjan Amundsen
e Majority of the 3rd Class
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Obsession & Duty (O&D)
A book isnt produced in order to be understood, but is rather a machine for producing desires Its not as a book
that it could respond to desire, but only in relation to what surrounds it. A book is not worth much on its own. ... So,
its only because a book participates in a larger re-shuffling, a resonance between research and desire. A book can
respond to desire only in a political way, outside the book. Deleuze & Guattari
It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a
bank clerk...Bertolt Brecht
The O&D seminar is open for all students. We developed this
special format in order to establish a sustainable
forum at the academy, where singular and personal artistic
interests, desires and ideas (obsession) can be exchanged,
discussed and linked to more general, theoretical, political
and artistic problems and texts (duty). O&D is in this respect
not a pure theory seminar for art students but rather a space
where art and theory can be connected in order to practice how
to map out a theoretical landscape (research) around your
desires, interests and ideas. On top of that O&D has an aim to
develop collectively a little reader at the end of each
semester, where the results of the seminar are made available
and public.
We will start with the book by Mark Fisher: Capitalist Realism.
Is There No Alternative?
The films we watch:
Children of men, Alfonso Cuarn, 2006
Battle in Seattle, Stuart Townsend, 2007
Margin Call, J.C. Chandor, 2011
It's the property stupid!
London riots 2011:
Highest estimated cost of UK riots: 100m.
Tax Avoidance by Vodafone: 6 Billion.
Tax avoidance in 2010 by richest people in UK: 7 Billion.
Tax payers' bill for banking crisis: 131 Billion
Perspective: priceless
Free like a bird in paradise. When attempts are made working on the basis of this time and the
historic and geographical location to differentiate nature and culture from one another, this is always
done from the standpoint of culture. In other words, there is no untouched nature (any more)! The
distinction as such is a cultural act, a form of contact, of cultivation. And people are the natural product
whom this cultural distinction affects. In their extreme forms, nature, as distinct from culture, appears
to be either idyllic, original and untouched (paradise) or wild, menacing and chaotic (hell).
Correspondingly, human nature is either good, as in the natural state (so before culture), or evil because
it has not been resolved by nature (animals), converted into culture and made civilized. The beautiful
landscape provides the heavenly, ideal side of things, while natural disasters, the jungle represent the
unpredictable, hostile side of nature. However, both sides are inseparably interwoven with one another;
it all depends on the point from which one regards them and how closely one is exposed to nature, and
in what situation. A jungle is a beautiful landscape as long as we do not have to battle our way through
it. A natural disaster may be a sublime thing to watch, as long as we watch it on the television. This
form of contact could be called semiotic or aesthetic, as a precursor to designation and medialisation:
nature as a landscape, a photograph or in general a picture. As a material process or matter in motion,
nature can be merciless, deadly even. However, in the midst of material structures and flows, humans
have learned how to assert themselves, and they will have developed culture by means of techniques in
this permanent exchange. As matter, nature is not a landscape or a picture, but work and survival. No
matter how much humanity believes, here and now, that it has liberated itself through technology,
culture or civilization from its natural, material foundation, it has never succeeded in freeing itself
entirely. Predefined basic qualities (respiration, energy, protection, nutrition, procreation, etc.) require
the material underlying of nature in exchange. Apparently entirely artificial worlds such as major cities
which in their inner nature can only be described as thoroughly cultivated (parks, zoos, etc.) are in
reality undergoing a permanent exchange with a wild exterior. The necessity of maintaining a regular
nutritional intake has perhaps had the strongest influence on the development of cultural techniques
which are supposedly unaffected by all forms of contact and even destruction. Three ways of making
the land or the soil useful are known: hunters and collectors, livestock breeding and farming. The first
requires a nomadic lifestyle, the second is on the threshold between nomadic conditions and settled
conditions, and the third requires settled conditions. Possession develops as a consequence of settled
conditions: "The first person who surrounded a plot of land with a fence and came up with the idea of
saying 'this belongs to me', and the people who found that it was sufficient simply to believe him, were
the actual founders of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how much misery and fear
would humanity have been spared, had someone only torn out those fence posts and called to his fellow
people: 'Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the
earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody'." (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin
and Basis of Inequality Among Men). One of the pioneers of the French Revolution and hence the
worldwide triumphal march of the bourgeoisie, speaks here in the spirit and like a wise Indian chief or
a moderner ecologist, and he does so with the idea of the good natural state at the back of his mind.
But do we still live on the earth, or rather on the economic processes set in motion by the said
bourgeoisie as capitalism, on a gigantic body formed from streams of money?! The history of capital as
a new dwelling for mankind implies something which Karl Marx called The Secret of Primitive
Accumulation: The so-called primitive accumulation (previous accumulation, according to Adam
Smith), therefore, is nothing else than the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means
of production. It appears as primitive, because it forms the prehistoric stage of capital and of the mode
of production corresponding with it. The economic structure of capitalist society has grown out of the
economic structure of feudal society. The dissolution of the latter set free the elements of the former.
The immediate producer, the labourer, could only dispose of his own person after he had ceased to be
attached to the soil and ceased to be the slave, serf, or bondsman of another. [] In the history of
primitive accumulation, all revolutions are epoch-making that act as levers for the capital class in
course of formation; but, above all, those moments when great masses of men are suddenly and
forcibly torn from their means of subsistence, and hurled as free and unattached proletarians on the
labour-market. The expropriation of the agricultural producer, of the peasant, from the soil, is the basis
of the whole process." In retrospect, the second half of the 20th century appears to be the historical
moment in which mankind, on a massive, worldwide scale, wished repeatedly to flee work and
possessions and indeed fled from them, and decided against the consequences of this primitive
accumulation. This flight led to the country, into the forests, into the deserts, into the landscapes; and
also into the pictures of nature. Cinema and photography have expressed these flights, and here it is
possible to see how work, possessions, subsistence briefly followed culture out of the towns. In these
pictures you see, nature appears fascinating and menacing as a landscape as it appears to be free from
work, possessions and subsistence (contact), which it never is. The figures in the pictures are just
recovering from work or have just started working. Free like a bird used to mean being released for
shooting (Outlaw). By the way, a bird's nest is a piece of culture or even a piece of art and thereby a
product of labor. There is no paradise!
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"You can't prove anything that happened yesterday. Now is the only thing that's
real."
The radical indian intellectual Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), when explaining his
concept of the liberated subject, stressed the importance of being "outside" of time
psychologically. In The First and Last Freedom, he writes; "There is time as yesterday
by the watch and as yesterday by memory. You cannot reject chronological time; it
would be absurd-you would miss your train. It is there really any time at all apart from
chronological time? (...)time is the product of mind." Happiness and freedom is a
timeless condition, when the subject is not occupied with a ceaseless construction of
the world based on traumatic memory and anxious hopes and fears for the future.
"When we use time as a means of acquiring a quality, a virtue or a state of being, we
are merely postponing or avoiding what is." The only reasonable way out of our rut, he
argues, is to stop, be still and live completely in the present. Only then will we see
things more or less clearly, and act reasonably.
"A culture that privileges only the present and the immediate."
That is, of course, our very own late-capitalist global culture, in the words of Mark
Fisher. It has been very well argued that the post-fordist subject, at least culturally and
ideologically, exists in a "vertiginous continuos present", lacking narrative memory, but
retaining a formal memory, enough to keep society and individuals operating at a
technical level, but without any stable past or reliable identity. The past is reinvented at
every convenience. And the future is never contemplated, except as a perpetual state of
business as usual. Is this, then, the out-of-time liberation of Krishnamurti?
"First of all, why do we want to change what is?"
Because we are dissatised with being debtors and junkies in a crazy world-wide
casino, thats why. Of course, on one level, we all accept the "incommensurable and
senseless" - the collective dreamworld of capitalist realism. But our repressed, or rather
side-tackled dissatisfaction returns, we feel the inherent violence and infantile
narcissism of consumer culture like cancer in our gut. Depression and compulsion is
everywhere. We do want to get out. Dont we?
"I will get out of it in time..."
Of course, the global memory disorder of capitalism has not put an end to the
"progress" of history. Things are happening. And history has always been an ideological
dream of a instrumentalized past. The greatest shift have perhaps been to cut culture
off from its past. Instead of legitimizing political power as an extension of the past, the
foundation of current pseudo-politics is rather the continuous craving for some x; prot,
commodity consumption, media coverage, whatever will never slake the thirst of the
junkie-citizen. This is the true vertigo of the present, past and future forgotten in the
pursuit of a frantic activity that supposedly will lead to gratication, even satisfaction of
some cryptic fundamental need. Which it of course never does, junk never does that. To
Krishnamurti, that is still trying to reach peace and happiness through the processes of
time, through a complex of conict renewing itself through the attempts to resolve it.
"The mind is always still when it is interested, when it desires or has the intention
to understand."
Krishnamurti's point seems clearer by comparison. History is useful, in technical
matters, but the important thing is that our presence in the present should be fueled by
a spontaneous enthusiasm, a subjective will that is free from the lust of result, but
engages the experience of the immediate processes of existence (that are also a form
of conict, in another way) as its main objective. This interest in the real, as opposed to
the consensus-based realities of ideology, the dreamwork of capitalist realism, is not, he
argues, dependent on the processes of historical time, but are immediately accessible.
We are after all of this world, and tted to deal with it. The point where you can see two
or more intellectually constructed realities overlap is only terrifying if you think that these
dreamworlds should offer any answers. The real world is always there.
"Revolution is only possible now, not in the future."
So, it is useless to wait. Wait for what, exactly? The revolution as a Hegelian version of
the Second Coming of Christ? "Dont worry, it will solve itself when the Revolution
arrives." Again, the reproduction of earlier forms of violence and obsession under
different ags. Change is only possible when the current situation is understood,
accepted as it is, and then discarded. For what? For another set of dogmas and
illusions and preconceived ideas? Out of the frying pan and into the re? The past
ideological systems have been imposed upon physical and social reality. When this
reality have been found to not comply with the normative propositions of the ideological
system, it has more often than not been seen as a defect in reality, not in the ideological
system. As the present moment seems to open up prospects of change and transition
(this is of course always possible, but rarely recognizable), we must keep our heads
clear and not usher in yet another ideological, intellectual construct, a new dreamworld
to chastise reality. The thing we need to see and understand is what people need, as
individuals and collectives, two sides of the same coin really. Our goal can not be the
implementation of new false gods, wish-fulllment philosophies.
"Creating in the eternal Now is always heavy..."
Or is that so? Can we operate without any illusions? Is not our very consciousness of a
basically hallucinatory character? Isnt even language, the foundation of society, always
indicative of subterfuge, vested interest and intellectual prejudice? Of course it is. We
are the creators of our own intellectual and symbolical worlds, at least we could be. The
mind has been an object for imperialistic conquest, perhaps more so than any other
eld. The intellectual trappings of the dominant ideology, the cultural neuroses and
symbolic structure of the vulture-like nancial elite, lies embedded deeply in our
thinking. The way we think about ourselves, our bodies and emotions, our relationships
with others and with the world at large, all this is conditioned by capitalist realism. Even
our resistance towards capitalism is often trapped within the logic of capitalism. How do
we get out of our own heads, then? And wont we land, sooner or later, in another head,
which we then make our own? Is it the joyful, life-afrming illusion, or the stark, naked,
uncompromising insight into the nature of things and their interrelations that is the
genuine source of freedom? I think the difference between Nietzsche and Krishnamurti,
vaguely outlined here, is not so great as it rst may appear. Both claim that thought, the
intellect, can not, will not release us from the mental chains that bind us to the sinking
ship that is the capitalist civilization. The transcendence of the labyrinth of reason is
prerogative to realize the arbitrariness of intellectual systems, and then redene ones
own reason to be.
"Sit still. Stop thinking. Shut up. Get out!"
This is how Aleister Crowley, the British mystic, charlatan and decadent poet,
summarized the practice of yoga. William Burroughs enters the same territory when he
writes about the Word as a parasitic virus, visualized as a double body intersecting your
own. Try to be silent, not to think or speak to yourself, for ve or then minutes. The
word-virus forces you to speak. It won't let you rest. The parasitic Word keeps us
agitated, constantly within time, bound to patterns of addiction. The virus can not live
and reproduce on its own, it must steal and wear the esh of another, more vital
creature, mould the cells of living tissue into receptacles of its own code. The virus is
both bound to history, to the progression of time as psychological events, but is also
dependent on the negation of time in the form of memory disorder. The infected cellular
tissue, now producing clones of the original virus, does not remember that it once was
anything other than a host for viral infection. If it could remember the violent
transformation enforced on it, it could theoretically transform back into healthy tissue.
But the virus keeps it occupied. The virus also keeps itself occupied, always striving to
make more clones of itself, never questioning what for or where to. Vertigo of the
present. Silence, Burroughs claims, kills the virus. Sit still. Stop thinking. Shut up. Get
OUT! Today, the phrase may as well be used as a political slogan.
"The difculty with most of us is that we have not the intention to understand,
because we are afraid that, if we understood, it might bring about a revolutionary
action in our life and therefore we resist."
In other words, we are security junkies. We need, crave, the safety of not really having
to change, not really having to face our problems. That is why so much time is wasted
on politics that are only in name and theory democratic, socialist, progressive or what
have you. Parliamentary democracy offers the illusion that it is possible, within an
entirely capitalist framework, to effectively represent alternative currents. The presence
of the left wing in capitalist societies is there to relieve some of the worst symptoms, but
not the cause. And these policies also depend on a historicizing, normative process of
selective memory loss. Its causes are fundamentally abstract, the implementation of
doctrine. Can a real alternative be based on the idea that there is one correct political
theory, one correct way of organizing society? I do not think so. The idea implies that
physical experience, physical existence, can be reduced to abstraction, to statistics.
That is a move away from the real, social and immediate, into the unreal, history, time,
isolation and solipsistic wish-fulllment. The belief that any single ism (communism,
anarchism, fascism, buddhism, occultism, pacism, etc. ad nauseam) can solve our
problems, you own problems, is just another smart trick to postpone the necessity of
facing yourself. Taking care of your own business, understanding your own fear and
desire. Ideology keeps us within time, where we are safe from being confronted with
ourselves. But this confrontation is absolutely necessary to free oneself from the known,
the ideas that obscure ones real desires. It seems we must throw all our intellectual
baggage overboard and ask a serious question: What is it we really want? Decent lives?
Solidarity and meaningful relationships? Free association? Sex and drugs? Wandering
off into the wilderness, never to be seen again? Perhaps we can't really know what we
want at the present. Or desire may very well be incomparably protean, not answerable
to any easy denition or outline. Anyway, history will carry along quite ne without us
minding it. If we want to derail history and get society out of time, some heavy,
widespread collective action must occur. But that cannot spring from a dream of the
future, but from a realization of the present. If we can not, will not, "get out" and live
meaningful lives under these conditions, we aren't likely to be able to lead meaningful
lives in Utopia. No external force can solve our problems for us, like a divine
intervention, we must ourselves be the force that transforms.
Transforms what, exactly? Never mind. just...
Keep calm and carry on the resistance.
Citations (All bold headings, in order of appearance)
1: Ufomammut/Lento; Infect One+Down from the split album Supernaturals Record One, 2007
2: Mark Fisher; Capitalist Realism, 2009
3: Jiddu Krishnamurti; The First and Last Freedom, 1954
4:Ibid
5: Ibid
6: Ibid
7: The Heads, track title from the album Under the stress of a headlong dive, 2006
8: Aleister Crowley; Eight Lessons on Yoga, 1939
9: Krishnamurti; The First and Last Freedom
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the new enslavement of the western world
is capitalism
This is a highly unpolitical statement. You know man, its like
this you know. Crap, bullcrap. I wan't the green bag. Give it to me
boy.

