Zivilisation braucht Repression

Sie haben also keine persönliche Geschichtsphilosophie?
Doch: Den Darwinismus. Ich bin kein Hegelianer. Ich glaube wirklich an den Zufall, nicht daran, dass wir Menschen uns vom Tier zu einem Engel entwickeln.
Aber natürlich gibt es Bedingungen, unter denen sich höhere Stufen der Zivilisation entwickeln. Sie haben es gerade schon erwähnt: Gleichzeitigkeit. Die Dichte großer Metropole. Und Stabilität. Es ist etwas dran an dem, was Flaubert sagte: Ich bin im Leben ein Bürger, damit ich in meiner Kunst radikal sein kann. Um ein Revolutionär zu sein, brauchen Sie Stabilität. Freud brauchte dieses bequeme bürgerliche Leben mit vielen Büchern um sich herum und mit viel Zeit, um nachzudenken. „Interessante Zeiten“ sind ein Fluch. Denn dann kommt man nicht zum Denken. Freuds Epoche war repressiv, aber sie bot diese Stabilität.

Sie wollen aber jetzt nicht der Repression das Wort reden?
Oh nein. Freud hat zwar gesagt, Zivilisation braucht Repression, aber er hat auch gesehen, dass sie ihre eigenen Probleme produziert. Ich glaube nicht, dass gute Kunst Repression braucht. Aber es gibt sowieso keine absolute Freiheit. Schauen Sie uns an!

Rüdiger Suchsland, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ein Gespräch mit David Cronenberg.

Illusions and lies

Edmund Burke anticipated what would become one of the chief sources of the dynamism and discontent of modernity, namely the fact that beliefs -in transcendence and authority- must become accountable to reason. However, for Burke, far from arguing progress in our condition, "the Empire of light and reason" exposes us to truths we cannot bear for, he says, as powers withers away, our illusions will also fade, and this new nakedeness will leave us immensely vulnerable, exposing and revealing both to ourselves and to others the true ugliness of our condition. Scrutiny of social relations by the implacable gaze of reason can only tear down the harmonious web of meanings on which traditional power, obedience and fealty rested. To be tolerable, human existence requires myth, illusions, and lies. Only lies and illusions can make the violence of social relationships bearable. What Burke is saying is that Reason's indefatigable attempts to unmask and track down the fallacies of our beliefs will leave us shivering in the cold, for only beautiful stories -not truth- can console us.

Eva Illouz, Love, reason, irony.

Echoes of the future

There is obviously some strange correspondence between the general outline of a life and that stream of petty events which a person is constantly involved in and regards as insignificant. I can now see quite clearly that the course of my life was already set, determined before I had even begun to think seriously about the way I wanted it to turn out: I was even given a glimpse of it in simplified form. Perhaps it was an echo of the future. Or perhaps those things which we take for echoes of the future are actually its seeds, falling into the soil of life at the very moment which in distant retrospect comes to seem like an echo out of the future.

Victor Pelevin, Omon Ra.

Mannesmut und Orgasmus

Welt am Sonntag: Nehmen Sie auch an den gegenwärtigen, den sogenannten "Neuen Kriegen" anteil?

Friedrich Kittler: Einer meiner Doktoranden ist Oberstleutnant der Luftwaffe, stellvertretender Kommandant eines Geschwaders. Der hat Tornado geflogen, jetzt bringt er den Leuten den Eurofighter bei. Ende Mai geht es für ihn nach Afghanistan, wir müssen vorher noch das Rigorosum durchziehen. Der Mann vertritt eine echte Ethik des Kriegers. Er sagt, die Bundeswehroffiziere hätten großen Respekt vor den Taliban-Kommandeuren und umgekehrt. Das würde teilweise auch für die amerikanische Armee gelten, aber nur teilweise. Denn während die US Army sich an Kriegsrecht hält, kommen nachts die Special Forces, und die schießen auch Frauen und Kinder um.

Welt am Sonntag: Worüber promoviert denn Ihr Offizier?

Friedrich Kittler: Darüber, dass es Unsinn ist, den Krieg am Computer zu planen und letztlich auch als Computerspiel zu betreiben. Entscheidungen vor Ort sind nicht simulierbar.

Welt am Sonntag: Will er zurück in die Zeit, als es noch keine Computer gab?

Friedrich Kittler: Er will zurück zu Clausewitz, zur preußischen Auftragstaktik. Die funktioniert auf eigene Faust. Der Kommandant gibt das Ziel aus, und die Soldaten finden die Mittel. In der amerikanischen Armee dagegen wird mit Kadavergehorsam gedrillt. Das beschreibt auch der Jerusalemer Militärhistoriker Martin van Creveld: Ein Wehrmachtssoldat war im Zweiten Weltkrieg an Kampfkraft zehnmal stärker als ein Amerikaner.

Welt am Sonntag: Dann geht es im Krieg am Ende gar nicht um V2-Raketen und Verschlüsselungsmaschinen?

Friedrich Kittler: Es geht um Mannesmut, wenn man es so nennen will. Auch die "Aufschreibesysteme" waren wohl mal ein Akt des Mannesmutes, fürchte ich.

