tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post1913015580417091255..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: Beware of self-reverential reality tunnelsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-1637140259602798102018-01-19T18:15:07.548+00:002018-01-19T18:15:07.548+00:00Philip, John Higgs' book, which was published ...Philip, John Higgs' book, which was published in 2012, is a very rich read. It demands to be read in its entirety, but another section that particularly struck me is worth quoting.<br /><br />'The spectacle draws out attention away from what is real to what is merely a representation. The Situationists saw in our culture a shift from <i>being</i> to <i>having</i>, and then from <i>having</i> to <i>appearing to have</i>. This is a process that the users of Facebook will probably grasp immediately.' Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-91581601737427890552018-01-19T17:51:49.929+00:002018-01-19T17:51:49.929+00:00Superb post. Self-reverential reality tunnels: soc...Superb post. Self-reverential reality tunnels: social media, the music establishment, most certainly, and also the alt-Right, Fascism (insidious because not properly understood, which is why it is now ubiquitous), totalitarian Communism, UKIP, religious fundamentalists, etc. I'm inclined to think that, having read the excellent passage from Higgs' book, a most concise summing up, further exploration of this should really start with the soi-disant 'longshoreman philosopher' Eric Hoffer and his The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements...published in 1951. Hoffer was truly ahead of the game re this phenomenon. One key observation he makes is that the adherent of a movement of this type is chiefly seeking to escape the burden of the autonomous self. There's nothing like an algorithm for helping a person escape from autonomy, just as much as does a political movement such as Nazism, Fascism, Soviet-type Communism, or any of the fundamentalist religions. They furnish all the answers for you. And then they provide you with your questions.Philip Amoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11739418522974972567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-50619457011513376302018-01-19T15:34:40.166+00:002018-01-19T15:34:40.166+00:00Wonderfully put.Wonderfully put.John Blackburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14783825435114432249noreply@blogger.com