why?
why is it like this? i mean, like..... it is just so lame..........
green bag.
but what can we do? to put an end to all this nonsense....... what can the people do?
how are the people? you, me, him........ fuck......... why? do we have an answer?
the people is the factory, the factory is the greedy man, the greedy man
is the world power, money........?
It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs
some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it's more like a vulture. It
used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody's blood whether they were strong or
not.
But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of
the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, the capitalism has less victims,
less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker.
It's only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely. -malcom x
The forces of a capitalist society,
if left unchecked, tend to make
the rich richer and the poor
poorer. -JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
You have money, you have power, you
are immortal?
The need of a constantly expanding
market for its products chases the
bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the
globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle
everywhere, establish connexions
everywhere. KARL MARX
The things you own end up
owning you.
Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like,
lives only by sucking living labor, and lives
the more, the more labor it sucks.
The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.
Karl Marx
Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful
business opportunity. Karl Marx
Pimps, they say things to you and they dont explain it, politicians are the same. They just
talk shit. And here we are the hore of the goverment, do as your told or else we take away
everyting you got.
Do we whant to be the hores in this system, we work and work and work, but they take all
the money and give you some alowens money. This is how they do it, just like the pimps
on the corner. The only differens is that the politicians thave big offices in big bouildings.
Are we a buntch of hores?
NO WE ARE NOT.............
FREEDOM, we demand it.
Starte the revolution now, we are getting fuck in the ass by this pimps.....
fuck me man, it is now or never. No future, no tomorrow, only today, now..... We have to
revolt, revolution.
Machines were, it may be said, the weapon employed by the capitalists to quell the revolt
of specialized labor. Karl marx
The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people. Karl marx
Capital is money, capital is
commodities. By virtue of it being
value, it has acquired the occult
ability to add value to itself. It brings
forth living offspring, or, at the least,
lays golden eggs.
Where the money is, you can
find the greed of men, ho
only sees him self and not
thous ho are the people. it is
all Corrupt bye the greed of
men.
Give me the green bag, green bag
Crap, its all crap, bullcrap i tell ya
how are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how
are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are
the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the people?how are the
people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the
people?how are the people? how are the people? how are the people?how are the
people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the people? how are the
people?how are the people? how are the people? how are the people?
world money, all world money, all world money,all
world money, all world money,all world money, all
world money,all world money, all world money,all
world money, all world money,all world money, all
world money,all world money, all world money,all
world money, all world money,all world money, all
world money,all world money, all world money,all
world money, all world money,all world money, all
world money,all world money, all world money,all
world money, all world money,all world money, all
world money,all world money, all world money, all
world money.
the new enslavement
of the western world is
capitalism.
"Everything the State
says is a lie, and
everything it has, it has
stolen." -nietzsche
My object in life is to
dethrone God and
destroy capitalism.
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Ceorge W. 8ush: [speakIng at the |anhattan nstItute]
Ccptclsm o]]ers people the ]reedom to choose where they work cnd whct they
do.
Lady In Festaurant: [readIng the classIfIed ads]
There snt cnythny n here. lm not yony to be c yentlemens club hre dcncer
ether.
(Irom Capitalism. a love storv, Michael Moore 2009)
The capitalism know how to make people Iall in love: touching the keys oI emotions and Iun.
Give something with a nice look and that is comIortable.
Give amusement, good mood and careIree.
Everything appear splendid, everything is a surprise and give brightness in your eyes.
It's the best part oI the love.
Thus, when the love Iinish, the beginning oI the ending period can start.
Likewise in the best love stories when we recognize that it's Iinish,
we should break up, and let's go to try something diIIerent.
Think about, analyze all, but than move away, Iar Iar away.
'lnnovcton tsel] s beny reduced to routne'
Joseph Schumpeter, Ccptclsm, socclsm cnd democrccy, 1942, p.1J2
The population oI the XXI century maybe not have still understood in which way do it:
instead to run away Irom the cancer, we are going to it.
We are building new governments and new states based on the same economists and bankers whom
have created this bankruptcy system. Not only this, but we also are going towards a new society
much more privatize then beIore. In Italy such as many European countries, we are selling the
public heritage and public goods at the same private companies which are destroying the world,
whether Ior the society and Ior the degradation oI the environment.
Italy is actually a typical example oI this situation: Economist Mario Monti Iormed a new Italian
government without a single politician, drawing Irom the ranks oI bankers, diplomats and business
executives tasked with ensuring the country escapes looming Iinancial disaster.
The state have just sold the National Ilag carriers, the toll motorway and the major telephone
company, and they are planning to sell the national railway and the health service.
The decs o] economsts cnd poltccl phlosophers, both when they cre ryht cnd
when they cre wrony, cre more power]ul thcn s commonly understood. lndeed
the world s ruled by lttle else.
John |aynard Keynes
The AlIonso Cuaron's 2006 Iilm Children of men the public space is abandoned, given over to
uncollected garbage and stalking animals.
Could it be a premonition? Or a gaze towards what is happening?
What Mark Fisher underline in Capitalism Realism. Is there no alternative?about the movie
is the Irame where cultural treasure, such as Michelangelo's David or Picasso's Guernica, are
preserved in a building oI the elite that is itselI a reIurbished heritage artiIact.
May be an other Iuturistic imagination.
The humcn beny s n the most ltercl sense c poltccl cnmcl, not merely c
yreycrous cnmcl, but cn cnmcl whch ccn ndvducte tsel] only n the mdst
o] socety.
Kcrl Mcrx
What are we became?
Always more close-mind, always to think at our own
well-being and not at the public wellness.
We have Iorget the knowledge oI the 'public, we
don't know what's means be part oI the society.
But the capitalism is made by consumerism. And the
population is become a merely consumers.
Aesthetic objects to collect, domestic appliance
which no one use, cars that none is allow to use any
more.
The power have bandage our hand and close our eyes
with all consumerist goods that we don't need, but
that give us something to think about, something that
occupied our brain.
The capitalism have produced the most
brainless human being who is never existed.
The new-human-being can stay in Iront oI a
screen where several images are screened
Ior hours and hours, without understand and
remember anything.
The new-human-being have three mobile
Ior spend less money, but have no one to
call.
The new-human-being can go at London,
Paris, Barcelona in only Iew hours spending
only Iew euro, but when arrive there go
only to make a lot oI pictures (that
download on Facebook aIter Iew minutes)
and go to buy alcoholic stuII Ior get drunk,
spending the holiday without talk with
someone.
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What is money?
Why do I care about money?
It shouldn`t aIIect me.
I have other values.
Justice, Ireedom, solidarity, security, kindness and honesty.
Money is a reassuring joy.
An assurance.
Ive got money in the bank.
I have obtained values, security and saIety Ior the Iuture.
It reminds me oI having Iood and Iirewood to survive the winter.
But will money save me when the economic winter is coming?
Can symbolvalues be stored?
The Iirst step I took to open up the possibilities, was when I understood that money is a selI-
deception.
The only thing human beings can use against apathy is our Iantasy and common sense.
Fantasy to imagine society`s possibilities.
Well, what about the Iantasy in earning money?
You have to think about yourselI.
And your Iamily.
Nobody else will.
Do you think you can survive without money?
Or a society without money?
You are a Iool.
Fooling yourselI.
As I started to get rich, I started thinking, what the hell am I going to do with all this money?
You have to learn to give.
You cant pay anyone back, so you try to Iind someone else you can pay Iorward.
What does it mean to give?
Recieving a giIt makes you happier.
Give your money away.
Get your money Ior nothing.
Just as a giIt.
From anyone.
Sounds better than getting nothing.
From nobody.
When does the logic oI capitalism gonna turn?
Where?
I heard it`s gonna happen at tonights party.
I gotta Ieeling that tonight's gonna be a good night.
I will say it as it is:
There is no alternative to tonights party.
And you are invited.
Come on, join the party!
I dont think so.
I dont care too much about partying.
I rather stay home and watch television.
Its the last episode oI the news tonight.
There is no such thing as a home.
We are all homeless consumers.
Seeking a saIe shop to spend our well earned money.
Go and buy yourselI a barrel oI gold.
Yes, I have deserved it.
It will look good in my home.
Right next to the bread and the milk.
Its a saIe place to store my values.
Your gold wont corrode, but the problem is that it doesnt give you interest.
Growth is a natural thing.
Everything grows. Threes, animals, humans. Think about the cell division.
Everyhing dies. Threes, animals, humans. Think about how many brain cells dying while you are
thinking about this.
Stop think about that. You are making me depressed. Now think about money.
Money.
Money is good Ior me.
I need my precious money.
It make things happen.
I always want things to happen.
Even iI I only want to make an example out oI it.
The logic oI money.
It is in my natures ashes.
Im not convinced.
Im conIused.
You cant escape the logic oI money.
You can try to turn around the exchange but it wouldnt change its Iorm or content.
Im only trying to search Ior its centre.
