#more than half the discourses on this site could have been settled if people had been familiar with queer theory

[thirst2]

Maybe I took too much Gender & Sexuality Studies and assumed it a given that everyone understood what the Hell heteronormativity was for the last decade and that, apparently, could explain the inane discourse this site seems continually riddled with but

Heteronormativity assumes a man and a woman, making 2.5 kids, for the furtherance of an (often) patriarchal society.

Except, in practice, it is also associated with a particular level of financial class (often, at least, upper-middle class) working in conjunction with the furtherance of capitalism.

It became useful in the ground-breaking and pioneering of Queer studies around the 70s and 80s because it helped describe the experience of non-Straight people so well against a system that found them an affront.

A sex worker – regardless of sexuality – can never be heteronormative.

There is a reason sodomy originally meant any non-procreative sex.

There is a reason, when AIDS was linked – additionally – to drug use, these groups were so easily linked together in the public's conscience: both did not strive to the creation of a working (again, à la capitalism) family that heteronormativity demands.

There is a reason so many Queers in the 80s saw their Queerness tied to the participation in kink and leather, to their poverty, why lesbian was originally only concerned with whether you loved women (regardless of other loves), why a straight man with effeminate mannerisms is going to get Queer bashed while the attackers don't particular care what his sexuality is, why we often swung with our fellow Queer couples we knew – these things are interconnected.

And it is why, if we throw our Trans or Ace or Bi siblings under for our advancement, they'll come after us next because, if the whole thing comes down to this fetishization of procreation, what could a gay person do that a straight person who upholds all the implicit social trappings of the ideology not do better?

It is why disability can never fit within a heteronormative framework because, when you fetishize "life" that greatly and that narrowly, there is no other way to be within it.

And, so: Queer has always meant non-heteronormative because it sought to describe a socio-economic reality we found ourselves living in that could not be separated from our sexuality, why Sylvia Rivera saw our struggle linked to poverty, why Angels in America's understanding of sexuality is in opposition to the Nixon and Reagan administrations, why – if there is no liberation for all of us – there is no liberation for any of us.

Queer isn't Straight

Except when it is

Except when it isn't

Queer is lack of heteronormativity and binary.

[yr-bed]

Referencesreferencesreferences

Lauren Oyler is my favourite living critic, and I’m excited to read her debut novel Fake Accounts. I’ve been reading a lot of the press around it, including this interview with The Atlantic where she answers the question “ To what extent do conspiracy theories and fiction relate to each other?” thusly

To great extent! You could say conspiracy theories are like bad fiction, which attempts to tie everything up and explain it all. Neither leave room for randomness or pointlessness or meaninglessness. But life is full of all these, and our desire to eliminate them leads us down narrower and narrower paths.

There’s also a tendency to read symbols and metaphors in life the way we read them in fiction, which creates all sorts of problems. When you read symbols and metaphors in fiction, you know where they came from: the author. If you find a symbol or metaphor in life, you might start freaking out about where it came from and what it really means. The specifics of the stories conspiracists tell tend to camouflage the more interesting elements about them, which to me are all about (1) motivation—why am [I] being told this?—and (2) their unstable relationship to the real: Some aspect of this could actually be true, or come from something real. Both are essential elements of fiction as well.

Which, first of all, is a characteristically incisive read on the proliferation of conspiracy theories within modern western political discourse. It also resurfaced in my mind today, a couple of weeks after I first read it, whilst scrolling through the Genius entries for songs from Black Country, New Road’s hot-off-the-press debut album, For the first time.

I really really like For the first time. Opening your debut album with an instrumental called “Instrumental” and ending with a song called “Opus” are a sandwich of baller moves. “Track X” is what a love song written by Steve Reich might sound like. I’m not the only one to notice that considerable changes had been made to the lyrics and arrangements of pre-album singles “Athen’s, France” and “Sunglasses,” the latter of which was one of my most-listened songs in 2019 and 2020, if Spotify’s records are to be believed. Not being smart enough to figure out the changes for myself, and heeding Jarvis’s First Law, I went over to the often-ironically-named Genius with the expectation that the site’s membership may well have crowd-sourced annotations which would do the heavy analytical lifting for me. 

[Adam Curtis voice] And then, something strange happened. Well, maybe not strange, but sort of interesting. The problem with Genius has been well documented by more intelligent documenters than I, as are the potential pitfalls of crowdsourcing knowledge in general. In this particular instance, the phenomena I happened upon wasn’t the proliferation of white boys clumsily trying to pick apart the internal rhymes and culturally-specific reference points of trap songs, but a form of context collapse typical of a lot of so-called cultural critiques you get on the Internet of 2021.