Welt am Sonntag: In letzter Zeit haben Sie sich vom Krieg ab- und seinem Gegenpol zugewandt, der Liebe.

Friedrich Kittler: Über die Liebe will ich im Moment nicht sprechen. Da war ich nicht immer so tapfer.

Welt am Sonntag: Was interessiert Sie an der Liebe?

Friedrich Kittler: Was mich an der Liebe interessiert hat? Der Orgasmus. Wenn man in den Augen der Partnerin nur noch das Weiße sieht, dann ist man auch selber weg. "Im schwindelnden Augenblick des Koitus sind wir alle derselbe Mensch", hat Borges einmal geschrieben.

Andreas Rosenfelder, Welt am Sonntag. "Wir haben uns selber, um daraus zu schöpfen".

(Are you also involved in the current, so-called "new wars"?
One of my PhD students is a lieutenant colonel in the Luftwaffe, acting commander of a squadron. He has flown Tornado jets, and now he's training people to fly the Eurofighter. At the end of May he's off to Afghanistan, and we have to get his doctoral viva out of the way beforehand. The man advocates a genuine warrior ethic. He says that the Bundeswehr officers have huge respect for the Taliban commanders and vice versa. This applies in part to the US army, but only in part. Because although the US army obeys the laws of war, the Special Forces come in at night and kill women and children.
What's your officer writing his PhD thesis about?
About the fact that it makes no sense to plan a war on a computer and to wage it like a computer game. In situ decisions cannot be simulated.
Does he want to return to a time when there were no computers?
He wants to return to Clausewitz and Prussian assignment tactics. These work on initiative. The commander outlines the objective and the soldiers find the means. In the US army, by contrast, it's all about drilling soldiers into slavish obedience. This is also described by the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld: a WWII Wehrmacht soldier was ten times stronger in terms of fighting abilities than an American.
So war has nothing to do with V2 missiles and cipher machines?
It's about courage, if you can call it that. And the "Discourse Networks" were probably also an act of courage, I fear.

Recently you've moved your focus away from war and turned to the opposite pole, love.
I don't want to talk about love at the moment. I was not always so courageous there.
What interests you about love?
What interested me about love? The orgasm. When you see nothing but the whites of your partner's eyes, then you are gone yourself. "All men, in the vertiginous moment of coitus, are the same man," Borges once wrote.)

But I can pretend

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone,
But I have a light
The day is done,
I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or maybe just happy
I Think I'm just happy.

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover
Have a hangover.

Sit in the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone,
But I have a light
the day is done,
I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or Maybe just happy.

Nirvana, Dumb.

Ai-yi-yi!

Marcus Bachmann plopped down on the seat next to me, in the back of the plane. He pointed at my laptop and asked if he could take a look. “All I want to know is what they’re saying about me,” he said. “Newsweek came up with the word ‘silver fox.’ Tell me what ‘silver fox’ means.”

“Do you want me to tell you honestly?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s something gay!” he said. “Because I’ve been called that before.” Marcus is a psychologist who runs a clinic that employs people Michele described in 2006 as “Biblical world-view counsellors,” who “reach out and try to bring the medicine of the Gospel to come and heal people.”

I explained that “silver fox” probably had more to do with the color of his hair.

“O.K., I can handle that,” he said. Tera, the assistant, assured him that it was a positive term.

“It’s better than Porky Pig,” Marcus said, with a laugh.

Marcus announced that he would now analyze everyone around him. He asked for three characteristics that a close friend might use to describe me. I demurred. He kept pushing: “So reporters are not that vulnerable?” “Maybe it’s a man thing.”

I tried to change the subject by asking him about the similarities between psychologists and journalists. But he would have none of it. “You are still asking questions about me!” he exclaimed. “That’s a trademark. Ai-yi-yi!”

Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker. Leap of Faith.

Sota una col canta el poeta

D'esquena al mar i a la muntanya; completament al marge
de l' activitat industrial; sota una col, canta el poeta:

Des d'una àrea de servei,
la meva terra
és com un parrac grapejat;
un país vençut pel davant
i pel darrere,
d'atrotinada dignitat.

Adéu turons amics,
adéu rieres,
boscos d'alzines i de roures i fagedes.
Muntanyes del meu cor,
adéu estrelles,
adéu al mar pur de cristalls i de turqueses.

Lleugerament trastocat, el poeta continua cantant:

Sona una guitarra
i el solet no vol sortir
a veure la terra promesa
com fa el seu darrer sospir.

Hola pudors d'inferns
brutes i abjectes
d'animals escorxats amb to de sang i merda.

Adéu olors d'abans:
fenc, trepadella,
d'espígol dolc i farigola a l'escudella.
Adeu amor, bonica,
la millor amiga.
Adéu rateta que escombrava l'escaleta;
I allà a sota una col
canta el poeta:
Homes i dones del cap dret, adéu per sempre.


Quimi Portet, Homes i dones del cap dret.

Steve Jobs, un model?

