agorathesis

Agorathesis - a space for short theses, ideas and thinking from above, below and beyond.

A short thesis on the Coming Monoculture (author: Andrew Cooper)

CAPITALIST AUTOCRACY AND MONOCULTURE

Equating culture with social mobility is a disease, which will poison what little democracy we have. We need a free space to allow for the culture of collaborative learning essential in any real democracy; a space independent of the increasingly autocratic and ubiquitous capitalist mono culture.


Every time we pick up t.v or radio signals someone is going on about benefit scroungers or immigration. The poor are being forced to eat the guilt of the rich. Shortage is being used as a means of divide and rule, in a culture of resentment     
                                            
The Coming Mono Culture
The coming mono culture is characterized by a universal decree that to 'get on' and 'social mobility' means fully accepting capitalist values unquestioned. Education no longer is an aid to taking part in a discourse which might involve revolt, risk taking or a questioning of the prevailing notions of logic and universality.

REVOLT-----If you don't think beyond the rewards that the established social order holds out for good behavior nothing will change

LOGIC--- Without a sense of history we are easily manipulated. If we are not able to question the way we are represented in the "common sense" language and "logic" of those with power we can never question the structures of power in a way that could lead to real change.

UNIVERSALITY----------No one has a right to exploit other human beings: with this comes a premise that all have a right to be different without fear.  What is just must be open to continual review by us all.

RISK-----'Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.'  Constant bombardment with adverts for Bupa, Scottish Widows and pension schemes are a vexation to the spirit. The undermining of the welfare state is not just economic, it is a way of controlling us through FEAR.

We are in a lurch towards a corporate autocracy where non-compliance and labour spent in building the necessary platforms for discourse in a real democracy will be punished with poverty.



December 2010

Notes to a short thesis on Violence:


 ‘Violence does not promote causes, neither history or revolution, neither progress or reaction: but it can serve to dramatize grievances and bring them to public attention.’ (Hannah Arendt - Essays on Violence: 79)

There are many kinds of violence, certainly too many to describe and qualify in a short thesis. While Rage and anger are the emotions usually associated with violence, there are an expanded range of emotions that accompanies, triggers and feeds (acts of) violence. 
(to be continued)