Comments on: interludes or, the unsettling question of how one deals with the self http://www.lokman.nu/2006/06/09/interludes-or-the-unsettling-question-of-how-one-deals-with-the-self/ everywhere life is full of heroism Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:21:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Geraldine Lover http://www.lokman.nu/2006/06/09/interludes-or-the-unsettling-question-of-how-one-deals-with-the-self/comment-page-1/#comment-248 Geraldine Lover Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:39:55 +0000 http://www.lokman.nu/?p=190#comment-248 dude. i'm so bored..., I must be experiencing one of those moments... dude. i’m so bored…, I must be experiencing one of those moments…

]]> By: Sayumi http://www.lokman.nu/2006/06/09/interludes-or-the-unsettling-question-of-how-one-deals-with-the-self/comment-page-1/#comment-247 Sayumi Fri, 16 Jun 2006 06:21:24 +0000 http://www.lokman.nu/?p=190#comment-247 Uncanny that your post echoes the book I just read, which is Guy Debord's _La Societe du Spectacle_. Towards the end he writes: "The Spectacle erases the dividing line between self and world, in that the self, under siege by the presence/absence of the world, is eventually overwhelmed; it likewise erases the dividing line between true and false, repressing all directly lived truth beneath the REAL PRESENCE of the falsehood maintained by the organization of appearances [my note: e.g. the "appearance" of being somewhere, going somewhere, being someone, etc. -S]. The individual, though condemned to the passive acceptance of an alien everyday reality, is thus driven into a form of madness in which, by resorting to magical devices, he entertains the illusion that he is reacting to this fate. *The recognition and consumption of commodities are at the core of this pseudo-response to a communication to which no response is possible.* The need to imitate that the consumer experiences is indeed a truly infantile need, one determined by every aspect of his fundamental dispossession. In terms used by Gabel to describe quite another level of pathology, "the abnormal need for representation here compensates for a torturing feeling of being at the margin of existence."" Incredible that those words were written in 1967. They ring even truer today. Uncanny that your post echoes the book I just read, which is Guy Debord’s _La Societe du Spectacle_. Towards the end he writes:
“The Spectacle erases the dividing line between self and world, in that the self, under siege by the presence/absence of the world, is eventually overwhelmed; it likewise erases the dividing line between true and false, repressing all directly lived truth beneath the REAL PRESENCE of the falsehood maintained by the organization of appearances [my note: e.g. the "appearance" of being somewhere, going somewhere, being someone, etc. -S]. The individual, though condemned to the passive acceptance of an alien everyday reality, is thus driven into a form of madness in which, by resorting to magical devices, he entertains the illusion that he is reacting to this fate. *The recognition and consumption of commodities are at the core of this pseudo-response to a communication to which no response is possible.* The need to imitate that the consumer experiences is indeed a truly infantile need, one determined by every aspect of his fundamental dispossession. In terms used by Gabel to describe quite another level of pathology, “the abnormal need for representation here compensates for a torturing feeling of being at the margin of existence.”"

Incredible that those words were written in 1967. They ring even truer today.

]]> By: wendy http://www.lokman.nu/2006/06/09/interludes-or-the-unsettling-question-of-how-one-deals-with-the-self/comment-page-1/#comment-246 wendy Sun, 11 Jun 2006 10:58:33 +0000 http://www.lokman.nu/?p=190#comment-246 [whose life did you touch recently, and how? perhaps it’s time (time!) to start living life, as opposed to having life live you.] well said. this rings even more true as life in hong kong, and the people around me, are so mediated that i'm a little overwhelmed. [whose life did you touch recently, and how? perhaps it’s time (time!) to start living life, as opposed to having life live you.]

well said. this rings even more true as life in hong kong, and the people around me, are so mediated that i’m a little overwhelmed.

]]> By: dearghostwriter http://www.lokman.nu/2006/06/09/interludes-or-the-unsettling-question-of-how-one-deals-with-the-self/comment-page-1/#comment-245 dearghostwriter Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:04:42 +0000 http://www.lokman.nu/?p=190#comment-245 the mundane life. easy enough continuing to indulge in self-fulfilling pleasures to balance the humdrum job which enables affording of those same indulgences. running around in circles. a dog tethered to a leash. temporary diversions bringing you back to that vast emptiness. my work, there is no panacea for that disease i keep telling you about!...how to better it is the question. the mundane life. easy enough continuing to indulge in self-fulfilling pleasures to balance the humdrum job which enables affording of those same indulgences. running around in circles. a dog tethered to a leash. temporary diversions bringing you back to that vast emptiness. my work, there is no panacea for that disease i keep telling you about!…how to better it is the question.

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