The society should serve the purposes oI money.
Money should serve the purposes oI society.
Money should serve you.
You should serve money.
Master and Slave.
Slave.
Master.
Monster.
Moneter.
Monetary.
Moneta.
Money.
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ReaIity bites
By Hilde Marstrander
The crisis of the paternal superego, as described in Mark Fishers book
Capitalist Realism, describes how modern reality shows and media coverage
in the era of late Capitalism, focuses on emotions, rather than moral.
The text exemplifies this by the analysis of the reality-show Super-nanny,
where the new generation of kids play tyrants in the household, especially
towards their often painfully helpless parents, which in the book is labeled as
a sign of post modernity's permissive hedonism: where the right to absolute
enjoyment overshadows the need for duties. The pattern in the Super-nanny-
series, clearly illustrates how many parents of today choose to let the kids
have their way in just about anything, with the mantra of anything for an easy
life, instead of implementing some basic ground rules.
Of course, this approach leads to a much worse scenario, as the easy life
gradually becomes a living nightmare.
The demise of the superego
The super-flat structure of non-hierarchy leads to the wayward children
loosing control, in a social setting with few or no boundaries. The show is an
attack on the tendencies of non-existing rules in children upbringing in the
postmodern era, and describes how this leads to a home in chaos. On a
larger scale, the same could be said of societies lacking strong leaders as
seen in the anarchistic internment camps in the film Children of Men, and in
war-zones in underdeveloped countries around the world.
Super-nanny takes over the control of the household, because parents
and society no longer are able or willing to draw up the lines of moral
education, to form a healthy superego. As Mark Fisher points out in the book,
if there would be a show called the Marxist Super-nanny, she would no doubt
turn away from the troubleshooting of individual families to look at the
structural causes which produce the same repeated effect (...) n a culture in
which the 'paternal' concept of duty has been subsumed into the 'maternal'
imperative to enjoy.
EmotionaI sedatives
The examples taken from this reality-show, shows us what has become
a trend in the modern media and entertainment industry: We are moving away
from giving readers, onlookers and spectators the right tools to manage life's
difficult challenges, and avoid education and ethic upbringing. nstead, the
press and television is teaching us to concentrate on emotions, wrapped into
a glossy entertainment package. We enjoy Super-nanny as entertainment,
dwelling on other peoples failures and shortcomings. Still the society has
largely signed off on the responsibilities. Turning the trend, is a job nobody
seems to be willing to undertake. nstead we are consuming other peoples
problems to pass time. No doubt all the hours in front of the television, online,
or over the newspapers and magazines, could be put to better use, in
resolving more important matters. The broken families in the series are not
special causes, but symptoms of a hedonistic society where we rather teach
our children total freedom, than duty and structure. As grown-ups many will
develop these skills, but in the process perhaps create societies where
nothing of crucial importance, for most of us not just the Self no longer is
important.
The Good and the Bad
Media tell us that it is commonly accepted, and to some degree
required, in a society which has become increasingly self absorbed and
egotistical. To be obsessed with activities like loosing weight, update your
wardrobe, look ten years younger, meet a bachelor or bachelorette, have
cosmetic surgery, pimp our rides, cribs and spouses, is the way to go. And the
spotlight searches out celebrities, or other singular individual cases instead
of attacking general problems, and trying to resolve these universal flaws. The
examples are wast, and most of us buy into this media-created recipe for the
so-called Good Life, whilst mental health, harmony, life structure and global
challenges falls into the shadows.
As Mark Fisher notices: TV now tells us how to feel. t does not tell
you how to think anymore. Through clever editing, we are thought to take
sides with good and bad behavior, and price worthy or non-accepted values.
Most of these are, of course, superficial, and the long-term result may be
staggering, as we are becoming a population of media-consumers
programmed to be preoccupied with quick fixes, cheap thrills and selfish
individualism rather than e.g. political consciousness, physical and mental
health, cultural and social revolts and movements. We are thought not to
concern ourselves with the concept of thinking and working on matters which
would be important for the society as a whole, rather than those of a strictly
personal part: Morality has been replaced by feeling. n the 'empire of self'
everyone 'feels the same' without ever escaping a condition of solipsism',
says documentary film-maker Adam Curtis in an interview in register.com.
Unfortunately this has become a reality, which we are all having to deal with in
our everyday lives.
Dangerous seIIing-points
The play on feelings rather than thinking, is a concept the media is
using to their advantage on a grand scale. As a previous newspaper and
magazine journalist, have been interested in the subject for many years, but
have found it hard to get my previous employers to let me write a piece on the
subject. Obviously, such an article would be an admittance to the game play
media chooses to put us through. So, did a test out of my own interest in
2004, to find out what emotions the newspapers are playing on, in their
endeavor to make us pick up a copy of a certain brand of newspaper from the
news-stand. As we all know, certain words trigger our emotions; they are
designed to scare or amuse us into buying their papers. And we certainly do.
Searching the three words dangerous (farlig), harmless (ufarlig) and
health (sunnhet) at two different online newspapers showed a telling result,
with dangerous topping the list in one newspaper with 40 000 hits, while
harmless gave me 4 000 in the same newspaper. For this O&D-publication,
did the same test again, and the numbers are still as revealing.
When searching dangerous (farlig) in the online version of newspaper
VG, got 44 500 hits. The word harmless (ufarlig) gave 2 730 hits. While
health (sunnhet) gave the meager result of 509 hits.
Executing the same test in the online version of newspaper Dagbladet,
dangerous (farlig) got 7 026 hits. The word harmless (ufarlig) gave 703
hits. While health (sunnhet) gave only 98 hits. The difference between the
numbers in VG and Dagbladet can be explained by the fact that Dagbladet
archives their online articles for a shorter time-period, but he numbers still
speak for it self.
This time, also did the same test on Google. Here, dangerous got
602 000 000 matches, and farlig got 16 200 000 hits. The word harmless
got 85 600 000 matches and ufarlig gave 876 000 hits. The Norwegian word
sunnhet gave only 597 000 matches, but internationally it came up with a
staggering 4 360 000 000 hits.
Seems like potential catastrophic, dystopia and danger sells
newspapers, like no other subject. in Norway, and health whether it be
mental or physical seems to be of little interest. While on a global scale
people are actually most concerned with staying healthy and alive. Not so
strange, perhaps, when we know for a fact that most of the rest of the world
do not have their health or the prospects of a long life to look forward to
something the rich countries of the West seem to take for granted. t may be
timely, to suggest that dangerous, in fact, is a very dangerous word, as it
makes fear stand in the way for our opportunities to tackle real problems and
real joy.
Creative editing
Reality-TV has done little to adjust our crocked outlook on life. When
the Reality-wave kicked off in 2004-2005, with productions like Big Brother
and Extreme Makeover, we soon got used to consuming other peoples fears,
mishaps and unhealthy lifestyles and self-images, and the production
companies have had a field-day playing on our uncritical feast. A television
reality show typically features talent culled from the ranks of 'ordinary' people,
not professionally trained actors. Reality show producers shoot hundreds of
hours of footage per episode and use creative editing to create a narrative
thread.
As an X-reality show participant myself, in a fashion-related show
called Shopaholic, which aired on the Norwegian TV-channel TV3, have
myself been the 'victim of creative editing'. n the editing-room, every snip of
what could be seen as interesting background information about designers,
cultural movements like world wars, female liberation, economic recessions
etc. which all have had a huge impact on the development of trends and
innovations through the history of fashion got cut out of the final programs.
What was left, was a shallow and rather evil show, designed to create hard-
edged judges and participants, for TV-onlookers to either love or hate. Every
constructive comments where removed. All compliments got deleted. The
interesting aspects of fashion as a projector of culture, craftsmanship and art,
disappeared in the editing room reinforcing the common idea that fashion
and textiles is a superficial and vacuous industry, with little or no substance.
And at the same time wrongfully misrepresent the subjects, to create
emotions, instead of knowledge
Circus for the peopIe
The Reality-genre was of course invented years before 2004, and
could be traced back to 1948 with the series Cadid Camera. But the peeker-
trend seemed to explode in the media is the middle of the 21. Century. The
celebrity magazine Se og Hr had it's absolute peak in 2004, being read by
two million Norwegians every week. Today, the focus on celebrities are slowly
reclining instead we peek into the lives of ordinary people most of them
with shallow problems instead of fusing our energies to shape our own lives
and futures, and work together for the best of all mankind. t may seem like
we are getting what we deserve, and TV-stations, newspapers and
magazines, will dryly claim that they are only giving us what we desire. We
are literally buying what they have to sell. But the same can be said about the
Roman times, when the masses was given their Colosseum, and got
entertained with blood-baths, violence, fear and death. Surely, we should
have moved on by now? t is perhaps important to remember that in Roman
times, the Colosseum, where carefully designed by State leaders to keep the
focus of the uneducated and misfortunes away from political and global
matters. The same argument could perhaps be launched about the
narcissistic and hedonistic society of the Western world, with our obsession
for the superficial, and our unwillingness to embrace our duties not just to
improve our homes, looks and children, but to each other and the world in
which we live.
K