Talking to everyone and talking to no-one has lead to a curious reading of Black Country, New Road’s lyrics (part of a verbose, hyper-referential scene that primarily exists in my head, alongside Squid). Rather than drawing on the specific socioeconomic and cultural context the band exist in, and which they often directly call out in their music, there’s a grasping to read symbols and metaphors in an almost wilfully literal and dull fashion. And imho it sucks!

Above is a representative example from the Genius page for the single version of “Sunglasses.” It’s a song which wields the cultural signifiers of comfortable middle class existence in modern Britain with equal parts disgust and familiarity. Amongst The Guardian-friendly reference points are Nutribullets, single malt whiskey, complaining about mediocre theatre and, in the killer of an opening line, multi-part Danish crime dramas of the sort that air on BBC Four. All of these work in concert to produce, in the words of frontman Isaac Wood, a portrait of a family of “wealth or affluence.” Crucially, however, not one “written from a critical or even external position,” which is one of the more interesting aspects of the song (and the band in general), occupying as they do a self-reflexively privileged position not dissimilar to the Metropolitan Liberal Elite’s satirical voice of choice, Stewart Lee. It makes things slipperier, harder to gain purchase on. The mix of the specific and abstract in the song is intentional: you’re never going to uncover a “true meaning,” but you can at least get a sense of what they’re trying to communicate.

What the ironically-named Genius annotators choose to focus on, however, is not this fairly obvious deployment of cultural symbols amidst an otherwise allusive and elusive set of lyrics, but unpicking precisely which six-part Danish crime drama is being referenced. I will charitably admit that yes, perhaps there is a specific show Wood is referencing in his lyrics here, but: who gives a shit? That’s besides the point! “Knowing” that he’s singing about something called The Jack of Hearts doesn’t add anything to the song (it also belies a further cultural ignorance in that the phrase is clearly used here, paired with The Fonz, as a somewhat-ironic iconic “Cool Guy”). Susie Sonts would be spinning in her grave if she got anywhere near this shit.

In “Against Interpretation”, one of the foundational texts which informed my way of thinking about art and criticism and I would argue is crucial in navigating the anaemic and non-confrontational symbol-chasers of today, Susan Sontag rails against the “contemporary zeal for the project of interpretation [...] often prompted by an open aggressiveness [...] The old style of interpretation was insistent, but respectful; it erected another meaning on top of the literal one. The modern style of interpretation excavates, and as it excavates, destroys.” 

This is the dominant interpretative style of now. From politics to indie rock, there is a harried, prescriptive and literal approach to making sense of things, of settling on rote and superficial readings. A symbol has a literal meaning; A means A; references are not poetic allusions, but puzzle boxes to be cracked open and, once they have, mastered and then returned, inert and unusable, to the shelf. There are fewer attempts to approach texts in good faith, or to acknowledge the broader context in which people act and create, a bastardised deployment of Barthes which makes the word significantly less interesting, as opposed to the other way around. Do you think the couplet “Trips to B&Q with your other half / This is how the other half lives” in Squid’s “Houseplants” is part of a similarly vicious-yet-complicit takedown of middle class life, or calling out Jacob Riis’s 1890 work of photojournalism “documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums”?

There is a disengagement with context and, in its place, an analytical approach which -- in this instance -- appears to me to also shirk engagement with the “randomness or pointlessness or meaninglessness” of some of the cascading cavalcade of references, veiled and otherwise, culturally and personally specific, which is one of the most entertaining aspects of Black Country, New Road’s music. Instead it’s about finding a definitive meaning, often through the filter of other reference points which are not actually appropriate or relevant, as a sort of attempt to assert dominance over a text. As the conspiracy theorist incorrectly applies close reading to chaotic reality in order to create a kind of order, so the Genius annotator manages to lack the ability to apply close reading to a chaotic text. To further co-opt Oyler’s words, the paths ought to be sprawling off in all directions, rather than narrow and meticulously signposted.

Anyway. Back soon to actually talk about the changes made between the single and album versions of “Sunglasses” and “Athen’s, France,” with reference to Evangelion and Car Seat Headrest’s Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror)/ (Face to Face)!

[kanarikadelak1996]

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[eqtmonline03-blog]

The End of the Republican Party

ON THE HIGH SEAS - Yes, we are at sea... rounding England from Ireland, on our way to Cherbourg, France.

We're doing far more back-and-forth traveling this year than we would like.

