Revolutionary Detour

Guy Debord began a movement in the late-60's (when revolution was in vogue all over the globe) called "Situationist International." I only began reading Debord's 1960's 'Situationist' doctrine, "The Society of the Spectacle," in my final quarter at UCSC: "World Literatute and Revolution in the 1960's." It was filled with post-marxist dialectics that sought to turn the neo-feudal structure of the world on its head. One of the main ideas was that of the SPECTACLE: the artifical and superficial reality that we encounter in our current society. The spectacle, the images and memes, of late-capitalism have been superimposed upon reality and separate observers from the experience of a thing in-itself (Hegel and Kant call this "Ding an sich"). The graphic (above) is one of many posters that Debord and his compatriots used to sum up their extensive theses on change. Debord ultimately committed suicide in 1994--having lost all hope that revolutionary change was possible in an era of increasing (and INESCAPABLE) capitalistic entrenchment. His death is a real tragedy for all us revolutionaries-looking-for-a-cause on planet Earth. He fought the hard fight to emancipate humanity with revolutionary fire.

That class kept my mind fascinated all spring before graduation. We studied the writings of Mao, Che, Debord and Timothy Leary--among others--and compared the shape and character of our last real set of revolutions! There was a dense and varied character that surrounds "the sixties:" Red China, Guerilla Castro/Che in Cuba, France & Situationism, The German anti-establishment 'Bader-Meinhof Gang,' Rock n'Roll and LSD. It was all happening in one VISIONARY thrust. The world was rebelling against itself. As you start to examine the era as a whole, you uncover a thread of multi-valent meanings and various new levels emerge. The subtleties are endless, and often overwhelming.

I've only just begun to piece together this grand puzzle of time that we have kept bound in our diverse histories. I love looking at the writings of various political giants. The power of words, the polical passions, the startling insights (and the obvious propaganda, too). On a related, but different issue: Has George W. Bush written any politically-potent or ideologically-charged documents, books, treatises, or articles as a president? (other than bathroom passes at the UN) :) To be fair, have any recent U.S. (+ World) leaders issued strong statements of their values and political agenda in a culturally exciting way? If the Taliban is going to be the strongest ideological body on the world political scene, I'm OUT! It's not fair to blame the Republicans: it's the Republicans and the Democrats and the fundamentalist-anyones and the entire wishy-washy system that has been propagated in these streches of late-capitalism.

It's time that we start to integrate the knowledge and lessons of the entire Nazi/Fascistic regimes of the century. If we continue to be repulsed by fear and anger, we sacrifice anything good or useful along with improperly understanding the bad/evil actions. Everyone is terrified to touch these topics--not even with a 10' pole made of jewish toenails. Please don't confuse rhetoric for racism. If you can't handle Holocaust humor, you're not ready to really understand the importance of the effects of world war II and the post-modern era; there are far worse things than the Nazis and Fascism, folks! If you listen to the eccentrics, visionaries, shamanic wizards, philosophers and rebel voices of the modern era, I can't guarantee that you will find any more Truth (with a capital "T"), but it's far more entertaining than fillibustering on C-SPAN, Bill O'Reilly's smug self-assurance, or more clips of soldiers riding up and down the streets of Iraq waiting for someone to shoot at them.