Newmedia on Fri, 10 May 2013 16:27:48 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Digital Politics <--> Digital Economics |
Folks: Digital Politics: What happens to "democracy" in a world where we all live in TWO *civilizations* (as presented by Eric Schmidt in his "The New Digital Age")? Democracy is *very* loaded term -- in part because it is the primary "negative" being directed at China -- and its Cold War *origins* (i.e. this was also what was throw up against the Soviet Union) are CERTAIN to come under very close scrutiny as a "meme" with some nasty origins. Someone recently sent me this very interesting link -- http://truth-out.org/news/item/15784-the-propaganda-system-that-has-helped-create-a-permanent-ove rclass-is-over-a-century-in-the-making It is fairly detailed account of the historic "control" elements involved with the Rockefeller funding of the Radio Research Project and its mass-media "manipulation" of the population after WW II. This is a subject that I first started to research nearly 40 years ago, when I too was a young "leftie" trying to understand the machinations of the "ruling-class." <g> Okay -- as far as it goes. But there is so MUCH more . . . !! The most important new "discipline" coming out of WW II was Social Psychology -- blending sociology and psychology and based on the techniques that were developed during the war which are generally known as "psychological warfare" (including everything from studies on "morale" to the fire-bombing of Dresden and nuking of Japan.) The *heart* of Social Psychology -- which, incidentally, my "godfather" Norbert Wiener announced in the introduction to his 1948 book "Cybernetics" he would NOT cooperative with (by naming Kurt Lewin, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson as people who had asked for his help to apply cybernetics to "social problems," which he refused to give) -- was the *sharp* distinction between the AUTHORITARIAN and the DEMOCRATIC personality. Yes, these are the terms that they used (first against the Germans and then against the Russians and Chinese) . . . !! So, if we want to figure out what most people mean by "democracy," then posts/essays like the one above -- plus all the back-and-forth that comes with "blog" comments -- will provide us with some approaches if not some answers. The result is NOT going to be pretty. What does "democratic choice" (as opposed to "evil" one-party rule) actually mean? What do we really think about China? Gregory Bateson (who is a folk-hero to many in today's "media studies") describes what was being planned as "rigging the maze" so that "anthropomorphic rats" could get the "illusion of free-will." Btw, he meant this a POSITIVE, since people were being "guided" (through the design of the "maze") to make "healthy" and "democratic" choices. What happens when people take CHOICE seriously and refuse to "vote" for the options that are pre-built into the maze? Could it be something like Italy's 5 Star Movement . . . ?? Digital Economics: What happens when -- as a result of living in TWO *civilizations* (where the "virtual" one is constantly pointing out via person-to-person feedback how STUPIDLY we have been behaving in the "physical" one) -- people stop simply choosing between different brands of toothpaste? However, what those, like the essayist above (and myself in my early days of studying all this), miss is that CONTROL-THROUGH-CHOICE is not a permanent condition! It relies on "subliminal" influence and requires constant reinforcement. That is what *television* (and the culture that revolves around mass-media) does for-and-to us -- constantly reminding us that we are "inadequate" and that we *must* choose products to "improve" our lives. Over-and-over . . . It turns out that the basis of *both* the "democratic personality" and the "consumer economy" are the same -- Social Psychology (aka "psychological warfare") delivered day-in-and-day-out through MASS-MEDIA. So, it is no surprise that the PROGRAMMA of the Italian 5 Star Movement is mostly about basic *economic* issues -- starting with a "citizens wage" and continuing through to Internet access-for-all. And, it should also be no surprise that some prominent members of the MoVementi (where the "V" refers to both the "V-day" that began the movement, roughly translating into f*ck-you-day, as well as the movie "V for Vendetta") were recently kicked out for appearing on . . . TELEVISION!! It turns out that one of the primary points of the 5SM is that they will *not* use mass-media to talk to their audience -- partly because they know they can't "compete" with Berlusconi (who owns the biggest media company) but also because they know that mass-media strives to make everything into a "false" choice (i.e. where there are no choices offered to get out of the "maze" of the typical party-choices). What happens to "economic choice" when NOT buying anything is an equally valid option? Not just because you have less money but because you don't to play that "game" anymore? Could it be an economic slowdown caused by a reduction in consumption? Might that be going on right now? Clearly, Eric Schmidt doesn't understand all this. He still thinks that it's "evil" that China isn't "democratic" (without knowing where that "meme" came from or likely knowing much about China.) He probably doesn't understand that living in a "virtual" civilization has significant implications for the "physical" economy. Both politics and economics have *already* been fundamentally changed by DIGITAL technology but, so far, very few have even tried to grasp the implications of this new reality. Mark Stahlman Brooklyn NY # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org