Category Archives: New Utopia

Installation view of My Favorite Software Is Being Here by Alison Nguyen on the Everson Museum of Art faade.

Light Works Urban Video Project (UVP)presents No Emoji for Ennui, a group exhibition featuring the work of filmmakers Lana Z Caplan, Ross Meckfessel, Alison Nguyen and Matt Whitman. The installation will be on view from Jan. 27-March 26 at UVPs outdoor projection site on the north facade of the Everson Museum of Art at 401 Harrison Street, Thursday through Saturday, from dusk until 11 p.m.

No Emoji for Ennui explores the difficult-to-define emotional tenor of our timeone that often leaves us overstimulated and underwhelmed at the same time it demands endless positivity. The seductive surface of the touchscreen shatters and the polygon meshes underlying our shared social reality peek out from under the digital skin.

What does it feel like to be a person in a world in which our sense of self has been thoroughly disoriented by technological entanglement and co-opted by neoliberal capital?

By turns unsettling, contemplative, humorous and filled with existential dread, the resulting show is a collective selfie of who and what we are now.

Along with the exhibition, UVP will host a free screening of the No Emoji for Ennui program, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET.

For those unable to attend in person, we will offer the screening a second time as a livestream on Thursday, March 10, at 6:30 p.m. ET.No Emoji for Ennui is the second exhibition in the UVP 2021-22 season, titled Its Not a Bug, Its the Future. More information is available at lightwork.org/uvp

Lana Z Caplan, Autopoiesis2017 | 7:15

#aerialskiers #PyeongChangWinterOlympics #divers #LeniRiefenstal #Olympia #OpticalIllusions #SpeculativelyGeneratedOuterSpace #SelfHypnosis #SunRa #SpaceIsThePlace #4ECognition #AssaultByHashtags #MeToo #BlackLivesMatter #StillMarching #GiletJaune #Brexit #IdeasofUtopia #AfroFuturism #HashtagActivism #YouAreASystem #ConstantlyBuffeted #Maintain #LoveWins

Lana Z Caplan works across various media, including single-channel films and videos in essay form, interactive installations, video art and photography. Her work is inspired by notions of utopia and the relationship of the present to history and memory. Caplan has exhibited and screened at Anthology Film Archives (New York), Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, British Columbia), Arte Contemporneo (Mexico City), Chicago Underground Film Festival, CROSSROADS Film Festival, IC Docs (Iowa City), Inside Out Art Museum (Beijing), Microscope Gallery (New York), Moving Image Festival (Scotland), Museo Tamayo, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival and San Francisco Cinematheques Alchemy Film. Caplans work is represented by Gallery NAGA (Boston) and her films are distributed by Collectif Jeune Cinma (Paris) and Filmmakers Cooperative (New York).

Ross Meckfessel, Estuary2021 | 12:00 | 16mm stereo sound

When you question the very nature of your physical reality it becomes much easier to see the cracks in the system. Estuary charts the emotional landscape of a time in flux. Inspired by the proliferation of computer-generated social media influencers and the growing desire to document and manipulate every square inch of our external and internal landscapes, Meckfessel considers the ramifications of a world where all aspects of life are curated and malleable. As time goes on, all lines blur into vector dots.

Ross Meckfessel is an artist and filmmaker who works primarily in Super 8 and 16mm film. His films often emphasize materiality and poetic structures while depicting the condition of modern life through an exploration of apocalyptic obsession, contemporary ennui and the technological landscape. His work has screened internationally and throughout the United States, including in the Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, British Columbia), IC Docs (Iowa City), Internationales Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, New York Film Festival, San Francisco Cinematheques CROSSROADS Film Festival, The Artifact Small Format Film Festival (awarded best 16mm film) and Toronto International Film Festival.

Alison Nguyen, My Favorite Software Is Being Here2020-21 | 19:47

A collaboration between Nguyen and a machine learning program created with Achim Koh, Andra8 is a simulacral subaltern created by an algorithm and raised by the internet in isolation in a virtual void. From the apartment where she has been placed, Andra8 works as a digital laborer, surviving off the data from her various freemium jobs as virtual assistant, data janitor, life coach, aspiring influencer and content creator. As she multitasks throughout the day, Andra8 is monitored and surveilled, finding herself overwhelmed by a web of global client demands. Something begins to trouble Andra8: Her life depends on her compulsory consumption and output of human dataor so shes been told. Andra8 explores the implications of such an existence, and what happens when one attempts to subvert them.

Alison Nguyen is a New York City-based artist whose work spans video, installation, performance and new media. Her screenings include Ann Arbor Film Festival, Channels Festival International Biennial of Video Art, CPH:DOX, Edinburgh International Film Festival, e-flux, International Film Festival Oberhausen, Microscope Gallery, Open City Documentary Festival, San Francisco Cinematheques CROSSROADS Film Festival and True/False Film Festival. Nguyens residencies and fellowships include BRIC, the International Studio & Curatorial Program, The Institute of Electronic Arts, Signal Culture, Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center, and Vermont Studio Center. Her grant awards include the Foundation for Contemporary Art, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and The New York Community Trust. In 2018, Filmmaker Magazinefeatured Alison Nguyen in their 25 New Faces of Independent Film. In 2021, she received a NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellowship in Video/Film.

Matt Whitman, CANT ANSWER YOU ANYMORE (ON FACES)2019 | 2:19 | Super8 film transferred to video | Silent | Color

Matt Whitman, HOW MUCH LONGER (ON BALLONS)2019 | 2:27 | Super8 film transferred to video | Silent | Color

These poetically elliptical, darkly humorous pieces feature extreme close-ups of the detritus of online interactionemojis, gifsshot on Super8 film. This mediums low resolution and prominent film grain defamiliarize the textureless screen images while out-of-sync framerates create a fluttering, off-kilter vision of the present as future past.

Matt Whitman is a New York City-based artist working with moving images, photography, installation, writing and performance. He has exhibited and screened his work widely at such sites as 8 fest (Toronto), Anthology Film Archives (New York City), Brooklyn Film Festival (New York City), Ethan Cohen Gallery (New York City), La MaMa (New York City), SF Cinematheque (San Francisco), The Front (New Orleans), The Kitchen (New York City), The Lab (San Francisco) and Unexposed Microcinema (Durham, North Carolina). He has taught at Parsons School of Design since 2014.

Tulapop Saenjaroen, People on SundayThailand | 2020 | 20:53

People on Sunday is a reinterpretation, a response and an homage to the 1930 German silent film, Menschen Am Sonntag. However, this response arises from a different context, different country, different era and different working conditions. People on Sunday comprises episodic stories of moving-image-related workers who work in the same performance-art-video project about free time.

Tulapop Saenjaroen is an artist and filmmaker currently based in Bangkok, Thailand. His recent works investigate the correlations between image production and production of subjectivity, as well as the paradoxes intertwining control and freedom in late capitalism. In combining the genres of narrative and the essay film, he explores subjects such as tourism, self-care and free labor. Saenjaroen received an M.F.A. in fine art media from The Slade School of Fine Art and an MA in aesthetics and politics from California Institute of the Arts.

