Re: Adorno on TV

[Matthew Levy <mlevy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 5 Jun 1999, S Mure wrote:

> In article <Pine.SUN.3.96.990603121933.11540B-100000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Matthew Levy <mlevy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
> >At the same
> >time, I am committed to a left-critical analysis of these images which
> >"mean" so much to me even as I (partly ironically) enjoy them.
>
> This 'ironic' enjoyment is central to the operation of the Spectacle
> nowadays. I do it, I suspect everyone on this list does it. It's the
> way we - in L. Spencer's words - 'make ourselves stupid' in this
> culture, or, alternatively, the way in which we manage to go on living.
> I'm not sure how bearable my youthful life would have been without the
> blast of rock music, most of which I have since eschewed as a mere
> manipulative succession of shocks. People I know who are addicted to
> soap operas are really quite conscious of the way they are being
> manipulated, but nonetheless go on consuming.
>
> A nod and a wink, life goes on...
> --
> Simon Smith
>

I disagree with this explanation ... yes irony is a way that we adjust
ourselves to capitalism, which can impede moral engagement ... but that
does not equate to being able to dismiss rock music as "manipulative" or
to say that people are "addicted" to soap operas ... that reading just
reifies and mystifies the psychological and aesthetic phenomena that the
Frankfurt school were getting at, and further plays into the fascism of
our time (which is full of "experts" telling us we are "manipulated" or
"addicted").  Everytime someone tells me they don't watch TV or listen to
rap music or whatever as if they expect me to praise them for this, I see
another form of fascism masquerading as enlightenment - another opposition
between "freedom" and "slavery" that makes "slave"=everybody else (people
who watch too much TV, like repetitive music etc.) and makes "free"=me
(the one who can discipline himself to transcend these things)

i like my ironic tastes even while i can acknowledge their drawbacks and
(hopefully) overcome these, in order to treat others and myself with
dignity and respect - which has nothing to do with what music I like and
everything to do with how I behave.  If that makes me stupid, then I like
stupid.

peace,
m