#only austrian bureaucracy can create some of that writing

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

I'm curious why you described Kafka as Austrian and I'd love to hear more about whether that was an identifier he used! I know he was born in the Austro-Hungarian empire and wrote in German, but I'd always understood that he identified as Czech and Jewish and that the Austrian part was incidental.

There's a bit of a linguistic thing going on here that I will do my best to explain:

"Austrian" in our current day means from the Republic of Austria which is more or less the former German-speaking Crownlands that formed a German republic after World War 1.

But "Austrian" as it was used in the 19th and 20th century meant the whole of the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy. To be Austrian was to belong through citizenship and loyalty to the supranational state. It was not mutually exclusive with being German or Czech or Jewish. As someone born in Bohemia, Kafka was by citizenship Austrian. Czech and German are national or ethnic categories, I think I am imposing less on him by calling him by his supranational citizenship (at least until 1918).

It also connects him to the circles of Austrian (again, in the sense of the state) artists and writers who would have influenced him and who he would have influenced. For example, in the Wien 1900 exhibit in the Leopold Museum in Vienna he's included in part of the Austrian avant-garde alongside many other German, Jewish, Czech, Hungarian, etc. intellectuals.

As for the way that a multilingual person from Prague would have identified in the late 19th and early 20th century, it is really complicated. There was a lot of pressure to "choose a side" because of things like labeling your nationality on the census, when many people didn't necessarily fit in only one. "Most used language" is also a complicated question for bilingual people living in a multinational society. In Prague, for example, many Jewish people answered "German" on the census for a variety of reasons, but mostly to get more money allocated to "German" schools and such.

I strongly recommend Gary B. Cohens' The Politics of Ethnic Survival: Germans in Prague, 1861-1914 (2006) for a discussion on how complicated these identities can get.

Marsha L. Rozenblit's Reconstructing a National Identity: The Jews of Habsburg Austria During World War I (2001) is also very good for the discussion of how "Jewish" and "Austrian" were not always separate identities.

[theblipmagazine]

Identity & Modernity in The Third Man

In order to evaluate how identity is framed by Modernity and the urban context in The Third Man (directed by Carol Reed 1949) we must first understand what is meant by the term Modernity.

Modernity essentially refers to all that is “new” or a modern improvement, in terms of a social revolution which occurred around the 17th Century in Europe. In Marshall Bergman’s book, ‘All that is solid melts into air: The experience of Modernity’, he explains that “To be modern is to live a life of paradox and contradiction. It is to be overpowered by the immense bureaucratic organizations that have the power to control and often destroy all communities, values, lives, and yet to be undeterred in our determination to face these forces, to fight and change their world and make it our own. It is to be both revolutionary and conservative: alive to new possibilities for experience and adventure, frightened by the nihilistic depths to which so many modern adventures lead” (All that is solid melts into air: the experience of modernity-By Marshall Berman… Verso, 1983)

Modernity highlights the changes throughout society, from industrial and technological advances to the new avant guarde art movements that were beginning to challenge the social constraints of modern life; communication was sent into overdrive with the inventions of photography, film and later television. Social Theorists such as John B. Goodman embrace modernity as a positive movement “If man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, as Geertz once remarked, then communication media are spinning wheels in the modern world and, in using these media, human beings are fabricating the webs of significance for themselves.” (Thompson, John B. The Media and Modernity 1995 Blackwell Publishers)

Modernity also brought us bureaucracy and the nation- state which enables nations to not only control economies but allows a form of national identity and social understanding.

Modernity focuses predominately on city life. This is because, whilst cities are not new, it is a modern reality that the majority of people live and work in them. Bustling metropolitan cultures were therefore the main fascinations for modernist artists and thinkers alike.

Film noir is a genre that is particularly appropriate for this question. This is because the genre has always been notorious for being particularly interested in modernity; it is a genre that gives the audience a darker more pessimistic view of a time in America that was somewhat more positive, economically and culturally. In particular, modernity is shown through the urban context, the winding and shady streets of the urban landscape, which reflect the shady inhabitants of the film noir city. It also gives us more obvious references to modernity, particularly by using modern (within the films historical context) transport, the romanticised use of trains or old Morris-Minor type cars.

Focussing on post-war America the genre film noir appears particularly transfixed on using a sometimes sinister cityscape, which helps to create an aura of mystique, nostalgia, and most importantly claustrophobia. Edward Dimendberg sums up the alienation of the protagonists in film noir and explains that such claustrophobic emotions can be externalised through the settings of film noir.

“Nostalgia and longing for older urban forms combined with fear of new alienating urban realities pervade film noir. The loss of public space, the homogenization of everyday life, the intensification of surveillance, and the eradication of older neighbourhood by urban renewal and redevelopment projects are seldom absent from these films. Thus, it is hardly surprising that the movement of protagonists from urban centre to periphery is a pervasive spatial trope. Unlike the contemporaneous conquests of the big sky and open frontier by characters in the film genre of the western, the protagonists in film noir appear cursed by an inability to dwell comfortably anywhere” (Dimendberg, E, Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity Harvard University Press 2004)

I have chosen to write about The Third Man because I have found it to be a particularly interesting film from the film noir genre. This is because, while it follows all of the general rules of the genre, such as the shadowy lighting, the story of an unlikely hero, it is not a typical film noir being that it is not set in post war America. Instead, the film follows an American man on his journey to post war Vienna, a city savaged by the war not only physically, but in the unusual bureaucratic politics enforced as well. The gothic style city is torn up, quartered, with mostly Austrians not allowed in to the specific quarters, and passports needed for any inhabitants that wish to live in different quarters, highlighted by the character of Anna, originally Czech but who used a forged passport to escape the Russian quarter of the city. The bureaucracy of the film is often emphasised within the film as Anna is caught out by the police with regards to the forged passport. As well as this, the Viennese locals are left looking somehow subservient to the other nationals that have moved into the city as a result of the war. They are often seen serving the other nationalities, as porters, taxi drivers and musicians in restaurants and are seen in many shots as neighbours “peering” through windows, watching the seemingly chaotic lives of the protagonists that are not native.

