Hi Marc, I agree with you and apologies for not quoting the full chain below. I'm not sure I talked about this before, but I'm from Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, a great deal in the news these days (another BBC article on the place today). It was an anthracite mining center decades ago until the mines were flooded in 1959 (the energy wasn't particularly clean, but cleaner than bituminous.) It voted Democratic/union almost a hundred percent. Now it's turned almost entirely to Trump - there's a book about the last election - as a result of immigration, fentanyl, and unemployment. Trumpism is fully entrenched. As fossil fuels deplete or are cancelled, which indeed they must be, more and more areas supporting coal/gas/oil are turning the same way. The unions are just about non-existent. Nationally, attempts at unions by employees at Starbucks, Amazon, etc., are met with furious resistance. With Trump's court-packing, these trends will continue, as will the war against women and immigrants; as you may know the latter are "shuttled" from Texas and other states to the North-East by governors intent on revenge. Earlier this would have been considered human trafficking; now it seems acceptable. There are so many similar fronts in this country that people are exhausted.
I do agree with you when you say "I don't believe no artist or artwork 'themselves' will change it. I think it's about living the troubles and surviving - dealt to us all by the soulless elites. We all know it will not stop and it's like a runaway train smashing into a brick wall. Yet, out of the collapse it's necessary to maintain allegiances, keep connected somehow, build resilience, because it's gonna get worse than it is now. And we all need each other, to support each other, through this deeply dark period of our lives." - I just don't see how this period will come to an end, given that all the statistical markers are increasing exponentially. Part of my pessimism admittedly might come from our own financial/social/geographic/familial situation here; we're not personally on the "sunny side" of tech for example - we'll never be able to afford it. Has LARP and similar been helpful, extending into universities and other institutions? I remember debating societies when I was a kid where a participant would be given a position to defend... but this would have to be on a large-scale perhaps to have any chance of success? I keep thinking of Putin and his supporters now and then, and how human society is organized so much around these singularities of power that seem almost intractable for decades, to the extent that they can cause inconceivable damage... Best, Alan On Mon, Sep 26, 2022 at 6:08 AM marc.garrett via NetBehaviour < netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I agree as you say "Frankenstein has already won". > > >The worldwide pain through violence (not just Ukraine), famine, > >sickness, (un)natural catastrophe is enormous. And to be honest, > >no artist or artwork, I truly believe, is going to change this. > > Again, I agree with what you say. I would not think you're being a > Luddite, although I wouldn't mind being called a Luddite because they > bashed technology against oppression, not because they were against > technology itself, it was to save the future of their own self-run > businesses, communities and families. > > >And to be honest, no artist or artwork, I truly believe, is going > >to change this. I think LARP might help a great deal if somehow > >diplomats were engaged. > > I don't believe no artist or artwork 'themselves' will change it. I think > it's about living the the troubles and surviving - dealt to us all by the > soulless elites. We all know it will not stop and it's like a runaway train > smashing into a brick wall. Yet, out of the collapse it's necessary to > maintain allegiances, keep connected somehow, build resilience, because > it's gonna get worse than it is now. And we all need each other, to support > each other, through this deeply dark period of our lives. > > >That said, the book is great, it points to all of this, telling > >the truth and telling it slant (Dickenson, yes?), and more like > >it might well move things along, a little, in the right (left) > >direction. > > I've been getting some amazing feedback about the book from all kinds of > people. What's especially reassuring, is that some of them are not directly > involved in art and media art culture - which really cheers me up. > > "The struggle with trying to exist within massive systems and structures > designed by elite patriarchs is a never-ending journey. However, it’s also > a journey of self-discovery that brings rewards such as meeting great > people and inspiring friendships. It is a web of confusing and complex > experiences and emerging pieces of knowledge that always requires constant > attention." > > Wishing you well > > Marc > > =============> > > DR Marc Garrett - https://marcgarrett.org/ > Furtherfield - http://www.furtherfield.org > DECAL - http://decal.is/ > Bio - https://marcgarrett.org/bio/ > CV - https://marcgarrett.org/cv/ <http://decal.is/> > <http://decal.is/> > > Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/> secure email. > > ------- Original Message ------- > -- *=====================================================* *directory http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org> tel 347-383-8552**email sondheim ut panix.com <http://panix.com>, sondheim ut gmail.com <http://gmail.com>* *=====================================================*
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