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TBE C00L 0RPBANS




DONT WORRY BE HAPPY, BE SAD, IT DOESNT MATTER. JUST KEEP ON
DRINKING, KEEP ON DOING DRUGS, KEEP ON FUCKING, JUST KEEP ON
CONSUMING. BECAUSE THERES NOTHING ELSE YOU CAN DO EXCEPT
EMBRACE THE TRUTH. OUR MOTHER EARTH IS A WHORE AND WE ARE ALL
HER BASTARD CHILDREN. OUR FATHERS ARE WEAK, IGNOBLE, AND
COWARDLY CREATURES WHO SHRIVEL IN THE FACE OF HORROR AND
DESERT THEIR CHILDREN WHEN THEY NEED THEM MOST, UNABLE AND
UNWILLING TO HELP. WE ARE ALL EVIL AND DESERVE NOTHING BETTER
THAN WHAT WE ALL HAVE COMING. DEATH. DEATH IS COMING. COMING
SOON.

(quote by admin at americanpoodle.com, How Melancholia* ruined my life)


INTRO: The figure of the orphan is often presented as the hero of the myth.
Theres actually no limit for what one can project onto this character, the orphan
can do or be almost anything, due to her lack of classical familial relations. She has
no roots and no territory that would define her destiny. The orphan is capable of
anything. The orphan is a vehicle par excellence for ideology. Unaware of her true
identity, she is doomed to a life of drudgery and exile.

In his autobiogiaphical novel, Hy Bork Ploces, }ames Ellioy tells the stoiy of his mothei
ueneva Ellioy being muiueieu when hes at the age of ten, anu how he 4u yeais latei tiies to
investigate the case once again with a homiciue uetective. Bei bouy was iapeu anu uumpeu
on a ioauway in a iun-uown L.A. subuib. The muiueiei was nevei founu, not in 19S8 oi in
1996. Thioughout auolescence Ellioy was tuineu on by eluei women, especially those with
ieu haii, like ueneva Ellioy's. Be useu to fantasize of having sex with hei. Bis fathei kept
insisting that she was a whoie anu a slut (she hau left him). Be uieu too, at the enu of Ellioy's
teenage yeais. Be got cancei. The boy is obsesseu with the ieu-haiieu slut, wanueiing the
stieets uoing uiugs, uiinking, stealing, ouu-jobs, anu almost going ciazy, befoie he gets his
shit togethei. Anu becomes the self ueclaieu white-knight-of-the-fai-iight famous authoi of
l.A ConfiJentiol. Americon TobloiJ, Wbite }ozz anu Tbe Biq Nowbere.
}ames Ellioy's book piouuction iepiesents a uemythologizeu, pitch-black woiluview, that
insists on ciuelty, savageiy anu coiiuption as the natuial state of things being. Be has seen the
woilu as it actually is: theie aie winneis anu loseis, mostly loseis. Its an unpiettifieu jungle.
Lets face the animal, eveiyone. Thats the way it goes, all you peacemakei pussies. You have
no chance. BA BA. You suckeis!

Then theies the othei oiphan, Ameiican actoi anu youth icon }ames Bean, who lost his
mothei at the age of nine. She got cancei anu uieu in 194u. Accoiuing to Nichael ue Angelis,
"she was the only peison capable of unueistanuing him". 0nable to caie foi his son, his fathei
sent him to live with his sistei on a faim, wheie he was iaiseu in a Quakei backgiounu. Be
sought the counsel anu fiienuship of Nethouist pastoi }ames BeWeeiu. Be seemeu to have an
impoitant influence upon the young man, especially upon his futuie inteiests in bullfighting,
cai iacing, anu the theatei. Accoiuing to Billy }. Baibin, "Bean hau an intimate ielationship
with his pastoi. which began in his senioi yeai of high school anu enuuieu foi many yeais."
In 2u11, it was iepoiteu that he once tolu Elizabeth Tayloi, his co-stai in 6iont, that he was
sexually abuseu by a ministei two yeais aftei his motheis ueath.
Bis moie unknown ioles on television tenueu to be, like his thiee film ioles, ciazy
mixeu-up kius, teenage uelinquents on the iun, vagiants, convicts, counteifeiteis anu killeis,
though fiom time to time he was also cast as foi example a faim boy anu a lab assistant, a
Fiench aiistociat, an apostle anu an angel.
Be uieu 24 yeais olu in a cai ciash, just befoie the shooting of the boxing film "SomeboJy up
tbere likes me", in his new Poische nameu little BostorJ on the way to a cai iace in Salinas,
Califoinia. Paul Newman got the iole, anu maue his bieakthiough.


The last oiphan, the naiiatoi Ishmael in the famous 18S1 novel Hoby-Bick or, Tbe Wbole by
Beiman Nelville is a fictional one (although, both pievious examples aie obviously
mythologizeu in mass cultuie, anu fictional in that sense).
"Coll me Ishmael," he intiouuces himself in the opening-sentence, alieauy suggesting his
name being an alias (the biblical Ishmael was banisheu into the wilueiness by his fathei
Abiaham). Be pioviues little about his peisonal backgiounu befoie his uecision at the
beginning of the novel to jouiney to Nantucket, Nassachusetts to enlist as a sailoi on a whalei.
To become a whalei is mentioneu to be Ishmaels veision of suiciue; meaning men who ship
out to sea aie "lost to the woilu"; alienateu fiom human society. Aftei the ship leaves
Nantucket, he slowly ieceues into the backgiounu as a commentatoi, leaving moie space foi
captain Ahab as the ieal piotagonist. Bis life piioi to the voyage iemains moie oi less
unsolveu too, although it is known that he was oiphaneu at a young age.
Ishmael soon leains that captain Ahab's single puipose of the tiip is to hunt a specific
whale nameu Noby-Bick, a giant white speim whale. In a pievious encountei, the whale
uestioyeu Ahab's boat anu bit off his leg, which uiives Ahab into uestiuctive obsession anu
monomania to take ievenge. Bis uesiie foi the ueath of Noby-Bick is so fieiy he's willing to
saciifice the whole ciew foi the sake of it. The whale is being object of a majoi
anthiopomoiphism, as human instincts, chaiacteiistics anu motivations aie piojecteu onto it.
Noby-Bick is iuthless in attacking the sailois who attempt to kill him, but it is Ahab who
invests the whales natuial instincts with malignant anu evil intensions. In fact, it is not the
whale but the ciippleu Ahab who alone possesses this chaiacteiistic.
Classifieu as Ameiican iomanticism, the well-known stoiy neveitheless piophetically
uetails the gieat scientific upheaval of 18S9: the publication of Chailes Baiwins 0n the 0iigin
of Species. A piimaiy subtext of Nelville's novel is the passing of pie-Baiwinian,
anthiopocentiic thought. With Ahab's uemise enu the beliefs that man, thiough his iational
faculties, sits atop anu contiols the woilu; that civilizeu man is funuamentally uiffeient anu
supeiioi to uncivilizeu men anu wilu 'beasts'. Ahab's motivation foi hunting Noby Bick is
exploieu in the following passage:
Tbe Wbite Wbole swom before bim os tbe monomonioc incornotion of oll tbose molicious
oqencies wbicb some Jeep men feel eotinq in tbem, till tbey ore left livinq on witb bolf o beort
onJ bolf o lunq. Tbot intonqible moliqnity wbicb bos been from tbe beqinninq; to wbose
Jominion even tbe moJern Cbristions oscribe one-bolf of tbe worlJs; wbicb tbe oncient 0pbites
of tbe eost reverenceJ in tbeir stotue Jevil; -- Abob JiJ not foll Jown onJ worsbip it like tbem;
but Jeliriously tronsferrinq its iJeo to tbe obborreJ wbite wbole, be pitteJ bimself, oll mutiloteJ,





oqoinst it. All tbot most moJJens onJ torments; oll tbot stirs up tbe lees of tbinqs; oll trutb witb
molice in it; oll tbot crocks tbe sinews onJ cokes tbe broin; oll tbe subtle Jemonisms of life onJ
tbouqbt; oll evil, to crozy Abob, were visibly personifieJ, onJ moJe procticolly ossoiloble in Hoby
Bick. Ee pileJ upon tbe wbole's wbite bump tbe sum of oll tbe qenerol roqe onJ bote felt by bis
wbole roce from AJom Jown; onJ tben, os if bis cbest boJ been o mortor, be burst bis bot beort's
sbell upon it.
Hoby-Bick, Ch. 41



