A modest proposal for Aneristic Illusions

[LMNO]

I think we can have both, actually... provided we remember to go deeper into the news items.  I mean, you could post Santorum's idiotic statement about women in combat, and then use it to tie into the role of military women as seen through global political eyes, or whether there's a psychological argument to be made if the US faces enemy women in combat, or...


...See, this is the point when I start talking out of my ass about politics.  But I think you get my point.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I think we can have both, actually... provided we remember to go deeper into the news items.  I mean, you could post Santorum's idiotic statement about women in combat, and then use it to tie into the role of military women as seen through global political eyes, or whether there's a psychological argument to be made if the US faces enemy women in combat, or...


...See, this is the point when I start talking out of my ass about politics.  But I think you get my point.

There isn't always anything deeper, LMNO.  Sometimes there's just DUMB, and that dumb can be funny.

There is no "deeper" when it comes to the Committee to Re-Elect Obama (Gingrich, Paul, Romney, Santorum).  They are exactly what they appear to be, and the things they say - while funny - are utterly meaningless.

On the left, you can sometimes find something deeper.  Usually when Obama grins at you.  What that deeper thing IS, of course, is the presidential penis smashing your lower GI tract into pudding while he tells you things about hopey-hopey-change-change.

[Triple Zero]

Yes, please.

Some of the suggestions are easier for me to follow than others, but that's not because they are less important, rather that things like geopolitics require a truckload of focus for me to understand.

Still, it might be hard to understand sometimes, but I'd rather read it than the latest stupid thing said by the latest famous stupid person somewhere in the world.

What I think will be difficult - is that the two-man con politics are often amusing as hell. Or frustrating as hell. Either way, they're evocative -- that's why they take the center stage! So I think it will be impossible to not post about santorum's latest gaffe (and other political horrormirth), but yeah, let's hold that at arm's length in terms of what's actually important.

I disagree! And not because I don't live in the US but for the same reasons I don't care about celebrity gossip. I don't need to discuss at length about every single moronic thing Geert Wilders tweets either.

I did twitter-follow him, out of curiosity, but it has never made me any wiser, not even with regard to PVV standpoints, because their public face is mindless empty populist poop of the exact same kind that's been on repeat for over half a century, at least. As Cain said, if you want to know what's going on, you need to look beyond that. And then Wilders is just a dumb screaming pig, an outward facing node in huge web of growing neo fascism in Europe, which is being steered by people outside the public eye that can do their work undisturbed, quiter and better the louder people like Wilders scream their inanities, and Breivik is a mentally ill psychopath and we must talk about these "lone wolf terrorists" and talk because if he's not he only gets 20 years no we talk and talk

Sure there are exceptions, for instance the whole "frothy mixture" thing is brilliant, and Santorum absolutely deserves the center stage there, together with mr Savage of course because it's a brilliant mindfuck (that belongs in O:MF) and when similar hilarities happen in Europe or Belgium I'll certainly share them.

100% agree. While it's still (and will always be) true that Politicians Say The Funniest Things, I definitely think that by focusing on the blundering of Republicans and the Tea Party as if we are on the Democrat's "side", we are letting ourselves get sucked into the Two-Man Con.

I'm quite sure the OP really didn't say anything about focusing too much on one side of the US political soap opera, and most definitely did not suggest evening it out by laughing at both the puppet on the right and the puppet on the left, because that'll solve your Two-Man Con! Don't mind the horrible thing that's got both fists elbow-deep inside them, he's harmleEUAAARGBLGBL OH MY GOD THAT'S NO PUPPET BO--


OK so where did it come from? No, where did it come from THIS time and who let out the Crazy Lady feed those things bread crumbs again?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What? 

I wasn't saying anything about balancing it out by laughing at the other side. I was, in fact, agreeing that while they do say the darndest things, laughing at the things they say is merely funny and not productive, and that taking a partisan approach to who we laugh at just buys into the Con.

[Triple Zero]

Okay sorry, just steering then that's all

[Telarus]

Caught up. Good energy.

I'd be comfortable with shifting the lighter political talk/humor to AT and seeing what will happen.

I'll keep that in mind for future links, etc.

[minuspace]

Cliff notes version of the OP


What things truly matter, in a political sense?

• The economy - The interplay of investment banking, government, and economic actors that are essentially unaccountable


• Geopolitics -  the interaction of geography and politics.  Think of it in terms of energy resources, trade routes, choke points, military basing and grand strategy. Globalization is a failing model, and geography will return, with a vengeance.


• Conflict -  actual wars, insurgencies, assassinations and similar. 


• Internet freedom - corporate spying, disinformation, cybewarfare, hacking and so on. 


• Anything the powers that be do not want us to know - ie covert action to funding of political parties, pressure groups and "grassroot organizations" such as the various Tea Party organizations, to lobbying and PR.  The invisible webs of power, as it were.  No lunatic conspiracy theorizing.