Saenjaroen has exhibited and screened his work internationally at sites including 25FPS (Zagreb, Croatia), Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, Korea), Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, CROSSROADS at SFMOMA, FICVALDIVI (Chile), Harvard Film Archive, Images Festival (Toronto), International Film Festival Rotterdam, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Locarno Film Festival, Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Museum of the Moving Image (New York City), Open City Documentary (London) and Seoul International New Media Festival.

Support for this exhibition comes from theNew York State Council on the Arts with the support of the New York State Legislature. The related event is co-sponsored by the Syracuse University School of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series.

Link:

Urban Video Project Opens 2022 With 'No Emoji for Ennui' Group Exhibition and Related Screening - Syracuse University News

The job of the director ultimately boils down to creative problem-solving. When somethings going wrong or not working on set, it falls to the director to pool wits with the crew and devise an on-the-fly solution. Its just that these responsibilities usually do not extend to figuring out the mechanics of how to masturbate into ones own mouth.

John Cameron Mitchells 2006 film Shortbus which comes back to theaters this week in a 4K restoration engineered by Oscilloscope Laboratories that commemorates the original releases 15th anniversary opens in auspicious fashion, with wayward soul James bringing himself to an ejaculation he also hungrily receives, both for the benefit of the little camcorder whirring a couple feet away as well as his own private enjoyment. Its more difficult than it looks, and it never looked all that easy to begin with. Gravity and ballistics demand that he angle his pelvis directly above his face, a contortion possible only by hooking his feet onto the underside of a table-ledge while in what appears to be the middle of a backwards somersault. Its a feat of determined athleticism, and that doesnt even account for the labor that went into the shot offscreen.

Wed told [the camera operator] what the scene would be, and he stuck it out, but I found out after the fact he was not comfortable holding the camera on [actor Paul Dawson] during this scene, Mitchell relates to InsideHook from his new home in New Orleans. Hed turn the camera away to take the pressure off Paul, but then by the time hed turn it back, hed missed it. And a guy needs time to reload just like a camera needs to reload, so we waited six hours and the cameraman missed it again! We came back the next day, but I forgot to bring the sound kit, which was an issue because in this scene, hes crying and coming and we cant just loop that in. But if you remember, hes videotaping himself on that little DV camera for his own film, and that had sound! So our brilliant mixer took the sound from that and spliced it in. It was not an easy shot to get, very hard in many ways. And then, suddenly, not hard.

Mitchell knew full well that starting with a bang or at least half of one would send a clear message to his viewers: get off or, uh, get off. Capturing the auto-fellatio was worth the added hassle it required, in that the whole of Shortbuss rowdy yet softhearted spirit is contained within that determined show of onanistic will. Jamess unshy solo act announces the films queer vantage, its comedy of bodily imperfection, and its belief in the utility of unsimulated sexual content. That last point was an important one for Mitchell, who aspired to more than mere titillation with the copious, authentic scenes of copulation scattered through the film. In keeping with the plots worshipful attitude toward the transcendent, therapeutic powers of coitus, he wanted the depictions of sex to be as varied, personal and meaningful as sex itself. Were not watching a man swallow his own load for kicks; in time, well come to appreciate this as a symbol for his impulse to isolate, shutting everyone else out so he can play with and keep his hurt to himself.

I have no problem with porn; I only have a problem with unimaginative or disrespectful porn, Mitchell says. But people had relegated sex to porn, like that was the only place for it. I thought porn was too limited to handle the complexity of sex. It can be hot, but thats not the point. Well, maybe it is while youre having it. But beyond that, it can be a delivery system for all sorts of things like exposition, character development, plot. What are the characters doing? What are they missing in their lives thats addressed by the metaphors of sex?

James is one in a handful of discontented New Yorkers who convene in their searches for satisfaction at Shortbus, a salon/performance art installation/orgy based on events Mitchell attended as part of the Radical Faerie countercultural underground. The characters all bring their own baggage to the post-bohemian, post-hippie get-togethers in the hope that because their angst has roots in the libido, maybe they can fuck the pain away. James and his boyfriend Jamie are talking about opening their relationship, seeing as monogamy is for straight people. Sofia has never had an orgasm, a block linked to her deeper lack of self-discovery. The dominatrix Severin can bend men to her mercy, but cant bring herself to let one past her defenses. In each case, they bare the innermost parts of themselves when baring it all, to the extent that their performance cant be separated from its most explicit moments.

With ease, Mitchell can rattle off a laundry list of his favorite films demonstrating the unique potency of real or otherwise graphic sex: Nine Songs, Battle in Heaven, Fat Girl, In the Realm of the Senses, Taxi Zum Klo, Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song, Un chant damour. Oh, and The Brown Bunny, which wasnt very good, he adds. Weirdly, me and [star] Sook-Yin [Lee] ran into Vincent Gallo in the subway while we were working on this movie and we told him, Hey, were making a film with real sex too! and he said, Whatever you do, dont be in it. Theyll come after you! He couldnt help noticing that these films all had an undercurrent of despair to them, that the sex often came bundled with suicide or some other tragedy. Though the specters of AIDS and 9/11 loom over Shortbus Its like the 60s with less hope, muses attendee Justin Vivian Bond his goal was to imagine an oasis of acceptance lifting all visitors out of the lockstep bloodthirsty patriotism of the Dubya years and up to a nirvana of fulfillment.

Behind the outrageous set pieces that see the National Anthem sung into a mans ass or one womans orgasm end the Northeast Blackout of 2003, theres an earnest effort to foster nurturing and healing. Its a realistic kind of utopia, in that these characters are all damaged and working through it, Mitchell says. Its not a dystopia, but the characters pretend toward utopia and fail. Which I think is better than dystopia as the only answer! All childrens literature is dystopia-focused now. That doesnt seem like a great thing to teach your kids, that were all fucked, but theres evidence for that, isnt there? In our case, Im fascinated by utopian communities the experiments, the failures, the chosen families. Its a queer thing to be interested in, because often queer peoples families wont understand them or might reject them. So we find our own.

On screen and off, Mitchells techniques rebutted the predatory side to sex that divides us into binaries of objects and consumers. The actors shared authorship with their director, choosing names and backstories informed loosely by their own experiences. They were given a script and then told to paraphrase all their lines in a vernacular that made them feel natural and comfortable, a trick Mitchell picked up from John Cassavetes and Robert Altman. We borrowed from their lives, with me constantly asking how they feel about where we were at, he says. With Sook-Yin, I asked her how we could make her as comfortable as possible around the crew. Why dont we do a rehearsal where all the crew is nude? she said. So we did! It was just me, the cinematographer, and another sound person, but it really helped. We were like, Oh, god! for five minutes, and then we all got over it.

