Re: cyberwars / cybertruth

[m-14970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Rodwell)]

I just received the following note from a good friend at the other end of
the earth:


        Ever read Delillo's _White Noise_?  Shopping as religion is summarily
        critiqued there.

And while we're at it, has anyone seen anything on telly as religion?

I'm thinking of childhood awe before the alter of the box, as it congealed
all the family vibes in its eerie evening light.

In particular, more consciously, the sense of having committed blasphemy
here in Sweden way back when (1967 I think it was) by refusing to watch
disney time on television with the family of my fiancee on Xmas Eve. Not
going to church was way acceptable, they didn't go themselves (at least I
can't recall them doing it -- I wouldn't have been awake that early
anyway). But rejecting the boob tube was *bad...*

Perhaps that was the way Greek drama worked -- the cop shows now make you
squirm as they suggest and suggest and suggest that the only thing for
arrestees to do is to confess and get the guilt off their chest, the
tragedies then made the audiences squirm as they suggested and suggested
and suggested that you had to kill or be killed for good old cultural
values like burying your brother or not marrying your mum.

I'll have to go and have a look at what Hegel has to say about this in his
Aesthetics.

Cheers,

Hugh




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