With a little luck, though, we'll be able to settle into our new digs in Ireland next year, and not have to move around so much.

The sea was rough last night.

We ate our evening meal with trepidation and made our way to our cabin, bouncing from one side of the corridor to the other.

But it seems to have settled down this morning, allowing us to work at our laptop without getting nauseous.

Opening it up... we find the following items:

Our old friend, Charles Koch, has dared to defy the Trump team. The Donald says Koch is now a "total joke" in the Republican Party.

As for the president himself, he says he threatened to shut down the government if he doesn't get his wall - a threat that he may or may not have already disavowed.

In the two reports, we find the end of the Republican Party... and the end of the Republic itself.

Libertarian Bent

Charles Koch, for dear readers who don't know him, runs the multinational company that bears his name.

He is a very traditional conservative with a libertarian bent. His goal is a small government with short arms. It does not reach for the stars. It does not support the zombies in idleness... nor the cronies in luxury. It minds its own business.

Donald J. Trump is not a conservative. But he has very long arms. And he has captured the hearts of many people who say they are conservatives.

He has also captured the soul of the Republican Party, to the horror of at least one old-fashioned, thinking Republican - George F. Will - who now says we'd be better off with Democrats.

So what is it that has The Donald so cross with Koch?

The New York Times sets up the contretemps:

Mr. Koch's simmering frustrations with the president over trade and immigration have now spilled over into an ugly public feud with Mr. Trump and candidates who side with him. By calling Mr. Trump's trade policies "detrimental" and denouncing divisive leadership, Mr. Koch is making a provocative political move that - be it hardball strategy or more of a ploy - threatens to complicate Republican efforts to hold on to their slim congressional majorities in the November midterm elections. Mr. Trump hit back on Tuesday by attacking Mr. Koch; his ailing brother and business partner, David; and the powerful political network they founded as "totally overrated" and "a total joke in real Republican circles." "I never sought their support because I don't need their money or bad ideas," Mr. Trump fumed on Twitter in an early morning series of posts. And several Republicans, including some allies of the Kochs, accused them of self-aggrandizement.

Poor Charles. He is a man of ideas. He reads widely and thinks deeply. He could have an intelligent discussion with Thomas Jefferson or Charles Darwin.

He could hold his own with Archimedes, Newton, Planck, or Boyle. But he's no match for The Donald. Not in a public food fight. Not in 2018.

Core Principles

As a republic degenerates, so, too, does the level of public discourse.

Instead of taking on the Kochs' conservative, small government ideas - which were once the backbone of the Republican Party - Mr. Trump uses the skills learned over decades in the tabloid press and reality TV to attack, ad hominem, the brothers themselves.

He even kicked David Koch off his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Charles Koch hopes to bring Republicans back to their core principles - balanced budgets, free trade, and limited government. That is, he would really like to see Mr. Trump follow through on his campaign promise to drain the swamp.

Yesterday, we guessed that the economy has not really revved up. The latest number - 4.1% - for GDP growth is, we believe, a fluke and a fake.

Nothing meaningful has happened to change the tepid growth rates we've seen since 2008, or to put a brake on the slide towards bankruptcy.

Tax cuts - without spending cuts - merely postpone the problems. Trade barriers make them worse. So does increasing the Pentagon budget.

The rest is eye wash.

Save the Republic

Charles Koch is right. The way to save the Republic is to go back to basics: honest money and small government.

But it is a little late in the imperial cycle. Too many zombies voting for handouts. Too many cronies with too many sticky fingers in too many pots.

And neither party could win the popular vote by relying on ideas. There just aren't enough thinking voters.

Instead, as the Republic matured, elections had to be fought and won on feelings, preferably fraudulent ones.

Traditionally, the Democrats had to pretend to care about equality - the poor, minorities, cripples, orphans, and half-wits - offering to rob the rich to redistribute money to the poor.

The Republicans had to pretend to care about security. They were hard-hearted, but they could be counted on to make sure the nation's finances were in good hands and the bolsheviks were kept out of the suburbs.

Alas, both parties are now parties of Big Government.

Both want to use more federal win-lose power - spending, policing and regulating - to cure the problems caused by Big Government.

And neither seems to know or care that they are headed for catastrophe.

Regards,

Bill Bonner, Bonner & Partners Vivek Kaul's Diary 

PS: When the markets nosedive, that's the best time to put wealth building in motion. Small caps are crashing - that only means there is more opportunity than ever to buy them up - get our market-beating small caps recommendations here.

Bill Bonner is the President & Founder of Agora Inc, an international publisher of financial and special interest books and newsletters.

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