Despite the scandalizing potential Vincent Gallo prophesied, Shortbus generated only a modest amount of controversy in 2007. The expected watchdogs decried the infiltration of pornography to wholesome movie theaters. Actress Sook-Yin Lee was dismissed from her job at the CBC and reinstated in the wake of a petition chockablock with celebrity signatories, and a ban on the film in South Korea was lifted after extensive judicial review. But we werent big enough to really get on the right-wing radar, goes Mitchells reasoning. Though the real victory there was that the Korean Supreme Court had to watch the movie. Id love for the US Supreme Court to see it.

John Cameron Mitchell (third from right) and the cast of Shortbus at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival

Jesse Grant/WireImage via Getty

No longer mistaken for a smutty novelty, the film returns to a world with drastically changed notions about sex and cinema. The once-outr sensibility of kink has drifted toward the mainstream, now the stuff of premium cable and Oprah-approved short story collections. But at the same time, the U.S. film industry has been thoroughly neutered in the interim, mired in what Mitchell calls a sex-panic due in part to the past decades revelation of how pervasive abuse has been in Hollywood. Today, I think the pushback on the film would probably come from the left rather than the right, he says. Theres a panic about sex among Gen Z, a concern that if someones having sex they must be getting exploited. Young people are having less sex, maybe because the IRL experience has gotten scarier It feels like a good time for Shortbus to come back out.

Posterity has suspended Shortbus between trends, ahead of its time in its unabashed sex-positivity but alienated from the present in its willingness to show it. Even so, Mitchells prescience leaves him with the last laugh. For one, he anticipated Grindr with the proximity-based hookup app Yenta. (My lawyer told me I couldnt patent it unless I actually made it. Ive never spent time thinking about how to make money, though I probably should. Its more fun to imagine having it.) Moreover, his open-mindedness about fidelity has bled into the monoculture, with twentysomethings and married couples alike adopting polygamy in increasing numbers. (You may remember, the worry was that the gays would redefine marriage. Well, it could use some redefining!) As for what he sees in the fate of his horny, impassioned cult classic: Id love someone to adapt Shortbus for the stage. Real sex on stage, every night! Why not?

In his sensitive collaborations with his actors and his trust in eroticism as a deeper narrative engine, Mitchell formed a carnal refuge in a confusing, conservative America. Whatever your anxieties about the current state of the nation, this pansexual haven invites you to come as you are. With sex, theres no need to be scared, he says. I grew up Catholic and sex-phobic myself, so I understand it. But with this film, I wanted to de-mystify, to use sex in a way I hadnt seen before One of the actors said, Hey, were doing all this, you might as well have sex too. And I said, Okay, what should I do? Well, you either get fucked up the ass, or youre gonna eat pussy! And Im like, Ill try the latter restaurant, which I have never visited. So theres a scene where Im, you know, downstairs. And it went great! And I never could have done that with another film.

This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.

View original post here:

The Complicated Legacy of "Shortbus," The Sex-Club Cult Film With a Heart of Gold - InsideHook

From the volcanic plains of Morrowind to the lurching fjords of Skyrim, to the sprawling sands of Elsweyr and the towering sierras of Daggerfall, The Elder Scrolls Online has become a vast and varied version of Tamriel that is unprecedentedly immense in scope. In fact, the designers at ZeniMax Online Studios are actually running out of space on the continent thats why the next location coming to the game, High Isle, has never been visited before in this universe.

Thats not the only thing being added to the game in the upcoming Legacy of the Bretons expansion, though. Obviously, a story about Bretons requires, well Bretons. We sat down with The Elder Scrolls Online lead writer Bill Slavicsek and loremaster Leamon Tuttle to discuss all things Bretonic and beyond.

We chose the Bretons because we havent done much with them since the launch game, Slavicsek tells GLHF. Weve been looking for What havent we done yet? and they were an obvious choice. They deserve more of a spotlight than theyve had before, and were going to give them one with the Legacy of the Bretons.

For those of you who enjoy The Elder Scrolls but are more well-versed on races like Nords, Dark Elves, and Khajiit, the Bretons according to the folks at ZeniMax Online Studios are significantly more intriguing than people have been led to believe. Their society is a Thronesian one, where abrasiveness is eschewed for subterfuge and petty political squabbles are quickly elevated to full-fledged coups dtat.

We did a lot of research on the actual medieval period in Europe how that played out and how the various noble houses dealt with and around each other, Tuttle explains. Theres a ton of intrigue and conflict between various noble houses thats gonna definitely have a spotlight put on it. There are several noble houses, two in particular that the player is going to be well acquainted with over time. Theres the whole neo-feudalism side of it, but theres also the magical side of it. One of the things that often gets lost in the shuffle is that Bretons are one of the most magically adept races in Tamriel, from the king all the way down to the serfs.

Every Breton can boast some resistance to magic and some basic aptitude for learning it if given the opportunity. I mean, some of the greatest mages in Tamrielic history were Breton. Another aspect of society that were dealing with is Druidism. Early on in theElder Scrolls releases, there was a reference to the Druids of Galen. It was kind of dropped and never really talked about that much. But were really getting into the history of the Bretons in terms of their relationship with the Direnni elves and how that all started, these basic kinds of early religion aspects with druids.

Its worth lingering on that point for a moment. As Tuttle says above, part of preparing for this expansion involved going back to old lore in order to maintain consistency with the Elder Scrolls universe. This is pretty standard in unique sci-fi and fantasy worlds with their own inherent rules and rituals, although Slavicsek jokes that, Were fantasy, we make it up when we mention the fact that Mass Effects loremaster would often crunch the numbers for concepts like using mass relays to achieve FTL speeds.

The challenges that we face are different from the challenges that youd see in a game like Mass Effect, Tuttle says. Were not crunching numbers on mass relays and stuff, but I do a ton of research on a bunch of different stuff, including all the lore thats taken place up until now. Its a lot of reading, but one thing I always try to consider is that as loremaster, our job is not to treat all the lore as totally inviolate. Were the stewards of what is the best version of ourselves. Were trying to safeguard the best aspects of the franchise and make sure that they get a chance to shine.

Theres this idea that the loremaster gig is just kind of smacking peoples hands with big books and being like, No, you cant do that! or whatever. But really, its about trying to find a way to achieve what were trying to achieve while protecting the best aspects of the franchise.

Slavicsek builds on this point, stating that Tuttles role isnt necessarily to say no and smack the writers with a dusty old text from The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Its to turn around and say, How can we make that work? when faced with a new idea that could potentially be at odds with a previous or future one. Slavicsek, meanwhile, focuses on ensuring that these stories are all consistent with every three-month gap between releases. Compared to single-player games and even a lot of online ones the amount of quality content The Elder Scrolls Online produces on the regular is pretty wild.

Thats a fascinating point to muse on, too. Obviously, The Elder Scrolls Online is massively popular now, which makes the decade its been since a single-player Elder Scrolls game all the more ostensible. Some fans of the series are of the opinion that ESO has usurped its single-player predecessors, although the folks at ZeniMax Online Studios dont like to think of it that way.

