Canary no. 1 Members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized —…
“Daylight would have shown a wilderness weathered and blowzy, a wanton that had lived her summer too fast and too greedily. It would have shown the white birches pale and shivering in a sudden ague, and here and there an ash or a sumac burning red, like a hectic spot, where the first frosts…
Spent a troubled night, awakening at intervals. Dreams are unaccountable. The recurring dream included several lyric lines from Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”. Not an unpleasant dream for me, I like the song. The alarm sounded at 6AM. A few minutes later, hardly awake, I heard from NPR that Trump’s son-in-law is angling for a role…
Today is the day before the ballots are cast, the vote tallied and the results announced. My cynical self says, “so what.” The one candidate is a life long uber predator, property developer, and pitch man for all manner of dodgy, shell game offers: Trump University, Trump Steaks, apparel, etc. The other candidate offers…
It is perfectly clear that political parties across the spectrum today are unquestioningly committed to maintain the capitalist growth economy, seemingly oblivious to the catastrophe that this out-dated development agenda holds in store for people and the planet – a catastrophe that, in some respects, has already arrived. In short, a universal ‘growth fetish’…
Those who know me well, have no need to ask me which of the candidates for president that I favor. I’ve voted already,–the deed is done. Nothing more is left for me to do but wait. The reason for my choice is singular, simple. Here is a paragraph from Letter no. 7 from Rainer…
Only fools imagine that freedom means getting what one happens to desire. Real freedom begins with obedience to a higher influence—a higher, finer energy within oneself. What is higher in yourself? That way of thinking about the question is the beginning of the answer—because it involves a real idea which has been handed down…
We live in technological temporality. Duration and material support replaced— by individual retinal and auditory instants. —- Sensible appearances changed into so many instances, mere specters of a perspective. Perspective reality is about to disappear —- Post-reality Paul Virilio Lost Dimension, published 1984
Why do we stand amazed before the assumed properties of the black holes of outer space? Aren’t all of our puncta of observation and all of our quanta of actions simply black holes of scientific thought? These are the black dots of the line wherein begin and end our rational representations. As Bachelard slyly…
“global village”
now becomes disturbing.
Instantaneous military presence,
pure speed,
exhaustion of the world,
geocide.
The twilight of places…
What about the rhythms of daily life,
the cosmic rhythms?
Speed paralyzes us.
Go faster, but where?
Everything is moving,
but nothing is changing.
It still takes a child 20 years to develop,
and 3 hours to digest a meal,
—but there is no future.
Each time speed of movement increases,
control and traceability increase the same amount.
We are now submerged
by ubiquitous commerce,
the spectacle,
repetition and shock.
Public space crumbles,
is replaced by networks of communication.
The counterpoint of the worst,
of peril,
is the imperative of rescue,
the shelter that saves,
the church as a ark and refuge
It is not a question of denying progress
but dealing with it’s negativity.
There is no substance without accident
and no accident without substance.
(taken from LOST DIMENSION originally published in 1984)
If you have visited this blog to any extent you are aware that I am taken with the work of Paul Virilio. It seems to me that his work can be a lifeline of understanding, and perhaps a entre to applying CPR in the context of disintegration of institutions here in the West
