tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31783628.post3564157134800121877..comments2024-02-21T06:57:22.256-05:00Comments on Unemployed Negativity: Post-Post-Modernism: Or, the Cultural Logic of Zombie Capitalismunemployed negativityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01251742512967070290noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31783628.post-58349263044625027922010-07-27T01:50:39.128-04:002010-07-27T01:50:39.128-04:00I live near Cleveland and I did go that mall once....I live near Cleveland and I did go that mall once. Scary stuff. To see people so reticent about the prospect of revolution does not seem to me to be any kind of inherent reaction, but one that has resulted from systematic attacks upon Marxists. I have seen in people a general lowering of standards of success, but also, I live near Cleveland, which has been decimated post-NAFTA, with recent economic conditions being of little help either, but I know this city is not unique. What I would like to discuss at one point, and have thought about lately, is peoples' views on what is ethical in such a state of affairs and a conversation on what are the dominant societal interactions of people across the US. I'm thinking back to your blog entry on Inception, but I still wonder what the implications of this public/private collapse are, which puts power over the public life of the individual under the purview of the employer. All I can seem to think of is an absurdist gaiety in the face of a system of life destruction that we inhabit but don't control at the best. And at the worst, a soul crushing burden for all the pain and our lives cause. As for dismissal of utopianism, I see this as dismissal of prospects for collective action for a collective good.the chronic philosopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11116031334674510193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31783628.post-20680437755980314912009-12-15T22:38:04.169-05:002009-12-15T22:38:04.169-05:00Jason, I really enjoyed your posting on Sohn-Rethe...Jason, I really enjoyed your posting on Sohn-Rethel--really nicely written, but I don't know enough about him to comment on the content. In terms of _Valences_, apparently at the last utopian studies conference Fred talked about the inability of the Left to imagine a utopia beyond capitalism, that they are all really dystopias (nostalgic or regressive). I think that the utopian dimension of his work has often been overlooked, and I'm glad to see it more blatantly move to the forefront of his public persona. If this book is in dialogue with _Archeologies_, then the second book, _The Modernist Papers_ is a complement to _A Singular Modernity_, though I think that that book is more successful. Indeed, it is as yet unclear to me if this current series is of a piece, footnotes to earlier monographs, or sketches for a new larger project. Certainly, as you write, how it signals changes in his thinking about fundamental ideas is exciting.Shelton Waldrephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00959080773118690736noreply@blogger.com