Were not in competition with our brethren at BGS, Slavicsek says. I just try to put out good stuff and hope the audience likes it.

We both get to play in the same universe, but we play in different ways, Tuttle adds. Thats one of the cool things about games generally is that theres variations on the theme, and different studios do different things in different ways. People clearly love our game, and they definitely clearly love the mainline titles in The Elder Scrolls. I think with all of our studios, were making people happy in different ways.

ESO, however, has had to experiment with said ways in abnormally rapid succession. As mentioned at the beginning of the piece, the size of Tamriel has already been established. The races who inhabit the continent their histories, mythologies, and cultures are known to fans the world over. How can ZeniMax Online Studios continue to put out new hefty chunks of new material on a quarterly basis while ensuring its world doesnt outgrow the shell that keeps it contained, but focused?

I mean, wed like to go to new places, Slavicsek explains. Were running out of room on Tamriel thats one of the reasons were going to the archipelago in this next package. Weve covered most of the main continent at this point. But we also believe in the rules of the universe and there are certain mysteries that will never be answered. The Dwemer are one of those we are not going to step anywhere near that.

We may do some hints here and there, we may tease you a little bit. But there are things that they say we should never touch, and thats one. We will never touch those things. But were creating new stuff all the time we have to or wed never put out any content. The Ascendant Order is new, High Isle is new. Last time we showed parts of the Deadlands that were never seen before. Thats become second nature for us and its exciting. We love doing it.

For those who are curious about the upcoming material referenced above, the Ascendant Order is an all-new antagonistic faction that is opposed to the Three Banners War. Their quest for a crownless utopia marks them as the kind of villainous organization that isnt just armed to the teeth with twirly mustaches and dastardly laughs though. Its staffed by people with real conviction in a lofty goal they see as just, and which other people concur with due to the fact they market themselves as people who are anti-violence in Tamriel.

Thats actually a good thing, right? We want to end the war, Slavicsek says. Its a matter of how they go about doing it that becomes the driving force of the story. And their leaders weve got a few of them that youll meet across the length of the story are these individuals that at least on the surface have noble goals and believe in things that most of the common folk of Tamriel would probably support until people start dying.

The studios confidence in terms of introducing whole new factions in large, year-long expansion stories has bred ambition, conviction, and a kind of self-awareness in the MMO space that maybe not all companies are capable of recognizing. The people at ZeniMax Online Studios know that what theyre doing is good. They can identify why it resonates with so many people, and can clearly see a future for ESO that isnt affected by rivals or future Elder Scrolls games developed elsewhere.

Were telling good stories, Slavicsek says. I think our storytelling is some of the strongest happening in the industry. We approach the storytelling for an MMO much differently than most other MMOs and Im very proud of that. Were doing good stuff and people are noticing.

I think its important to give props to the community itself, as well, Tuttle continues. I mean, a game like this does not exist in the way that it exists now without a really awesome, thriving community of players that are contributing in different ways writing articles, doing fan art, or writing fanfics. One of the cool things about doing this is theres this kind of communication between us and people who really love this game. I think thats a huge part of its success.

Speaking of which, ESOs community surpassed 20 million players just last year. As was the case with many games, people all over the world found solace in video games throughout the pandemic particularly in highly sociable ones like MMOs. While the team has been working from home for almost two years, they havent missed a single deadline throughout that time. They know just how important its been for players to be able to inhabit this world.

Personally, what Ive been doing when Im not writing for the game and working is playing video games, because I cant leave my house, Slavicsek explains. I think video games have given people a way to get through this unique situation were all in, at least if youre fans of that particular medium. Im glad weve been able to provide people with something that could get them through this. Were gonna continue to do that.

Both Slavicsek and Tuttle have words for those people, too which includes you if youre reading this. Thank you, Tuttle opens with. Thats first.

Our game is unique, Slavicsek says. You can start anywhere you want. If you decide you want to start with Legacy of the Bretons, its a perfectly good jumping-in point. Its a political story. Its a down-to-earth story. Its a people story. Youre gonna learn a lot about the Bretons and their history and their lore. But youre also going to deal with the current problems of the day in Tamriel. Be ready to run in and have some fun.

I would say from the lore perspective, if you really wanted to get some more lore from the Bretons, you will not be disappointed, Tuttle says. Theres plenty of it to go around. And if youre one of these people who thinks that the Bretons are really boring you should play too, because well prove you wrong.

Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.

See the article here:

The Elder Scrolls Online lore interview we won't step anywhere near the Dwemer - For The Win

Newcastle United have changed their objective as they are targeting Galatasaray defender Marcao as an affordable 15m alternative to Diego Carlos, according to reports.

The Magpies have signed two players this month as they have brought in Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood.

Newcastle are desperate to sign a new centre-back before the transfer window shuts on Monday. They have been heavily linked with Sevilla star Carlos.

Are Man Utd playing long game in Lingard loan row?

This transfer has now fallen through and Carlos is quite happy to be staying at Sevilla.

TuttoMercatoWeb (via Sport Witness)are reporting that Newcastle have opted to change their objective.

They are now targetingGalatasaray centre-back Marcao. He is valued at 15m and he is seen as an affordable alternative to Carlos.

The 25-year-old has been at Galatasaray since 2019. They paid an initial fee of 4m to sign him and he has played 126 times across all competitions.

Newcastle are also said to be interested in Jesse Lingard. Stuart Pearce believes the midfielder would be a commodity for several Premier League teams:

Jesse is a commodity that is not playing for his football club that would be a benefit to a lot of clubs in the Premier League, that would be my personal opinion, Pearce said (as cited by The Metro).

Our [club] is certainly one of them, there is no doubt.

Everyone is aware that we tried to get Jesse back again last summer and that will continue probably in this window as well but that is down to Jesse.

Jesse has six months of his contract left, he will decide and Manchester Untied more importantly will decide what his future is for the next six months.

Pearce went onto suggest that it is a real shame that Lingard has not been playing consistently:

I always feel it is a real shame when a player of that talent is probably not playing regularly.

Especially his contribution when he came and joined us and had a wonderful six months and got himself back in the England fold as well, so it has helped Gareth Southgate as well.

Listen, I will be delighted if he goes and plays, wherever he goes and plays. If he turns up at West Ham over the next four days it will be utopia.

If he goes and plays anywhere else in the Premier League I will still be pleased back seeing him play again.

View post:

Newcastle United 'change objective' as they eye 'affordable' 15m alternative to Diego Carlos - Football365

In Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Picard explains to a 21st-century visitor, The economics of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesnt exist in the 24th century.

Yusaku Maezawa, a multibillionaire who recently traveled to space, could double for just such a visitor. He recently echoed Picards idea in a press conference he gave from the International Space Station, saying,

Someday, money will disappear suddenly from this world. . . . my bank account will be zero. Everyones bank account will be zero. And everything in stores [will be] free. So, everyone can take everything for free from stores. If you love cars, you can ride a Ferrari as soon as you wantfor free.