*Melancholia, feature film by Lars von Trier, 2011



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Mirrors, wastelands, hope

Far from being a medium of escapist entertainment, the
science-fiction film has always been a sensitive
barometer of the cultural and political climate of the
day. - J.G. Ballard

Mark Fisher's text Capitalist Realism - Is There No Alternative is based
heavily on references, many of them to works of science fiction. Like J.G.
Ballard points out, the science fiction genre offers undisputable possibilities
for critical warnings and questioning of the established systems as well as of
the ethics of our technological developments. Science fiction can fuction as a
mirror for humanity in an everchanging world and offer a somewhat objective
way of seeing the present time from the outside and what it means to be
human whitin that time. Like Fredric Jameson says in his book Archaeologies
of the Future: "science fiction characteristically builds on its present, despite
evocations of the future". In his book Jameson also interrogates the functions
of utopian thinking. Dystopia and Utopia are common themes in science
fiction, and are often explored through the representations of "Otherness" - a
word that connects with a body of criticism that is interested in the way
literature and culture represent "The Other", as explained by Adam Roberts in
his book Science Fiction (The New Critical Idiom). Another genre-specific tool
is the "Cognitive estrangement" as defined by Darko Suvin as involving spatial
and temporal dislocation from the here and now by seeing ourselves from a
new perspective based in the unfolding of an imaginary world both similar and
unfamiliar compared to our own, but not so unfmiliar that it can't be accepted
as a plausible reality.
1
Patrick Parrinder uses the formulation "learning-from-
otherness".
2


Seen in relation to this the aspect of cognitive estrangement in Children of
Men is not very extreme compared to other science fiction works, but maybe
even more uncanny in its subtleness. Even though Fisher argues that the film
can be seen as both dystopian, but not post-apocalyptic in the traditional way,
and as a comment on current cultural sterility and political crisis, its allegorical
qualities is a variation on both the common literary theme of Dystopia and the
Saviour-metaphor of 'hope' often played upon in storytelling. The title itself is
taken from the Bible:

"Lord, thou hast been our refuge: from one generation
to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or
ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God
from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest
man to destruction: again thou sayest, Come again, ye
children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are
but as yesterday: Seeing that is past as a watch in the
night" - Psalm 90 (91).

The film also nods to T.S. Eliot's dystopic poem The Waste Land from 1922,
where a ubiquitous unfertility is dominating the land. This poem is usually
considered modernist, but relies heavily on intertextuality, a device often
associated with postmodernism - and a device Fisher himself uses in his own
text criticising postmodernism (meaning "The dominant cultural logic of late
capitalism", as formulated by Fredric Jameson - although Fisher prefers the
term 'capitalist realism'.) According to Roland Barthes the meaning of a text
does not reside in the text, but is produced by the reader in relation not only to
the text in question, but also the complex network of texts invoked in the
reading process.
3
This is something Fisher obviously is aware of and
comments on in his quest to analyze today's cultural significance (or stagnant
lack thereof).

So Children of Men reflects upon the challenges of today's society and it also
references to more archetypical literary interpretations. Fisher usues it mostly
as a picture of the consequences of capitalism. The feeling of not being able
to control the inevitable changes of the world or not being able to change the
world could be seen as the same issue both in the film and in the capitalist
realism society. But both Fisher's text, the poem and the film ends with a
hope, despite their omnipresent expressions of unsafeness. In Eliot's poem
and the film the last words are Shantih shantih shantih. "Shanti" is a common
beginning and ending to all Hindu prayers, and literally means "peace,"
referencing the invocation of divine intervention and rebirth through an end to
violence. Is that a Utopia - that society is reborn after a catharsis of crisis?

Fisher also mentions the science fiction work Solaris. This is a 1961 novel by
Stanislaw Lem and a 1972 film by Andrei Tarkovsky. (Later also adapted into
a film by Steven Soderbergh in 2002). Stanislaw Lem was Polish and lived
during the Soviet regime, as so did the Russian Andrej Tarkovsky. In this
environment science fiction acted both as an expansion of the physical human
sphere in a controlled society, and as an opportunity to indirect criticise the
regime. This is elaborated by the russian movie maker Pavel Klushantsev in
the documentary The Star Dreamer from 2002. Solaris shares a similarity with
the novel The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin, where the protagonist's
dreams literally come true. In Solaris the aspect of Baudrillard's "Simulacra"
4

comes to life with the appearance of the protagonist's dead wife, when the
representation replaces and supersedes the original, as a sign where the
signified does no longer exist, and thus becomes a 'hyperreal' being. The
'dream come true' in Solaris can also be interpreted as a new beginning, a
new chance, as well as the question of what a mental or physical Utopia really
represents for us - and if it's really desireable.

Fisher states at the end of his text that "anything can happen". According to
science fiction even the most unimaginable of futures can eventually turn into
what we percieve as reality - wether it's utopian or dystopian. If there is a
difference.



References


Capitalist Realism - Is There No Alternative?, Mark Fisher
ISBN 978-1-84694-317-1

Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions,
Fredric Jameson
ISBN 978-1844675388

Science Fiction (The New Critical Idiom), Adam Roberts
ISBN 978-0415192057

Solaris, Stanislaw Lem. English translation by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox
ISBN 978-0156027601

The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot.
http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html
http://eliotswasteland.tripod.com/

Children of Men, 2006. Directed by Alfonso Cuarn

Solyaris, 1972. Directed by Andrey Tarkovskiy

The Star Dreamer, 2002. Directed by Mads Baastrup and Sonja Vesterholt.
Documentary about the Russian filmmaker Pavel Klusjantsev, who influenced the
whole sci-fi movie genre with his legendary filming techniques.




1
Take Me To Your Leader: The Great Escape Into Space. Exhibition catalog at The
National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. Text by Stina Hgkvist.
ISBN 978-82-8154-053-8

2
Take Me To Your Leader: The Great Escape Into Space. Exhibition catalog at The
National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. Text by Stina Hgkvist.
ISBN 978-82-8154-053-8

3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality
4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation


