Counter-Culture Failure

"And as this fake world grew, all of us went along with it, because the simplicity was reassuring. Even those who thought they were attacking the system — the radicals, the artists, the musicians, and our whole counterculture — actually became part of the trickery. Because they too had retreated into the make-believe world, which is why their opposition has no effect and nothing ever changes."

~ Adam Curtis; prologue to HyperNormalisation

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Counter-Culture Failure

Artists have become complicit with the spectacular aspects of commodification. All talents are now coopted in service to capitalistic enterprise.

Fatalistic as it may sound, there isn't any chance for an effective revolution to overthrow this system ... Its roots reach too deep into the collective unconscious.

Inertial tendencies have been inculcated in us since infancy. Everybody's parents and even grandparents were ensnared long before our arrival.

The nature of the beast is such that it has already assimilated any resistance to its preponderance well beforehand.

Dissenting voices find themselves drowning among a cacophony of competing choruses. Yet national anthems still define the terms of engagement.

Fine art is presently naught but skillful seduction; a well-polished reflector obfuscated by wispy vapor.

Its finest offerings adorn the towering edifice of traditionalist establishment. Hollywood holds sway over the untrained mind.

Glamour and glitter bedazzle beholders more than Huxley's 'Moksha-Medicine'. Banality brings spectators together, while larger than life superstars subvert their individuality.

Such impressionable peons get ground under industrial gears set in motion to demolish public doubts:

"Keep your faith in wealthy figureheads, because they must surely know what's best for society's collective investiture!"

Related Readings:

Geekology

Spectre of The Spectacle

Infamous

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Spectre of The Spectacle

"Understood in its totality, the spectacle is both the result and the project of the dominant mode of production. It is not a mere decoration added to the real world. It is the very heart of this real society’s unreality. In all of its particular manifestations — news, propaganda, advertising, entertainment — the spectacle represents the dominant model of life. It is the omnipresent affirmation of the choices that have already been made in the sphere of production and in the consumption implied by that production. In both form and content the spectacle serves as a total justification of the conditions and goals of the existing system. The spectacle also represents the constant presence of this justification since it monopolizes the majority of the time spent outside the production process."  

~ Guy Debord; The Society of The Spectacle (1.6)

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Spectre of The Spectacle


It's a whale of a tale

And it swallows us whole:

Spewing up our worst parts

During low tide onto a shoal.


Lies give rise to a paradox

Lying patient in wait.

Eyes spy news from FOX

Gravitas loses weight.


Yet you follow like a flunky

Lackluster as any lackey.

Roll over boy, play dead;

Butter up our daily cred.


They just cut into your jam —

Protests now won't seal the dam.

So sick and tired of this gore ...

Not going to take it anymore!


Paraphrasing (for dummies):

In every time and place throughout human history, people have been beguiled by outward appearances. Despite how often our wise ones stress that "things aren't always as they seem", the point rarely sinks in under the surface.

Never has this been truer than at present (although this is also ever the case). There is an implicit assumption that if an authority figure says something on television or via Twitter then it can be taken at face value. A subconscious supposition held tacit by the ignorant but articulated by Debord: "What is good appears. What appears is good."

Such willful ignorance of academia, historical causes, science, statistics, etc. are at an all time high because the species is held in thrall by its own fanciful projections. Entire generations have been and continue being born into this mire of deception and delusion.

Few and far between are the earnest seekers who cross-reference and research multiple sources; not merely what they like or wish to hear. Fewer still are those who recognize that our memetic machinery requires nothing short of a thoroughgoing overhaul.

May tomorrow's youth succeed in overthrowing Mammon once and for all!

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