• Political theory - Machiavelli, Assange's "State and Terrorist Conspriacies", political psychology...heuristic models which can help us to understand political activities and actions and put them in some kind of framework.


• Resistance - groups like Occupy, Anonymous, Wikileaks

• Ideology - As distinct from political theory, an ethos?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Caught up. Good energy.

I'd be comfortable with shifting the lighter political talk/humor to AT and seeing what will happen.

I'll keep that in mind for future links, etc.

I'm okay with this, too.

[Telarus]

Might want to move the PICS thread to AT. Or better, close it, archive it as (blah - 2012) and start a new one in AT.

I can't tell if Random News Stories is more Open Bar than anything. I think it serves a good purpose, but maybe not in the current form (too 'Open Bar').

Any ideas for saving that? (I can think of a "Lo5 a Random News Story, where the linker has to provide one fact/link not in the article as part of the game, and if you link up more than one story with behind the scenes info you get MAD POINTS, or whatever").

Those are the only stickies I can see shifting. The other threads can sink or swim on their own.

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Re: The OP

Yes on all points. This was very well put.

[Telarus]

http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/12/29/justin-boland-interviewed-by-rev-r4d4/

Let's listen to Justin Boland blow minds in the hip-hop scene relevant to points brought up in the OP).

Justin (Thirtyseven/Skilluminati/etc) should go on the "affiliated mindset" list, and one person we could probably throw ideas at after we've refined them a bit.

[Telarus]

Ethan Zuckermantalks about Serendipity (very intresting background), how Cities are planend, and how this influenced the development of "online spaces". Then goes on to list some of the things we can learn from IRL spaces and apply to our online spaces. Many things from the article stand out, but one of the ones that jumped at me was the fact that the PD forum (by exposing people with expertise to new/random/out-of-everyday-experience information and events) serves as a real digital commons (where-as Facebook is much more akin to the Rail/Subway.. you may wave at a friend going by, or chat a moment before exiting at your station).

I think there is some more there that we can apply specifically to Aneristic Illusions. Like the effects of 'curation' on information sources (Ethan calls out how a small monied minority controls current media technologies), how half of 'serendipity' is being prepared to leverage your expertise when a random happy accident happens, etc.

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/05/12/chi-keynote-desperately-seeking-serendipity/

[Cain]

are we to put the politically oriented fluff in AT, then?
like Roger, i enjoy the slant that is put on political humor among this group. And, although you may find the jokes or links or whatnot on another site, you're not going to find this gaggle's response to it anywhere else...

Well, sure.  The right makes political statements straight out of the old Weekly World News, and the left spends all its time either ignoring the right, or - more often - queuing up to lick the right's pimply arses.  The right gets more attention - at least from me - because they are in a horrible spiral of extremism, and I find that funny as hell.

It should get old...But for me it never does, especially in an election year.  I view the whole charade as cheap slapstick vaudville, and as long as it's kept in the wingnut/Arizona threads, I don't see the harm.

There's certainly a place for those kind of things, I certainly don't want to see them go (there is a reason why Wonkette's feed is in my "daily read" list, after all), but I'd like other stuff too.  Because otherwise I end up ranting about it on Facebook and looking like a crazy person to everyone except Lizzay, H, and Chomskyite Ex-Stripper, who are all aware of my general world outlook.

For instance, I'm probably going to be defriended by at least 50 people today for calling people getting angry about RBS staff getting bonuses despite massive losses "chumps" who "don't understand politics" and should "probably not be allowed to vote".  And some of those people may be useful in the future, if only as a source of protein.

[Cain]

• Ideology - As distinct from political theory, an ethos?

Perhaps... though I'm kinda averse to that because it seems, at least on PD, the only things that get discussed ideologically are Libertarianism and Anarchism...and those two subjects make PD veterans cry.  Also, I don't think anyone on PD would actually agree, ideologically, since we tend to span the spectrum between anarchists, libertarians, socially liberal capitalists, social democrats/liberals, socialists, COMMIEZ!! and cynical nihilists.

I think a focus on theory would be better, because it then allows for a baseline of agreement, either philosophically or based on political science, for discussions to proceed.

[Cain]

http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/12/29/justin-boland-interviewed-by-rev-r4d4/

Let's listen to Justin Boland blow minds in the hip-hop scene relevant to points brought up in the OP).

Justin (Thirtyseven/Skilluminati/etc) should go on the "affiliated mindset" list, and one person we could probably throw ideas at after we've refined them a bit.

Thirtyseven is basically one of my most favourite people on the internet when it comes to politics.  While I tend to be very unwilling to label people's methods as the "right" way to do things, he is certainly riding the correct motorcycle as far as I'm concerned.