The fashion tycoon added that capitalism is not sustainable and should be replaced with a money-free society as soon as possible, a view he promises to explain in a film he plans to make (which no doubt will cost a small fortune to produce). Is this a truly futuristic ideaone we should strive for? Or is it actually rather primitive and unworkable?

Capitalism, to the extent it has existed, has been incredibly successful at lifting most of humanity out of poverty, incentivizing the creation of incredible, life-enhancing technologies, such as those Maezawa used to make his fortunenot to mention, travel to space. But its long had its critics, and he is far from the first to propose a sort of Garden-of-Eden world where everything is plentiful and free. Karl Marx envisioned a similar utopia. Communism, he said, ultimately would bring about a world without money:

In the case of socialised production the money-capital is eliminated. Society distributes labour-power and means of production to the different branches of production. The producers may, for all it matters, receive paper vouchers entitling them to withdraw from the social supplies of consumer goods a quantity corresponding to their labour-time. These vouchers are not money. They do not circulate.

And although society distributes labour-powermeaning government planners tell people what to do to ensure that things (such as free Ferraris) get madeworkers could also all pursue whatever hobbies or occupations strike their fancy. [I]n communist society, Marx explained,

where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, to fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have in mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.

Because, in such a world, society regulates the general production, only social planners would need to worry about how all of this somehow adds up to meet everyones needs. The worker need not concern himself with producing in-demand goods that he can trade for others. As a modern utopian and self-described social engineer, Jacque Fresco, explains:

all goods and services are available to all people without the need for means of exchange such as money, credits, barter or any other means. For this to be achieved, all resources must be declared as the common heritage of all Earths inhabitants. Equipped with the latest scientific and technological marvels, humankind could reach extremely high productivity levels and create an abundance of resources.

In other words, a handful of technocrats would somehow make possible a couch potatos paradise. Thats not an idea that resonates with me or with the ambitious young people I know. On the other hand, burned-out Chinese workerswho recently launched the lying flat movement to popularize opting out of Xi Jinpings continual struggle toward tech dominancelikely would welcome the respite. Ironically, though, the Chinese Communist Party views this widespread acknowledgment of fatigue as subversive childishness, evidencing the individuals supposedly immoral desire to put his own selfish interests above those of the nation.

Under communism, a handful of technocrats would somehow make possible a couch potatos paradise. Thats not an idea that resonates with me or with the ambitious young people I know.

But, if not in the heart of communism, might Marxs Eden be workable elsewhere?

Although Marx considered himself a social scientist and economistand although his ideas are still some of the most widely taughtthey arent much taught in social science or economics departments, except as foils. Thats because virtually all of Marxs hypotheses have been debunked. For one, whos going to build the free Ferraris that Maezawa has dreamed up, never mind tackle more mundane tasks, with no incentive? But for those who dont find such commonsense thought experiments convincingor who think, as Marx did, that human nature will somehow mysteriously changethe impracticality of Marxs moneyless state was demonstrated by what Austrian economists have come to call the calculation problem. Ludwig von Mises once explained the problem as follows:

If a hydroelectric power station is to be built, one must know whether or not this is the most economical way to produce the energy needed. How can he know this if he cannot calculate costs and output?

We may admit that in its initial period a socialist regime could to some extent rely upon the experience of the preceding age of capitalism. But what is to be done later, as conditions change more and more? Of what use could the prices of 1900 be for the director in 1949? And what use can the director in 1980 derive from the knowledge of the prices of 1949?

The paradox of planning is that it cannot plan, because of the absence of economic calculation. What is called a planned economy is no economy at all. It is just a system of groping about in the dark.

In short, without prices, people have no relatable, quantifiable means of comparing and contrasting options about how to spend time and capital, which is vital for determining how best to use these naturally scarce resources. New Scientist magazine reported that in the future, cars could be powered by hazelnuts, said comedian Jimmy Fallon, in a skit that captures this point hilariously. Thats encouraging, considering an eight-ounce jar of hazelnuts costs about nine dollars. Yeah, Ive got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberg eggs.

The paradox of planning is that it cannot plan, because of the absence of economic calculation. What is called a planned economy is no economy at all. It is just a system of groping about in the dark. Ludwig von Mises

But theres more. As has been shown with so many of Marxs ideas, a moneyless society is not only impractical, its also deeply immoral. Marx often grumbled about greedy capitalists alienating workers from their labor. The focus on efficiency, he said, reduced the worker to a mere extension of a factorys machines, rendering him a brute tool of capitalist exploitation.

Of course, workers chose industrial jobs because they paid better than those in agriculture and the like. And even if boring, such jobs rarely were so backbreaking as life on the farm. Far from alienating workers from their labor, the capitalist arranged new modes of production that vastly increased the value of that labor, not only for himself, but for workers, too. Whereas a slave truly is alienated from his laborhe works but is deprived of the fruits of his effortthe industrial worker could count on greater returns from his labor than ever before. Over the course of the Industrial Revolution and the following centuries, those returns have grown immensely and reduced the percentage of people living in extreme poverty from more than 80 percent to less than 20.

Money stores the value of ones effort. Its made possible by the legal protection of property rights. In the words of Francisco dAnconia from Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged:

Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders.

Just as the worker owns himself, he owns the values he produces, on which his life depends, either directly or indirectly via the sale of those values. Without money and the property rights that underlie it, we all would be truly and fully alienated from our labor, left without enforceable claim to the values we spend our timeand thus our livescreating.

"Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort." Ayn Rand

Thats an idea hardly fit even for science fiction, one best relegated to the dystopian genre.

This piece is republished with permission from The Objective Standard.

View original post here:

Is Star Trek's Dream of a World Without Money Utopian or Dystopian? | Jon Hersey, Thomas Walker-Werth - Foundation for Economic Education

News broke that Kayne West will be replacing Travis Scott at Coachella this year. Now a petition by Travis Scott fans is in motion to get the performer back on the Coachella stage.

This comes in after its been announced that the rapper is stacked up with lawsuits over the Astroworld tragedy have amounted to over billions at this point.

According to a Variety article, it was revealed that the festival informed Scotts longtime agent, Cara Lewis of the Cara Lewis Group, of its intent to pull Scott from the bill, which he was to headline, and that it would pay a kill fee for the cancelation, typically 25 percent.

I didnt know the exact details until you know minutes before the press conference, said Scott while interviewing with Charlemagne Tha God.

Its confirmed that 10 people have died on November 5 at Astroworld. People have criticized the role Travis Scott played in the dangerous environment. Some have called out his ranging culture to be the main cause for so much of the chaos that night

In the interview with Charlemagne, Scott was asked about the culture of ranging and the critiques that have come out about it.

Charlemagne asked, Raging has been a part of the culture of your shows Youve encouraged, I guess, the kind of energy that could have led to something like this happening. Do you think that contributed to the energy of this night?