No diré que no era un visionari, però hi ha un corrent venerador cap a la figura de Steve Jobs que trobo exagerat. Sí, potser va ser un geni, però n’hi ha molts i n’hi ha de millors... Jobs no era el millor
exemple amb l’elitisme dels seus productes, amb una filosofia i exigència professional que sovint sotmetia i humiliava els seus treballadors, alguns amb idees bones, més obertes i no tan enfocades al negoci. De tot això en van sortir els iMacs, els iTunes, iPhones, iPads: ginys que han revo lucionat el món dels gadgets, però també han generat una falsa necessitat. En aquest cas la temptació representada per una poma mossegada (el logo d’Apple) es pot dir que no enganya a ningú. Si a més mirem de controlar tot el procés de fabricació, des del disseny fins a la venda, passant per la manufactura en naus immenses i deshumanitzades de la Xina, tot plegat converteix Apple en l’únic i absolut beneficiari dels seus productes. Un engranatge perfecte. Només falta una actualització constant i un contracte de permanència i ja tenim el client ben entabanat. Això sí, cada dos per tres surt un nou iPhone i l’anterior ja no val res. Hauràs de renovar-lo, si no cauràs en l’oblit, despenjat d’aquesta falsa elit. En aquest sentit Windows, Linux, fins i tot Android, són més per a tothom o no preten canviar a ningú. Molts ordinadors encara funcionen amb Windows XP. Segurament es deuen penjar més que el te- lèfon de l’esperança, però quin producte d’Apple encara funciona 10 anys després de la seva creació?
Apple es va fer famosa per aquell anunci del 1984 on trencava els motlles d’una societat sotmesa i dictatorial. Després de 20 anys s’ha girat la truita en contra seva, i ara els titelles són els que compren iPhones sense preguntar-se per què carai hem d’utilitzar un connector diferent de tota la resta, per què no es pot carregar música o arxius des de l’ordinador sense l’iTunes o no se’n pot canviar ni la melodia per una de nostra. Jobs era un empresari brillant, no un exemple a seguir. Voldria que els nostres fills tinguin valors més transcendents que un consumisme salvatge com a clau de l’èxit.

Arnau Galofré, carta publicada al diari ARA.

The most important tool

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Steve Jobs, Stanford Speech. (2005)

("Tener presente que pronto moriré ha sido la ayuda más importante con la que he contado para tomar las grandes decisiones de mi vida. Porque casi todo –todas las expectativas externas, todo el orgullo, el miedo a quedar mal o al error–, todas estas cosas simplemente se esfuman en presencia de la muerte, quedando sólo lo que es realmente importante. Recordar que vas a morir es la mejor manera de evitar la trampa de pensar que tienes algo que perder. Porque ya estás desnudo. No hay razón alguna para no seguir a tu corazón".)

A human-dolphin sex story

A self-described sex cult survivor, peyote enthusiast, and Wiccan, Malcolm Brenner claims to have had a nine-month sexual relationship with a female theme park dolphin in the '70s:

She began raking her teeth lightly against my arms and legs which was indescribably erotic. Some might find it frightening, I found it erotic [...]

The dolphin initiated the whole sexual thing. As I mentioned, she was in isolation—she'd be using me to satisfy her sexual needs [...]

Here is an excerpt from Wet Goddess, in which the protagonist diddles his dolphin lover while his prudish human girlfriend watches, unaware:

She rolled in my arms, bringing her head up and pushing us farther out, so my feet came off the bottom. A second later, I felt her genital slit pressing the waffled soles of my sneakers. But her efforts seemed half-hearted compared to her usual flagrance, as if she found the audience inhibiting.
Cut that out! I thought.

Ruby was gentle and circumspect, but she wouldn't stop. She stared blankly, pretending she couldn't receive me, trying to convince me that human-dolphin telepathy was a stupid fantasy I'd dreamed up while getting stoned one night.

Gawker. A man's dolphin sex memoir suddenly very popular.

Amazon customer's comment –Franklin H. Fischer– on Wet Goddes:
(I've owned a guinea pig for a couple years now. Her name is Fluffy, and I'm pretty sure she flirts with me. She squeaks enthusiastically when I pet her back, lets me feed her alfalfa sprouts by hand, and sometimes lightly nibbles on my fingers.
After reading Wet Goddess, I now know that Fluffy IS flirting with me and signaling that she wants a more intimate relationship. I told her it's time to stop playing games and let's do this if we're gonna do this. She seemed receptive, so I'm taking her out on a date this Friday. We're doing a tour of a mulching company and will sample some wood chips at the end of it. After we've had our fill, we'll go the McDonalds playland because they have those tubes you can crawl in, and I know Fluffy loves crawling thru tubes.
Look, I know people are going to judge when they see me walking around town with a gorgeous guinea pig in my arms, but whatever. They're just jealous haters who don't understand the bond one can feel with a different species.
There will be obstacles to overcome in this relationship, but there are challenges in every relationship. It's all about compromise. I'm trying to teach Fluffy to stop pooping on herself, and she's teaching me how to drink water from an upside-down bottle.)