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0nly aILer LLe lasL Lree Las been cuL down.
0nly aILer LLe lasL rIver Las been poIsoned.
0nly aILer LLe lasL BsL Las been cauLL.
0nly LLen wIll you Bnd LLaL money cannoL be eaLen.
BILLIn Eull
IL Is dIIBculL Lo ImaIne lIIe wILLouL money. IL Is an essenLIal parL oI everyday lIvIn.
WILLouL money you cannoL eaL, own a Louse or do mosL oI LLe LLIns LLaL you enjoy.
Money Is LLe areed upon medIum oI excLane and paymenL Ior all kInds oI oods
and servIces.
TLe Idea oI money was conceIved lon beIore LLe use oI old and sIlver coIns or
wLaLever we call money Loday. Eor a lon LIme, we Lraded wLaL we Lad Ior wLaL we
needed and used commodILIes sucL as sLells, corn, salL, nuLs, eLc., Lo pay Ior oLLer
oods. EuL LLese commodILIes were dIIBculL Lo sLore and socIeLIes Lad dIIBculLy
areeIn on LLeIr worLL. TradIn LLereIore ave way Lo LLe developmenL oI money,
wLIcL was a represenLaLIon oI value and was undersLood Lo be leal Lender wILLIn
eacL socIeLy.
My ambIvalence Lowards money Is rowIn.
Is capILalIsm a nILLmare pIll LLaL we Lave all swallowed? And II LLaL's LLe case, are
ILs eIIecLs and sIde-eIIecLs real, or jusL a placebo?
0ur economy seems so very IraIle and Insecure - LelevIsIon Ives LLe ImpressIon
LLaL IL Is collapsIn, all over LLe planeL. Is LLe economIc sysLem as we know IL Loday
expIrIn? Is LLere no alLernaLIve?
0ne Las Lo o Lo exLremes Lo escape capILalIsm. VarIous kInds oI eco vIllaes and
alLernaLIve lIIesLyles seem Lo presenL a way oI lIvIn wILLouL money.
A documenLary on Nrk2 (lIvIn wILLouL money) sLowed a erman woman wLo Lad
lIved Ior IourLeen years wILLouL money. BLe was LryIn Lo dIsLance Ler selI Irom our
compeLILIve socIeLy, and claImed Lo Ieel rIcL wILLouL any possessIons.
WLen sLe was InLervIewed on LLe radIo, LLe same woman was asked II Ler beIn a
celebrILy was a new Iorm oI currency.
LaLely I've been LLInkIn abouL and workIn wILL money In my arL projecLs.
BewIn a cosLume oI money saLIsBes a need Lo LreaL money as LLe sImple maLerIal IL
Is, buL IL's dIIBculL Lo Iorce my mInd noL Lo see LLe symbolIc value oI money.
Ever sInce I was very small, I've been LauLL abouL 'LLe value oI money'. I lon Ior a
reLurn Lo LLaL InnocenL sLaLe oI mInd wLere I once wondered wLy we Lad Lo pay Ior
LLe cLocolaLe I sLole Irom LLe sLop.
In co-operaLIon projecLs wILL Iellow sLudenLs (Fener LIl uLlan and S0orIns
aksjonen) we Lave LrIed Lo quesLIon LLe loan sysLems LLaL banks use, and
InvesLIaLe LLe value oI our smallesL denomInaLIon oI coIn In Norway, LLe S0 ore
pIece, by lendIn ouL money wILL no InLeresL cLares or by sImply IvIn IL away.
TLIs oI course brouLL abouL no radIcal cLane, buL IL dId lead Lo some InLeresLIn
dIscussIons and observaLIons. InLeresL Iree banks, cLarILy, mIcro loans, naLIonal
wae, LrusL and sImply Low people acL around money are some oI LLe aspecLs we
Lave dIscussed.
TLe eneraLIon oI dIscussIons, meeLIns and a spIrIL oI parLIcIpaLIon was perLaps
LLe mosL pleasIn resulL oI LLese projecLs. 0ur work Las Laken our LLouLLs and
quesLIons abouL capILalIsm IurLLer. Even so, I wonder II Mark EIsLer was rILL In
LIs book CapILalIsL FealIsm: 'IL`s easIer Lo ImaIne LLe end oI LLe world LLan LLe end
oI capILalIsm.'IL Is easy Ior us Lo see wLaL Is noL workIn In LLe world oI economIcs.
WLy LLen Is IL so dIIBculL Lo ImaIne a world wILLouL capILalIsm? Is LLe real concern
LLaL we are losIn our ImaInaLIon?
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Matti Aikio
November 2011
Capitalism & Nomadism
This is more or less a draft text a work in progress, which started as a study about conflict
between predator protection politics and reindeer herding. Reindeer herding here represents the
nomadic world. Capitalism certainly has its nomadic dimension. But in this text I will not go
deeper in this theme.
Smi people are the only indigenous people in Europe. They live in the ares of four countries,
Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. In this text I will take a look into problematics of Smi
reindeer herding conflicting with nature conservation politics. I will especially focus in predator
conservation politics and in especially in Finland.
In general, it is quite a miracle, that Smi people still exist, that they havent assimilated to the
surraunding cultures completely. Perhaps, what still exists of their culture and lifestyle exists
because of its nomadic nature. In Smi culture reindeer herding is what carries the nomadic
lifestyle. It is not easy to colonize the ones, who move on the mountains with their reindeer in storm
and blizzard. The fact, that smi reindeer herders are still fighting for their rights, tells that the
colonization of the smi people has not yet been completed.
The legislation of a state reflects the general values of the state. The people in the marginal have to
fight harder to get their voice heard. In Finland the Smi peoples juridical and political status has
improved conciderably since 1950s. How ever the basic rights of the Smi in constitution were
legislated as late as 1995. In Finnish constitution 17 3
rd
subsection says: The Smi as an
indigenous people, the Roma and other groups have the right to preserve and develop their own
language and culture. The right to use the Smi language when associating with the authorities is
legislated
Reindeer doe, prey of a wolverine.
Still image from video installation Crime Scene, Matti Aikio, 2010
What does it mean that Smi people have the right to preserve and develop their culture? For me it
seems, that this definition of culture includes music, art, theatre etc. but excludes the part of culture,
that requires usage of large intact land areas. Intact in the meaning, that they are not occupied by
other, industrial or commercial land users. This always seems to be the conflict point, where Smi
peoples rights collide with the rights of the land owners. And who are the land owners? In Finland,
reindeer herding is practised on state-owned lands. More than 60 % of land area in Finnish Lapland
belongs to the state.
As the owner of the lands, the state is the decision maker about the land usage. According to the
Finnish reindeer herding law, the Smi reindeer herders voice must be listened in decision making
process about the land use, that might effect reindeer herding. According to same law, other land use
actions should not cause larger, than conciderable harm for reindeer herding.
The question about the land ownership in Finnish Lapland concerning state-owned lands is
complicated. There has been research made in the field of legal history in Scandinavia about the
land rights question in the Smi region. One undisputable expert in this field is Kaisa Korpijaakko-
Labba Ph.D. She states that according to Swedish and Finnish legal system, the Smi people
originally owned their lands collectively. Her studies mainly focus in the areas, that nowadays
belong to northern parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland. She states, that it has been proved
through scientific research and also through "doctoral thesis, based on hundreds and hundreds of old
legal historical documents, that the Smi in Finland owned their hereditary lands in this very same
area during the period that Finland belonged to Sweden, that is up to 1809. This right included all
the legal elements typical of ownership rights of that era."
1
She continues, that events turned worse for the Smi, when Finland was severed from Sweden and
annexed to Russia. The Smi areas or the area, that today forms the province of Lapland in
Northenr Finland - had never been part of Finland, but belonged to the province of Vesterbotten in
Sweden. The new Finnish civil servants had "little or no experiense of the local legal customs in the
area."
2
The Smi people continued to use their areas traditionally, but "over the years the land title
of the Smi and their rights were more or less forgotten and almost but, significantly, not entirely
vanished from the official records".
3
And she continues "it is important to underline the fact that
Smi land rights were never transferred to the Finnish state by means either statutory enacment or
case decision."
4
As conclusion of her studies it looks like the state has stolen the land of the Smi areas.
The smi people have been herding reindeer in their collectively owned lands for hundreds or
maybe thousands of years. The predators wolf, eagle, bear, wolverine and lynx have always
been around. How extinct they have been, is a difficult question, because we dont really have
statistics for more than about a hundred years maximum.
There are statistics from Finland since late 1970s until 2008. When we look at these diagrams, it
seems, that wolf population has been lees than 100 in late 70s, peaked up to over 300 in mid 80s,
and is 2008 was about 200. The bear population was about 300 in ealry 70s, and has increased to
about 1600 until now. With lynx the population growth in the same period has been from about less
than 200 to 2400. Wolverine population has grown from about 40 up to aorund 200. Some of those
populations have been alarmingly low, but all have increased rapidly.
So what is it, that creates the conflict between reindeer herding and nature conservation? Why cant
1Kaisa Korpijaakko-Labba, VALTIONMAAT SUOMEN KIINTEISTJRJESTELMSS ERITYISESTI
SILMLL PITEN SAAMELAISTEN MAAOIKEUSASIAA (STATE FORESTS WITHIN THE LEGAL SYSTEM
WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON SMI LAND RIGHTS), Oikesustiede, Jurisprudentia, Suomalaisen
lakimiesyhdistyksen vuosikirja XXXVI, 2003, p.349 (english summary)
2Ibid. p. 349
3Ibid. p. 349
4Ibid. p. 349
the reindeer herders tolerate more predators in reindeer herding areas? State pays compensation for
reindeer herders for found carcasses proven to have been killed by predators. This system is
basically good, but it does not really function from reindeer herders perspective. The problem is,
that state only pays compensation per found carcasses. Some late estimations calculate, that
probably only about 20% of the carcasses are being found. This means, that it is the reindeer
herders, who pay the true costs of the predator politics in the end. Another problem is, that state
keeps delaying payments. Last year Lappi reindeer herding cooperative finally received their
payment from state almost two years late.
Moose hunting on an early spring morning.
Still image from video work Crime Scene, Matti Aikio, 2010 Still image from video installation Crime Scene, Matti Aikio, 2010
During same time period the surveillance against poaching in reindeer herding areas has increased
strongly. So how could state have money to pay compensation for reindeer herdeers, when the costs
of sending police and border guards to follow reindeer herders tracks become so expensive. But this
is a circle, which is feeding itself. Also criminal punishments for poaching have become harder. Still
some reindeer herders are in a situation, where they have to decide, weather to try to protect their
herds and take the risk of being sentenced to prison, or let the predators eat your herd and pay the
costs from your salary, which is decreased by the predators already.
When discussing the ethics of killing predators, we face some comlex philosophical questions. Is it
justified for a wolf to kill a reindeer for hunger? Is it justified for a wolf to kill a reindeer for the joy
of the hunt? How can we know the difference? Is it justified for a reindeer herder to kill a wolf for
fun? Is it justified for a reindeer herder to kill a wolf for protecting his herd? Well, in both of the
cases the wolf might end up losing his life. And also in both of the cases the reindeer herder might
end up in prison. So what is incommon for them both, is that at the moment of the judgemen, their
motives dont count much. For wolf, what counts, is how well he can hide his tracks in a blizzard.
And the same applies to the reindeer herder too, at least if hes hunting illegally.
We have often a tendency to think, that the way natures systems function, always has a higher
ethical justification than our human actions. Or we seem to easily read natures systems through this
kind of prejudices. In the logics of the predator politics this means, that when we see a wolf killing
a reindeer, we think, that this nobel animal only kills because it follows its natural instincts to feed
itself.
This idea is not new. Greek historian, biographer and essayist Plutarch already wrote almost 2000
years ago the first essay thinking about the ethics of eating flesh. Are you not ashamed to mix tame
fruits with blood and slaughter? You are indeed wont to call serpents, leopards, and lions savage
creatures; but yet yourselves are defiled with blood, and come nothing behind them in cruelty. What
they kill is their ordinary nourishment, but what you kill is your better fare."
5
Johan Turi (b. 1854) was the first Smi to write about the Smi way of living and thinking. He came
from a reindeer herding family. In his first book, Muitalus smiid birra (An Account of the Smi)
he writes writes also about reindeer herding and predators. If wolf gets to attack unguarded herd, it
kills herds in one night. Then the Smi people use to say: Fire has burned here.
6
Smi people call
wolf fire, when others ask, how bad it was, they answer: What does not fire burn, when it arrives.
7
The worst is, when wolf arrives to herd of reindeer does. First it kills the calves and later, does.
Then all it has to do is to lie in ambush in the place, where it has killed the calves. The does nature
is such, that it looks for the calve in the place, where the calve was last seen. And wolf kills all the
does, whos calves it has already killed, and you cant herd such does, who are just running around
yarning their lost children.
8
For reindeer herders, the predators represent not only threath, but also sacred beeings and some sort
of collegues. Wolf, for example has also helped the reindeer herders to keep the herd together.
When the wolves were around, the reindeer had to come together and gather around the herders in
search for shelter. This proves, that the relationship between the predators and Smi people is more
comlex, than one could easlily think of. Or at least for me it seems, that in Scandinavia there exists
some kind of prejudice, that smi people generally want to kill all the predators, they can catch.
Niillas Oskal, a smi philosopher stated in his article in Boazodoallu oddasat/Reindriftsnytt issue
2/98 that In the history of ideas, the subject of nomadism is interesting in itself, but gains political
relevance now that the assault on Sami reindeer herding has intensified. The nomad has a long
