Re: Adorno on TV

[S Mure <panic@xxxxxxxxxx>]

In article <Pine.SUN.3.96.990606201016.24956A-100000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Matthew Levy <mlevy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>>
>> 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").

Of course nobody needs these 'experts' to tell them they are being
manipulated or that they are addicted. Like I said -

"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."

Nobody needs experts like Neil Postman to tell them that - they'll tell
me themselves with that wry grin 'I'm afraid I'm a bit of a soap opera
addict myself'. It's a matter of what Jay Bernstein calls 'seeing
through and obeying', which is at the core of cultural consumption
today. I really don't believe addiction is too strong a word for the
need one may have for that kick or thrill to punctuate their working
week.

When someone regularly watches MTV and tells everyone what crap it is, I
cannot believe that what must be the most violently authoritarian pop
cultural form yet created is not damaging their ability to think in more
than spasmodic jerks.

>  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)

Indeed, (though I think you overuse the word fascism somewhat), there
are no islands. I'm a vegetarian, but I don't turn it into a speciality
makes me free. Like I say, I do the ironic consumption thing myself.
Anyone brought up in this society has commodity exchange in their
bloodstream. Adorno went to films (though maybe not exactly for
pleasure!) and felt that he came out 'stupider than before'. I wonder
how good a protection this irony really is...

One major function of music, for example with university students, is to
allow people to do two things at the same time - e.g. they will listen
to music and read their course work - which ensures that they manage to
avoid paying full attention to either. This seems to be an important
function of music nowadays.
--
Simon Smith