Travis Scott replied, Its something Ive been working on for a while just creating these experiences and trying to show the experiences happening in a safe environment, us as artists we trust professionals to make sure that things happen and people leave safely . its was just like a regular show it felt like to me People didnt show up there to just be harmful people.

Travis Scott explained further, that people showed up to have a good time and concluded that the tragedy was something unfortunate happened

What is now left for the Sicko Mode Rapper? He is still facing mounting lawsuits, and while that is going on behind the scenes Travis Scotts has been keeping a pretty low profile.

He was spotted back in late December with his daughter Stormi for a Huston Holiday Food and Toy Drive. According to Billboard, the event was a collaboration between the city of Huston, Scotts Cactus Jack Foundation, and the Mayor of Huston Sylvester Turner.

His most recent post on Instagram was of himself for New Years Eve. He is also expecting another child with Kylie Jenner this year. His next album Utopia is expected to drop this year as well.

Only time will tell what is in store for Travis Scott the reminder of this year. Here are three ways Travis Scott can pivot and possibly prove that hes ready to take the Coachella stage.

Back in mid-April of last year, it was announced that artist SoFaygo, a Michigan rapper who blew up last year for his hit single Knock-Knock, which went viral on Tiktok, signed on to Cactus Jack Records .

As it stands, Cactus Jack has the likes of Don Toliver, Chase B, and Sheck Wes on the label. Travis Scott could take some time out of the spotlight and focus on furthering developing these artists careers.

Investing time and resources to help further push his record label can allow him to build up a good reputation for his label separate from him as an artist.

Playing in the background can allow him to get back to the music which seems to be his main focus when it comes to his brand.

Tapping back into his record label gives him full reign to step into his producer bag.

Travis Scott already has a history of producing some hit songs and albums. He has produced for Kanye West, Jay Z, Wale, Big Sean, Dj Khaled etc. This can be the perfect time to step into the producer space and continue to play a background force in the music industry.

Cactus Jack Records is a fertile ground for creating an environment for musical artists to thrive and take the music into their own hands. Pivoting into the producer role can allow him to still have an influence and make waves in the industry.

One major move Travis Scott and the team should focus on is the ways they can go above and beyond for the Houston Community. Many visitors of Astroworld were natives of the city and Scott intentionally investing in Houston would be a step in a good direction.

It was mentioned earlier in this piece that he participated in a charity event this past Holiday season. Travis Scott should build upon that work by tapping into mutual aid groups like Mutual Aid Houston. They are a BIPOC-led grassroots collective boosting mutual aid efforts within Houston, Texas.

This mutual aid organization was able to crowdfund up to $130,000 for families affected by the extreme cold and snowstorm that occurred last winter.

Teaming up with organizations that are on the ground and creating material changes would be a good way for the Astroworld Rapper to reinvest his image and influence.

Who knows what will happen after backlash from the Astrowrld tragedy will fizzle out? What do we know? Travis Scott fans will always be there for their artist and hopefully, their Coachella petition works.

See the petition (here).

The rest is here:

Travis Scott and Coachella: Could one petition be his saving grace? - Kulture Hub

David Byrne let his guitar slump on its strap for a moment, after opening his Broadway show, American Utopia, with a fiery rendition of The Revolution. He looked wearily into the audience and asked, Wouldnt it be heavenly if nothing ever happened? People laughed. Byrne let out a hard snort. The joke, gift-wrapped as a question, needed no elaboration. The subtext, the audience understood, was Treat yourself tonight, since the world is collapsing.

Not so long before, during the week leading up to Christmas, American Utopias producers had cancelled five performances. Too many cast and crew members had been sidelined by COVID, with seven testing positive, even though theyd been vaccinated. Rather than close the show, Byrne announced on social media, You can cash in your ticket, or you can have whats behind this curtain, which he billed as a show youll never, ever see again. He was offering a retooled American Utopia, featuring an assortment of songs reimagined by a scaled-back band of musicians. Were just gonna come up with a show, you know? Hey! he said. This is our opportunity to make lemonade from COVID lemons.

In a recent Zoom call, Byrne explained how it happened: We looked at the situation and we mapped it out. We said, O.K., we can do this with the people we have left. He paused to adjust a strap on his blue-and-white striped overalls. With fewer crew members, we could not do Burning Down the House. That is a big onevery popular with the audience. He continued, Onstage, its Look, were going to show you whats possible.

It got hectic as fuck, Bobby Wooten III, the bassist, said, on a separate Zoom call. Wooten, who has played with every version of the show, said that although they were using the same stage and some of the same people, the show were putting on is completely different. Were doing songs that basically none of us, outside of David, have ever played beforelike, thirteen new songs. He went on, We literally had eight hours of rehearsal the Sunday before and we had four hours the day of. And then each person put in a lot of time outside of that.

Remembering the music! Remembering the lyrics! Byrne said on the Zoom, chuckling. Hed been pleased to see a lot of younger people in the audience lately, and he noticed that other, older fans had come more than once. I thought, Wait a minute. Ive seen that couple at a previous show, he said. Theyre back!

On a bare stage, Byrne and company appear in shiny gray suits, with no shoes. Between songs, while band members switch up instruments and regroup, he tells stories. He winces if his punch lines come out garbled, and sometimes he wears the Who, me? grin of a seven-year-old who hassnagged your wallet and then offers to help you find it.

On the third night of the experiment, the audience, many of whom were double-masked, was palpably nervous. Heads swivelled, as people reassured themselves that their neighbors had their masks on tightly enough. By the time Byrne sang the Talking Heads hit Once in a Lifetime, they relaxed.

I could see them listen to each other, Ayla Huguenot, a seventeen-year-old musician in the audience, said of the band members. At certain points, Byrne would turn around and motion, like, O.K., lets do that chorus one more time. And then they would all kind of look at each other to see when they were going to end it. Her friend Carter Nyhan, also a musician, appreciated the teamwork, too, including some bumps here and there.

By the closing number, Road to Nowhere, the whole audience was on its feet and dancing. It was an anti-Broadway evening, an unapologetic display of solidarity and trust amid a cloud of anxiety. When the curtain fell, masks could not muffle the rapturous hollers.

On the Zoom, Byrne had said, I do feel a lot of love coming from the audience. I try not to take it personally. I tend to think to myself, They dont really love me. They dont know me as a person. They love what Ive done and what that means to them. He added, And I try and reciprocate thatbe very present and real. Let them know that Im talking to them in that moment.

He is enjoying the scrappy element of the show. I think I might miss how we had to really scramble, he said. But, performing in the era of COVID, theres nothing glamorous about that, either. Ill be happy when thats all over, when the audiences can take off their masks.

Read more:

David Byrne Does Broadway on the Fly - The New Yorker

In its tale of a Nobel Prize-winning scientist convicted of paedophilia, Hanya Yanagiharas first novel, The People in the Trees, introduced her as a novelist with a gift for the subversive. But it was her second that took the Hawaiian author to a different plane.