history as an object of contempt
9
. I have been experiensing a clear continuum to this trend. This
can be seen in public debate as well as in politics in all Scandinavian countries. I have earlier in my
work touched upon these topics in my Crime Scene -installation and in the text, I wrote to Ottar
magazine as explanation of this work.
Nomadic lifestyle needs its space to be able to be nomadic. Today this lifestyle or culture is often
conflicting with the surrounding cultures. Roads are being built, mines established. Smi people
have been under pressure of colonization for hudreds of years and later a target of assimilation
process. That they have not completely assimilated to the surraunding majority cultures is maybe
because of their nomadic lifestyle. Its easier to colonize sedentary people, than nomadic.
In his article Niillas Oskal quotes The Foundation of Philosophy by Hegel: The original beginning
and the first creation of the state has been correctly attributed to agriculture, together with the
establishment of marriage, in that agriculture pricipals include cultivating the earth and therefore
absolute private ownership, which at the same time pushes back the wild nomadic life, those wild
ones who seek their living from place to place and disturb private propertys peace and security of
meeting its own needs, where sexual love is limited to marriage...which ties those needs to the
family and property to the familieswelfare.
10
According to Oskal, Hegel saw sedentary society as a higher step in cultural evolution from
nomadism. The history of civilization begins when the first nomad settles down to farm.
11
What is
5 Plutarch: On the Eating of Flesh, tract one, 2.
6 Johan Turi: Muittalus Smiid birra (An Account of the Smi), 1910, p. 71-72, translation by Matti Aikio
7 Ibid. p. 71-72
8 Ibid. p. 74
9 Niillas Oskal, rran Archive, originally published in Boazodoallu oddasat, (Reindeer herding news), issue, 2/98,
translated from norwegian by Arden Johnson
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
interesting in todays state run reindeer herding politics, is that this still seems to be the goal. The
nomadic reindeer herders should settle down in farms.
Smi reindeer herding is often accused for not being authentic or original, or traditional anymore.
And therefore it should not justification for using lands as nomadic livelihood. Reindeer herders are
using snowmobiles, helicopters and other modern devices in their practise. But from my point of
view, from the inside it has always been like this. Nomadic lifestyle has always been innovative also
in applying new ways and techniques, but mixing them very smoothly with old knowledge and
technology. Traditional knowledge plays important role in indigenous / nomad societies.
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari have written about history of two concepts of science in A
Thousand Plateaus, in chapter Treatise on Nomadology The War Machine. They make the
distinction between nomadic science and royal science. Nomadic science is eccentric, minor science
and State science continually imposes its form of sovereignity on the inventions of nomad
science.
12
Unborn calve, prey of a wolverine.
Still image from video installation Crime Scene, Matti Aikio, 2010
The question of smi peoples right to exist is ambiguous or inconsistent. It seems, that they are
always welcome, as long as their culture means music, art, handicraft etc. But for example
extending the definition of culture over reindeerherding seems to be problem for state, because it
includes land use as part of culture practice. Most nomadic / native people are dependant on using
large land areas in order to practice their way of living. If their land is taken away, big part of their
culture goes as well.
It has been said, that the smi way of thinking is more round, as in comparison the for example
norwegean or finnish thinking is more square like or angular. How does this show in practice? At
least, when you look at how smi built their shelter, lvvu, it is alway round shape as in comparison
the norwegeans lived in a square houses. The smi people had originally eight seasons in their
calendar. And the whole life was organized around the seasonal cycle. According to Johan Turi, a
smis thought does not function in a house, only on the mountains he is able to think. Johan Turis
way of writing could also be defined as nomadic style. His text does not seem to have a beginning
or end. It is just rolling on, perpetually. Hes writings seem related to old craft of traditional smi
storytelling.
In Treatise on Nomadology: The War Machine Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari are trying to
fundamentaly understand the essence of nomadism. They seem to have understood something very
12 Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari: A Thousand Plateaus, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, chapter 12, 1227: Treatise on
Nomadology The War Machine, p. 362
core of the nomadic world view. According to Deleuze and Guattari a nomadic space is smooth
rather than striated. They write the primary determination of nomads is to occupy and hold a
smooth space.
13
What is the smooth space, they talk about? Though nomadism is always seen as
moving, following animals to different lands, Deleuze and Guattari state, that because nomad
inhabits and holds his territory, but not a sedentary place, it is therefore false to define the nomad
by movement.
14
A migrant moves to a new place, because the old has become hostile, the nomad
does not depart, he moves inside the smooth space, that he inhabits.
I believe, that there is fundamental lack of mutual understanding between the smi peoples way of
thinking and the nation state way of thinking. It is has been questioned, if Smi people today are
nomadic by their lifestyle or not, but their way of thinking and reflecting deffinately is. This
nomadic way of thinking is not an ideology. It is way of living, fundamentaly different way of
thinking, especially different nature relation.
Deleuze and Guattari write, that according to traditional, evolutionist western history the nomadic
people have been seen too primitive people to be able to understand state as a form of society.
There is an old scenario: from clans to empires, or from bands to kingdoms. But nothing says
this constitutes an evolution, since bands and clans are not less organized that empire-kingdoms.
15
I think, that most of the conflicts between smi people and the surrounding civilization raise from
lack of understanding their fundamentally different life style, world view and way of thinking.
Guattaris & Deleuzes work is trying to understand this difference on fundamental level.
Nils Oskal writes, how Johan Turi talks about the same problem in Muittalus smiid birra. And I
have understood that the Swedish government wants to help us, which it can, but it doesnt
understand how it really is, our life and our lifestyle, because the reindeer Sami cannot exactly
explain the way it is. I have thought that it would be best if there was a book, where everything
about reindeer Samis life and conditions was written so that it wouldnt be possible to lie to the
Sami and twist everything, those who want to blame the Sami when there are conflicts between
farmers and reindeer Sami in Norway and Sweden. In this book all circumstances and explanations
are written down so that it is clear enough that any reasonable person can understand it.
16
Fingerprints.
Still image from video installation Crime Scene, Matti Aikio, 2010
13 Ibid. p. 410
14 Ibid. p. 381
15 Ibid. p. 359
16 Niillas Oskal, rran Archive, originally published in Boazodoallu oddasat, (Reindeer herding news), issue, 2/98,
translated from norwegian by Arden Johnson
P
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...headphonesHEADPHONES!
In Mark Fishers text Capitalist Realism chapter 4 he gives an illustration where he challenges
his student and asks why he always wore headphones in class. This student replies that it didn
t matter, because he wasnt actually playing any music. And another time he played music at a
very low volume through the headphones, without wearing them. Then Mark Fisher question
why wear the headphones without music or play music without wearing the headphones?
Just like this student I wear my headphones all the time. Although I do not wear my
headphones in class they will have a lie at my desk for everyone to see. It is not that I dont
have room for them in my bag, because I do. It is more that they are available for me any time I
fell like putting them one. I have the headphones with me all the time. If Im going to the store
and will be away for just a few minutes, I need them. If it should happen that I actually forget
my headphones when I go out I will go back to go get them, even if it means I have to run to
the bus.
I think the urge to feel like I HAVE to have the headphones is not that I think I will die without
them; it is more that I feel safe with them. I can disconnect from the world and disappear into
my own world or to use Mark Fishers words, it is all about a reassurance that the matrix is still
there, within reach.
Why does the matrix with the headphones make me feel safe? I think that it is not only the
reassurance that matrix is still there, but also that it is acceptable to not talk if you excuse
yourself and say: I think I will just listen to some music now. My experience is that it is so
difficult to say that I do not want to talk right now, and even if I do say so, people often have
difficulty to accept that and from my experience some people talk away anyhow.
So to the question of Mark Fisher, why wear the headphones without music? So I can be left
alone. Why play music without wearing them, so I can have a distance to people. It is like
wearing a safety jacket, I will survive.
This is how I understand this part of the text and I can relate to it because it feels familiar to me.
Headphones! Headphones Im in control.!
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Artists with Mac are more creative.
All artists have a mac.
Ok maybe not all, but most oI the artists I've seen use a computer, has a mac. Or Mac.
Why? Most artists have more wobbly economy than most people.
Shouldn't artist use Linux? The Iree, global open-source project, made with passion and love Ior new
technology. Linux seems like more oI an mission based on the belieI that everybody should be able to have a
the technology oI today available. For a more educated and better world, not Ior more money to a Iew
companies.
The worlds 10 Iastest supercomputers uses Linux, that means the computer in 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy made to solve the answer to everything, probably uses it to. Not a mac with a spinning beach ball.
But no.
II you own a mac, you 'Think diIIerentAnd you are more creative, and cooler.
You see, unlike the rest - Apple produces the whole product. You get a complete package. The operating
system, the preinstalled soItware, the cassis in one-piece matte aluminum, and the glossy screen that's
reIlecting the surroundings which make it impossible to see whats on the screen. But, it's all with a clean
and clever design, with it's sleek details, topped by the glowing Apple logo Ior everyone to see, admire and
worship. All this Ior twice the price. AIter all - you don't just buy a mac, you invest in a mac.
A person who owns a windows pc are indiIIerent.
A person who runs Linux is a nerd, or got it installed with their shitty pc, probably to make it cheaper, not
having to pay Ior a Windows license.
A person who owns a mac is aware and more in tune with whats going on.
Did I mention the Macbook power supply has a magnet that clicks itselI in it's place to reIill it with energy.
And it lights orange when it's charging, and green when it's Iull.
And it doesn't come with all the crappy bloatware windows pc's come with...
The magic all happens in a Iactory somewhere in China where over a dozen people jumped Irom the
windows to commit suicide. But as the caring company they are, they've now put up nets saving the lost
souls. By the way, the chances oI getting some kind oI cancer are high because oI toxic radiation, so they'll
die earlier anyway..
With each Apple product they sell, they should oIIer a drop oI Steve Jobs cancer-inIected golden liquid.
Cause aIter all, we all want a part oI good ol' Steve in us.
We worship Steve Jobs like a God. And now he's dead, thank God!
This was written on a Macbook Pro.
Schools kill creativity.
Sir Ken Robinson
excerpt from Schools kill creativity found at TED.com.
Recorded in 2006.
Every education system on the earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. Every one, doesn't matter where
you go, you'd think it would be otherwise but it isn't.
At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and at the bottom are the arts,
everywhere on earth. And in pretty much every system too, there's a hierarchy within in the arts; art
and music are normally given a higher status in school than drama and dance.
&ere isn't an educations system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children like we teach
them mathematics, why why not?
I thinks this is rather important, i think maths is very important, but so is dance. Children dance all the
time if they're allowed to will do. We all have bodies, don't we did I miss a meeting?
e truth in what happens is, as children grow up, we start to educate
them progressively from the waist up, and then we focus on their
heads, and slightly to one side.
If you were to visit education as an alien and say what's it for, public education I think you would
have to conclude if you look at the output, you know who really succeeds by this, who have
everything they should, who gets all the brownie points, you know who are the winners? I think you've
had to conclude, the whole purpose in education throughout the world is to produce university
professors. Isn't it?
&ey are the people who come out the top, and I used to be one, so there.. And I like university
professors but we shouldn't held them up as the high watermark of human achievement, they're just a
form of life, another form of life, but they're rather curious, and I say this with a.ection for them, there
is something curios about professors, not all of them, but typically they live in their heads, they live
up there and slightly to one side.
ey're disembodied, in a kind of a literal way, they look upon their
body as a transport for their heads. It's a way of getting their heads to
meetings.
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Farming is fundamental
Burning wool

