a good piece for me. It comes alive with concrete details. Not sure why it is happening but conversation is often lacking these days even in media In Australia, for instance, on the national tv a 'discussion' is presented which seems a bit contrived and dry: two opposing sides given equal time but other perspectives are not presented. Maybe I would prefer a fight breaking out like what used to happen in the Russian parliament, something not going according to protocol.
Hey Adam, I like what you're up to generally (here and on the podcast), but so far these read a bit to me like "walking away" thoughts, things we wish we'd have had the presence of mind to say in the moment but which the nature of the situation (and our own nature) tend to forestall. Paradoxically, and whether or not this is the way things actually went down, I think the series would benefit from a little more distance, i.e. more observation, less analysis, less whatever you think or feel about it, and more portraiture of the hideous beta with his spectacularly tiny shovel, digging his self-sized hole... Just my couple cents, for whatever they're worth.
Totally agreed. I too am nothing. It's fun that New York thinks it's something, but that's nothing. It used to be that history was over. Now it's the future that is over. Your point about the art of conversation being dead is well-taken. One could really get Adorno to arm wrestle with him over that one!
That's a pretty challenging conversation opener you threw in there! I like it that the girlfriend asked a question. Poorly, but a question, still. It's too bad that your racially-framed boy didn't say something positive, without the double negative. If he had said, "I choose to think in racialized terms," you could have asked why. If he had answered, "because I'm a racialized being," you could have noted that we all are twisted by the same crazy system, that "Whiteness" is a racialized chokehold in its own peculiar way. If he had answered, "I've experienced racism every day of my life," you could have asked "how?" If he had answered, "WTF? Have you ever been to New York?", you could have said, "I have experienced bourgeoise imperialism every day of my life." If he had answered about democracy, or even progressive democracy, you could have laughed, like this: "Ha HA!" Pretty soon, you would have agreed that there wasn't any, either the D kind or the PD kind, and then you would might have agreed that there was nothing to talk about along this line, given total agreement and all, and would have found a word or two about something else, something from outside the bourgeoise state (yes, the infamous BS), some place he may never have been, maybe even something about what it means "to vote" or "not to vote" in a society[sic] in which conversation is designed to create governance through consensus in a public square but no longer does (no need to mention that it never did, not just yet, that would be like a conversational neutron bomb, tsk tsk) Sadly, I think the girlfriend might have shrieked again around this point and dragged Boyfriend's sorry bourgeoise ass home. Then maybe some make-up sex? Nice. Say, maybe failed conversations like this are a public form of foreplay. That's conversation, right? Maybe? Maybe such conversations, although artless, are even a form of makeup sex in a public square. Why not? Was not art? In a "racialized state", ie a condition in which genes determine a person's social roles, can eroticism be far behind? Or the fear of it? I bet Girlfriend might know a thing or two about this, if we could get her back to the table and ask about Liquid America. "Pour me another drink," she might say. "Then I'll talk." Then the words might have poured out. Not in conversation, but like in performance art or something or standup comedy looking at itself in the dressing room mirror with a grimace before going on to the main show and turning the grimace upside down. I dunno. I don't consider New York part of any reasonable social world, so leave it to you to suit up and descend. Just glad you resurfaced in good shape and without the dumpster catching on fire while you were in there! Keep up the good work.
I've felt like this a lot lately. Conversation is a dead art form... It saddens me, but I find solace in your writings.
Thanks Adam
a good piece for me. It comes alive with concrete details. Not sure why it is happening but conversation is often lacking these days even in media In Australia, for instance, on the national tv a 'discussion' is presented which seems a bit contrived and dry: two opposing sides given equal time but other perspectives are not presented. Maybe I would prefer a fight breaking out like what used to happen in the Russian parliament, something not going according to protocol.
Hey Adam, I like what you're up to generally (here and on the podcast), but so far these read a bit to me like "walking away" thoughts, things we wish we'd have had the presence of mind to say in the moment but which the nature of the situation (and our own nature) tend to forestall. Paradoxically, and whether or not this is the way things actually went down, I think the series would benefit from a little more distance, i.e. more observation, less analysis, less whatever you think or feel about it, and more portraiture of the hideous beta with his spectacularly tiny shovel, digging his self-sized hole... Just my couple cents, for whatever they're worth.
These are like palette cleansers amidst weeks of inhaling poison. I feel an anthology in the making.
Cheers to this. Also, nice painting by my old friend Kai.
Totally agreed. I too am nothing. It's fun that New York thinks it's something, but that's nothing. It used to be that history was over. Now it's the future that is over. Your point about the art of conversation being dead is well-taken. One could really get Adorno to arm wrestle with him over that one!
That's a pretty challenging conversation opener you threw in there! I like it that the girlfriend asked a question. Poorly, but a question, still. It's too bad that your racially-framed boy didn't say something positive, without the double negative. If he had said, "I choose to think in racialized terms," you could have asked why. If he had answered, "because I'm a racialized being," you could have noted that we all are twisted by the same crazy system, that "Whiteness" is a racialized chokehold in its own peculiar way. If he had answered, "I've experienced racism every day of my life," you could have asked "how?" If he had answered, "WTF? Have you ever been to New York?", you could have said, "I have experienced bourgeoise imperialism every day of my life." If he had answered about democracy, or even progressive democracy, you could have laughed, like this: "Ha HA!" Pretty soon, you would have agreed that there wasn't any, either the D kind or the PD kind, and then you would might have agreed that there was nothing to talk about along this line, given total agreement and all, and would have found a word or two about something else, something from outside the bourgeoise state (yes, the infamous BS), some place he may never have been, maybe even something about what it means "to vote" or "not to vote" in a society[sic] in which conversation is designed to create governance through consensus in a public square but no longer does (no need to mention that it never did, not just yet, that would be like a conversational neutron bomb, tsk tsk) Sadly, I think the girlfriend might have shrieked again around this point and dragged Boyfriend's sorry bourgeoise ass home. Then maybe some make-up sex? Nice. Say, maybe failed conversations like this are a public form of foreplay. That's conversation, right? Maybe? Maybe such conversations, although artless, are even a form of makeup sex in a public square. Why not? Was not art? In a "racialized state", ie a condition in which genes determine a person's social roles, can eroticism be far behind? Or the fear of it? I bet Girlfriend might know a thing or two about this, if we could get her back to the table and ask about Liquid America. "Pour me another drink," she might say. "Then I'll talk." Then the words might have poured out. Not in conversation, but like in performance art or something or standup comedy looking at itself in the dressing room mirror with a grimace before going on to the main show and turning the grimace upside down. I dunno. I don't consider New York part of any reasonable social world, so leave it to you to suit up and descend. Just glad you resurfaced in good shape and without the dumpster catching on fire while you were in there! Keep up the good work.