A Little Life told of Jude, a successful New Yorker who could never overcome the effects of his childhood trauma. Some found the book overly gratuitous, others darkly beautiful. It was celebrated by some as the great gay novel, criticised by others for its omission of 9/11. Nothing impeded its Booker shortlisting, or its route to million-copy bestsellerdom. These days it is enjoying a resurgence on TikTok, where users record their swooning, tearful, angry or admiring reactions. Ive never wanted to unread a book more in my life, claims one TikTokker as she sobs before camera. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is my favourite book, says another.

It is hard to imagine similarly charged responses to Yanagiharas third book, To Paradise, which, at 700-odd pages is almost as long but nowhere near as emotionally rousing as her last. The three parts that comprise the book read like three separate novels, with oddly placed linking elements. Its mayhem, so buckle up.

First, were in an alternative version of America in 1893. New York is part of the Free States, where homosexuality is the norm, but only white people can live there. A stilted old-fashioned register introduces David Bingham, a still almost-young man who is heir to the Bingham fortune. He has been promised to a suitor much older than him, but when a poor music teacher enters his life, everything he believes about the world is thrown into disarray.

Layered with allegory

Next, we are in 1993 Manhattan. Another David (or is it the same one, reincarnated? Perhaps its a descendent of our first David, though we are told he descends from the last monarch of Hawaii) has just received a letter from his long-lost father. He defers reading it out of dread, or more likely because the plot demands such deferral so we can be filled in on his relationship with an older man whose former lover wishes to be euthanised.

The Aids epidemic is alluded to repeatedly but never really affects the storyline. For the reader (at least for this reader), the feeling that there is something we are supposed to be getting, but are not quite, is a constant. When we finally get around to the letter, it tells of Davids childhood, the colonisation of Hawaii, his fathers mental decay and a doomed utopian project to live off the grid in Lipo-Wao-Nahele. Its layered with allegory but is too chaotic to impart its meaning successfully.

Finally, the third section is set in New York at the end of this century. Climate disaster and recurring pandemics have led to totalitarian rule. There are curfews, checkpoints, containment camps for those with diseases. We follow Charlie, a young woman who lives in Zone Eight, and C, a government scientist.

The book seems to play with the butterfly effect: examining what the world might look like if small tweaks were made to history. (Or, in the case of the third section, focusing on how certain elements of the present might define how the future looks). Naturally, a lot of artistic licence is employed. The main through line is the theme of utopia. Paradise recurs in various guises. To some, it is freedom, to others safety, touch, love, wealth, death, legacy, a fresh start, a suicide bomb. In some ways, the utopian impulse was also explored in A Little Life, as its characters danced around the ephemeral notion of happiness. But To Paradise comes at it in a decidedly different way. It almost reads like 18th century satire. Like Voltaires Candide or Swifts Gulliver, a young naf goes out in search of the best of all possible worlds and discovers it is always beyond reach: one persons utopia is anothers dystopia. As in these Enlightenment texts, the characters and storylines feel more like vessels for ideas than real people and stories.

Unfortunately, this storytelling mode obscures most of what makes Yanagiharas writing good. The book felt beefy and convoluted and it was not until the third section that I felt drawn to read on.

Charlies sections are narrated in the first person. The tone is detached. She has experienced an illness that altered her brain chemistry, so she finds it hard to feel. The state, in any case, does not allow for individual expression. She wonders if it was possible that I was actually not who I thought I was.

But through her emotionless register, humanity creeps through. She is certain she will never be loved, and will never love, either. But then a man (named David, of course) enters her life and the feeling I had when I stood at the north of the Square, watching him wave awakens something in her. Was I able to feel it after all? she asks herself. Was what I had always assumed was impossible for me something I had known all along?

The book attempts to interrogate the bind between humanity and idealism but the third section is the only one that does so effectively. It is Charlies voice, and the irony of her emotionlessness inspiring emotion in the reader, thats the kicker. Had the book consisted of this section alone, it would have made for a decent work of speculative fiction. As a whole, though, To Paradise demands far more from the reader than it gives back. Like all ambitious, utopian projects, it feels nothing like Utopia, really.

Fiction: To Paradise by Hanya YanagiharaPicador, 720 pages, hardcover 16.99; e-book 9.99

Excerpt from:

To Paradise: Winding road to utopia is riddled with dead ends - Independent.ie

Utopia Gymnastics Club was originally formed in 2017 in Brighouse and proved a success with 500 members participating each week.

Through the Club Capital project, they were given the opportunity to expand and provide a second dedicated facility for local residents to be able to experience gymnastics and dance, promoting a healthy and active lifestyle particularly for young people and a new site in Wakefield was chosen.

The site can be found on Caldervale Road and it is Wakefields only dedicated gymnastics facility and the first offering artistic gymnastics programmes. It is already a success with almost 500 members joining since it was opened in 2021.

Utopia Gymnastics was created by ex-Yorkshire gymnast Kirstie Limbert and husband Luke, with the goal of introducing the sport and more importantly, the opportunity for anyone to participate in physical activity to the local community.

Going beyond simply providing the sessions, Utopia have focused on an inclusive practice to ensure that gymnastics remains accessible and enjoyable to play a key role in aiding the development of young people.

Kirstie reflected on the clubs approach:

We are very much a grassroots club, but its fantastic to have a new and dedicated facility where you can best deliver community outreach and give every young person the best experience in gymnastics possible.

We have already seen a really positive impact on the children and young people, particularly with the social and mental health benefit. This site has helped us to serve the community and provide for more young people than ever before the growth has been about double what we expected initially but its fantastic to see the enthusiasm that the local area has for gymnastics.

We are also working hard to continue developing our relationship with local schools where we are able to go in and deliver sessions to those who may never have had the chance to experience the sport at all.

We wouldnt have been able to open without Club Capital. After being turned down by quite a few different lenders, we spoke to our facilities support officer at British Gymnastics who helped us get it off the ground.

As soon as we heard about the opportunity, we were interested immediately and were just desperate to realise our vision, and Im so glad we have got there.

Without the necessary affordable loan, it would not have been possible for Wakefield to have this new facility.

Remarkably converted from an aging industrial unit, the project needed 320,000 to transform dead space into an outstanding leisure space, including an all-new reception, communal area, gymnastics floor, podium pit, as well as an additional dance studio which includes further gymnastics space.

British Gymnastics Club Capital gave Utopia the opportunity to develop this dedicated facility in Wakefield, also handing an opportunity to hundreds of young people who before did not have the same access to sport and wellbeing activities.

Dave Marshall, participation director at British Gymnastics and at the forefront of the Club Capital initiative, visited the club recently and was delighted to see the remarkable community outreach since the new facility dream became reality.

He said: It is absolutely wonderful to see Utopia Gymnastics making the most of their new facilities, and continuing their brilliant work in ensuring everyone has the opportunity to get involved in gymnastics and experience the joys of the sport.