The Norwegian state tries to stimulate the low wool price by subsidies. The price on wool is between three
kroner and 40 re up to 45 kroner kg, depending on quality (including the subsidies). Wool is delivered to
one of the wool stations, wrapped and sent to be cleaned, for then again to be sent around the world. The
wool has been on a journey around the word before it comes back to me as a consumer. Shape, smell and
features has then changed. The farmer experiences a more brutal world of the wool production, with respect
to disease, predators, injury, failed breeding success and economic uncertainty. Not all of the sheep famers
see the economic beneft by selling the wool, they rather throw it away.
The sheep farmer in this case, are a 27 years old and have 36 animals. He has a part time job in a
supermarket. He lives a fve hours drive out in the countryside. He has given up the opportunity to infuence
the mainstream. In the supermarket where he works, they give local produced products little spacing. They
claim that it is expensive and give low benefts. He claims that the consumer is living in a double moralistic
word.
150 kg wool
burning house
We use the wool to protect us from conditions, such as extreme weather. Wool
can also protect us against fre. It can have a self- quench benefts and melts only
at high temperature. Wool is therefor often used in car and airplane seats.
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rjan amundsen
and fuck the fat ladv, its over when all the kids sing
In Capital realism - Is there no alternative? Mark Fisher argues that there is a disturbingly increase in mental disorders in
the western population, especially amongst the younger generations. And that this problem is a direct cause of the political
and economical system they are apart of, capitalism. What are the symptoms, the diagnosis, and the mechanisms in this
system that have led these problems to arise?
Many will agree that a Many will agree that affective disorders such as depression is widespread among youths today. Attention related problems
are common, and the same goes for dyslexia and other learning disabilities. In Fishers words: "If [...] attention deficit hyper-
activity is a pathology, it is a pathology of late capitalism". Capitalism is also to blame for a disorder described as an in-
versed depression, which Fisher coins depressive hedonia. It involves a feeling that something constant is missing, and that
pleasure is the only way in which this longing can cease. A condition where you're not able to act in different ways than the
acts of pursuing pleasure. Its difficult knowing whats good for you. I guess thats true for everyone, anytime, but for
youths in the process of a metamorphosis? This pressure increases with the forming of the role as an adult, as an individual
individual in a consumer society while being bombarded with emotions, hormones, commercials, law, social rules, prod-
ucts, the entertainment matrix, and ten thousand ideals. Reflexive impotence is a phenomena Fisher sees among british
students, based on his experiences as a teacher. He links it with depression and similar disorders. Reflexive impotence is an
inability to act upon the notion that the contemporary political and economical system are miserable, and that its still use-
less do anything about it. This is widespread and works as a self-fulfilling prophecy, and thus reinforcing itself. Bad things
happen, and you cant do anything about it.
These disorders have a complex causation. Still Fisher points out some possible reasons, and how this is linked to capital-
ism. A fragmented perception of time, enabling a disruption of its linearity. Lack of limitations and discipline, without
duties and close to unlimited resources can easily lead to only fulfilling pleasure. One-sided pleasure seeking, might turn
obsessive, addictive, damaging. Parents having less time spending with their kids tend to be less rejecting, and more fo-
cused on enjoyment. Discipline and socialization is left for the public institutions, especially the educational. This new role
makes it even harder for schools to actually educate students. As with several other institutions which has more and more
been run like businesses, education, Fisher claims, also suffer from this. Increasing bureaucracy and "rationalization" leads
to a school where: "all of the teaching is geared towards passing the exam". Here weight is laid on assessment and their sta-
tistics, and not the qualitative, challenging and social focused education. But don't ill people get help? They get, according
to Fisher often bad or no treatment, and an unexplanation, where disorders equals chemical imbalances in the individuals
brain. Treatment as chemical medicine, manufactured by the psycho-pharmacy industry treats only symptomes. Fisher goes
on to say that there lacks existing causation that points to the social structures, the mechanisms of capitalism, in which these
patients are a part of, and a missing political engagement of the issue.
People are mentally ill. Well, some are, and especially the young are. This issue is a fact. More people are document-
ed to be psychological ill, than previous decades. Documented. And the numbers are raising. Its not only a scientific
fact, but is very much alive in the public consciousness. It can be found in movies, TV-series, music, literature. In ev-
eryday language you can say God, I'm so depressed today, without meaning your suffering from an mental illness
which includes hopelessness, lack of motivation, an inability to feel joy, and that its a condition that might linger on
forever, with a heightened risk of actually killing yourself. The same thing goes for being hyper, it's something you
can be from time to time. Antidepressant medication referred to as the happy pill has become a popular phrase, and
its harmless. I know, words have different meanings in different contexts, but I'm headed towards the assumption that
we are are disguising these and several others disorders in ways that makes us forget and displace, so we dont have
to live with the anxiety and problem it imposes on us.
They overdo everything; they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else", said some ancient
philosopher. Youth have always been in opposition, been testing boundaries, rebelling. One should consider that
newer generations aren't copies of the older. Culture change. Often will the newer generations have qualities or traits
the older dislike or perhaps don't even understand. The increasing understanding, prevalence, acknowledgment of
psychology and mental disorders, can surely count for some of the increased rates of documented ills. And what is ac-
tually a disorder? Disorders change, and their properties is continuously debated. Predicament or disorder? Could
what's called depression be no medical condition, but an expression of a new worldvie what's called depression be no medical condition, but an expression of a new worldview, which doesn't suit the exist-
ing? One that has the be defeated with treatment? Should we call youth itself a disorder?
Wait. Perhaps all this doubt, is just another way of removing the inconsistency of knowing about widespread social
problems such as depression, without having to act upon it. It seems a bit strange that a world with high ranking
ideals as happiness, health, freedom, has an increasing amount of psychological ill people. It's the same world that
disguise disorders in entertainment, phrases, irony, in a collective displacement. This might also be the way in which
we seem to be handling the forthcoming global changes due to the climate crunch, that are especially connected to in-
dustry, consumerism, capital, capitalism. We all know, scientifically and commonly, yet we act as we don't. Perhaps
we kno we know, but it's just to overwhelmingly scary that we become paralyzed. Perhaps our millions of year old brain
arent hardwired in a way that makes us care about planning long-term and for a large population. Or perhaps we've
become paralyzed by a learned helplessness, a self-fulfilling prophecy, where a bleak future accompanies feelings of
sadness, misery, discourage and an inability to enjoy, and act?
Something in the way
Left right left right
Something in the way
A system of perpetual exploitation and generalized criminality
Rebellion and defiance makes my muthafuckin' cock hard
I aint never gonna bow
down to your expectations down to your expectations
Something in the way
Their system of perpetual consumption and continuous development
Im just being real, nigga fuck you
They want us to go to
these schools
but
fuck it fuck it
Something in the way
His insubstantiality, his perpetual mobility
Kill people, burn shit, fuck school, I'm fuckin' radical, nigga
They be miserable
at their fuckin college
studying that bullshit
fuck that fuck that
Something in the way
Do what fuckin makes you happy, cause at the end, whose there?
You
Which cannot help but generate the same perpetual anxiety
You gotta look at reality
understand
that shit that shit
so you
dont get caught
Something in the way
I ain't got no muthafuckin' daddy, he ain't teach me shit
It is, perhaps the only way to stay healthy amidst capitalism's perpetual instability
Make sure your fuckin' feelings
end end
up in a glad bag
Something in the way
The perpetual change of fashion and media image, that nothing can change any longer
You don't know shit, youre a fuckin' therapist
You hear that, nigga?
Something in the way
That's cold shit right the That's cold shit right there, nigga
Something in the way
Stand for something, get money, nigga
Something in the way
Fuck women, nigga
Something in the way
Odd future, nigga
It's okay to eat fish It's okay to eat fish
Cause they don't have any feelings
Something in the way
And fuck the fat lady, it's over when all the kids sing:
Requiem ternam dona eis, Domine
et lux perpetua luceat eis

The God fighting the Giants. From the altar of Zeus in Pergamon. Ca. 170 BC. Berlin, Pergamon-museum.
Tyler Okonma. Radicals. Tyler, the creator. Goblin. 2011.
Mark Fisher. Capital realism - Is there no alternative? 2011.
Aristole. On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, On Breathing.
Tyler Okonma. Radicals. Tyler, the creator. Goblin. 2011.
Kurt Cobain. Something in the way. Nirvana. Nevermind. 1991.
Mark Fishe Mark Fisher. Capital realism - Is there no alternative? 2011.
Introit part of the requiem mass. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
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