Gymnastics is considered a foundation sport because it has so many benefits that are integral to wider development, whether thats supporting cognitive development, co-ordination and flexibility, or skills like teamwork.

We are passionate about supporting clubs and it is extremely important that funding does not stand in the way of clubs who want to develop or move into their own facilities.

We have been working hard to create as many opportunities in gymnastics through our Club Capital project, as well as providing stability to clubs whilst they rebuild through our Covid Recovery fund, which includes a 1.5 million recovery loan to help clubs who have been impacted by the pandemic.

Utopia Gymnastics is open to anyone who wants to give gymnastics a try for the first time, to find out more you can visit http://www.utopiagymnastics.co.uk

Here is the original post:

Utopia is right here in Wakefield thanks to British Gymnastics' funding programme - Wakefield Express

American democracy is in peril and nearly everyone paying attention is trying to find the best way to say so. Should we in the intellectual classes position our warnings in satire, in jeremiads, in social scientific data, in historical analogy, in philosophical wisdom we glean from so many who have instructed us about the violence and authoritarianism of the 20th century? Or should we just scream after our holiday naps?

Some of us pick up our pens and do what we can. We quote wise scribes such as George Orwell on how there may be a latent fascist waiting to emerge in all humans, or Hannah Arendt on how democracies are inherently unstable and susceptible to ruin by aggressive, skilled demagogues. We turn to Alexis de Tocqueville for his stunning insights into American individualism while we love to believe his claims that democracy would create greater equality. And oh! how we love Walt Whitmans fabulously open, infinite democratic spirit. We inhale Whitmans verses and are captured by the hypnotic power of democracy. O Democracy, for you, for you I am trilling these songs, wrote our most exuberant democrat.

Read enough of the right Whitman and you can believe again that American democracy may yet be the continent indissoluble with the life-long love of comrades. But just now we cannot rely on the genius alone of our wise forbears. We have to face our own mess, engage the fight before us, and prepare for the worst.

Our democracy allows a twice-impeached, criminally inclined ex-president, who publicly fomented an attempted coup against his own government, and still operates as a gangster leader of his political party, to peacefully reside in our midst while under investigation for his misdeeds. We believe in rule of law, and therefore await verdicts of our judicial system and legislative inquiry.

Yet Trumpism unleashed on 6 January, and every day before and since over a five-year period, a crusade to slowly poison the American democratic experiment with a movement to overturn decades of pluralism, increased racial and gender equality, and scientific knowledge. To what end? Establishing a hopeless white utopia for the rich and the aggrieved.

On this 6 January anniversary is it time to sing anew with Whitmanesque fervor, or is the only rational response to scream? First the scream.

On 6 January 2021, an American mob, orchestrated by the most powerful man in the land, along with many congressional and media allies, nearly destroyed our indirect electoral democracy. To this day, only Trumps laziness and incompetence may explain why he did not force Vice-President Mike Pence to resign in the two months before the coup attempt, install a genuine lackey like Mark Meadows, and set up the formal disruption of the count of electoral votes. The real coup needed guns, and military brass thankfully made clear they would oppose any attempt at imposing martial law. But the coup endures by failing; it now takes the form of voter suppression laws, virulent states rights doctrine applied to all manner of legislative action installing Republican loyalists in the electoral system, and a propaganda machine capable of popularizing lies big and small.

The lies have now crept into a Trumpian Lost Cause ideology, building its monuments in ludicrous stories that millions believe, and codifying them in laws to make the next elections easier to pilfer. If you repeat the terms voter fraud and election integrity enough times on the right networks you have a movement. And replacement theory works well alongside a thousand repetitions of critical race theory, both disembodied of definition or meaning, but both scary. Liberals sometimes invite scorn with their devotion to diversity training and insistence on fighting over words rather than genuine inequality. But it is time to see the real enemy a long-brewing American-style neo-fascist authoritarianism, beguilingly useful to the grievances of the disaffected, and threatening to steal our microphones midway through our odes to joy.

Yes, disinformation has to be fought with good information. But it must also be fought with fierce politics, with organization, and if necessary with bodies, non-violently. We have an increasingly dangerous population on the right. Who do you know who really wants to compromise with their ideas? Who on the left will volunteer to be part of a delegation to go discuss the fate of democracy with Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy or the foghorns of Fox News? Who on the right will come to a symposium with 10 of the finest writers on democracy, its history and its philosophy, and help create a blueprint for American renewal? As a culture we are not in the mood for such reason and comity; we are in a fight, and it needs to happen in politics. Otherwise it may be 1861 again in some very new form. Unfortunately it is likely to take events even more shocking than 6 January to move our political culture through and beyond our current crisis.

And if and when it is 1861 again, the new secessionists, namely the Republican party, will have a dysfunctional constitution to exploit. The ridiculously undemocratic US Senate, now 50/50 between the two parties, but where Democrats represent 56.5% of the population and Republicans 43.5%, augurs well for those determined to thwart majoritarian democracy. And, of course, the electoral college an institution more than two centuries out of date, and which even our first demagogue president, Andrew Jackson, advocated abolishing offers perennial hope to Republicans who may continue to lose popular votes but win the presidency, as they have in two of the last six elections. Democracy?

And now the song? Well, keep reading. Of all the books on democracy in recent years one of the best is James Millers Can Democracy Work? A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World. A political philosopher and historian, Miller provides an intelligent journey through the turbulent past of this great human experiment in whether we can actually govern themselves. He demonstrates how thin the lines are between success and disaster for democracies, how big wins turn into reactions and big losses, and how the dynamics of even democratic societies can be utterly amoral. Intolerant new ruling classes sometimes replace the tyrants they overthrow.

Democratic revolts, like democratic elections, Miller writes, can produce perverse outcomes. History is still waiting for us. But in the end, via examples like Vclav Havel in the Czech Republic, Miller reminds us that the ideal survives. Democracy does require the best laws, Havel intoned, but it must also manifest as humane, moral, intellectual and spiritual, and cultural. Miller does the history to show that democracy is almost always a riddle, not a recipe. Democracy is much harder than autocracy to sustain. But renew it we must.

Or simply pick up Whitmans Song of Myself, all 51 pages, from the opening line, I celebrate myself, and sing myself, to his musings on the luck of merely being alive. Keep going to a few pages later when a runaway slave enters Whitmans home and the poet gazes into his revolving eyes, and nurses the galls of his neck and ankles, and then to his embrace of primeval, complete democracy midway in the song, where he accepts nothing which all cannot have. Finally read to the ending, where the poet finds blissful oblivion, bequeathing himself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love. Whitmans sign of democracy is everywhere and in everything. The democratic and the authoritarian instinct are both deep within us, forever at war.

After 6 January, its time to prepare thee to sing, to scream, and to fight.

Read more from the original source:

Trump has birthed a dangerous new Lost Cause myth. We must fight it - The Guardian