The Third Man also literally encapsulates itself with an artistic style that is definitive with Modernity, that which is the avant guarde style of abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism is a style that developed in the 1940’s but originally derived from German Expressionism in the 1920’s, and was a style that was very rebellious in the fact that it challenged the conventions of the art world and also of its predecessor, surrealism.

A style that was often thought to be nihilistic, there is little wonder why abstract expressionism was chosen stylistically to be incorporated into the cinematography, as it incorporates the overall isolation and alienation that film noir stands for. The film has some very deliberate nihilistic undertones to it, which is why the city seems so unforgiving and lonely. Nihilism is brought in to the spotlight through the script in the scene in the Ferris wheel, when Harry Lime says: “Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.” and Holly Martins replies: “You used to believe in God.”

The Third Man has a balance of chaos and order as an underlying story throughout the film. There is the chaos of the war stricken city, buildings damaged and demolished, the chaos of Holly Martin’s story, arriving in a faraway country from America to see his friend, only to find he had died not long before, the winding unlevelled structure of the streets of Vienna, but order is also enforced by way of the police rule, the political restrictions inflicted on the inhabitants, the strict composition of every shot within the film, and the diagonal and strict shards of light and shadow that resonate throughout the frames. This is reminiscent of the abstract expressionist art that was being produced at the time, metaphorically from the chaotic paint spattered works like Jackson Pollock’s “No. 5 1948” to the stricter, geometric works of the artist Mondrian, emphasising the cinematographic theme of using strict lines throughout the film.

From literally the opening credits, the film opens with a geometric shot of close up of the strings on a musical instrument, a ‘zither’, a popular and traditional Austrian instrument, immediately hinting about the ambiguous nationality of the film or the protagonists within it. The close up of the strings set the audience up immediately for this style of composition in the shots, a particular style which resonates the whole way through the film, including the famous scene on the Ferris wheel, where the framing appears rather graphic- like, with stark diagonal lines of the wheel slicing and the background and foreground around the protagonists. It is also echoed through shots on the bridge and the beautiful shots on the staircase when Holly Martins first arrives in Vienna.

Perhaps the use of these compositions is to give us a sense of order, and structure, amongst the chaos that Vienna has found itself in. Half of the shots are exactly the opposite, they are tilted, a lot of the shots are stationary with the camera completely immobile, sometimes obscurely cropping the protagonists’ faces, which gives the audience a disorientated disposition, the feeling of not belonging and unease. An example of this is when Holly Martins first introduces himself to Anna, the framing of the doorway is at a very obscure angle, and the whole image appears rather tilted.

This is typical to the genre, as throughout film noir it is usually vital to the composition of the framing that the camera is stationary and the characters move throughout the space of the city, rather than the camera moving and actually following the characters around the space, emphasising the city, the urban. As the city has been savaged by war, crime thrives which is typical to the film noir genre. In The Third Man, it is the fact that there is a booming black- market (of which Harry Lime we find out is involved with) which is another example of how the film emphasises the ‘urban’ theme.

One of the most interesting aspects of The Third Man is the spectators gaze throughout the film. There is an increasing sense of unease in Vienna, not only because it has been hit extremely hard by the war, but because it feels increasingly like a city that doesn’t belong to its native inhabitants, another example of the modern beaurocracy that has been forced upon the capital.

Viennese people in the beginning of the film are seen not being allowed into one of the military quarters of the city. Throughout the film there are constant little looks from behind shutters or through gates, which Holly is unaware of. The audience is reduced to watching a race watch different races patrol the streets of their city, as outsiders that no longer belong in their rightful home. Holly is oblivious to the fact that while he is observing a foreign city, it seems the city itself is characterised and is also observing him, the sporadic shots from cranes help to create an uncomfortable sense of voyeurism. The eeriness of the situation is highlighted, because, although he does not realise that he is actual fact being watched by so many people, he finally gives the audience and indication that he can sense their presence, when he proclaims that he will soon return home to the United States : ‘It’s what you always wanted, all of you!”

In conclusion, identity is framed by modernity in many ways in the urban context of The Third Man. The visual references throughout the film almost personifies the city itself as an important protagonist within the film. The set gives us indications, not only to the historical and urban context of the film but also references in to the shady characters that thrive amongst the cities where film noir is set.

The Third Man uses strict, geometric artistic compositions in order to emphasise the modernity of the film. Through a cleverly interlaced narrative, the film also hints at modernity and the changing politics of the lives of Vienna’s inhabitants the racial segregation, alienation, and claustrophobia, which is what film noir as a genre is notorious for.

-The Blip

[coin-news-blog]

Crypto Secularizes Wealth by Returning Power to the People

New Post has been published on https://coinmakers.tech/news/crypto-secularizes-wealth-by-returning-power-to-the-people

Crypto Secularizes Wealth by Returning Power to the People

Crypto Secularizes Wealth by Returning Power to the People

Secularization is the process of converting something from a religious status to a nonreligious one. In its usage here, the word “religious” has no necessary connection to a deity. The word refers to the mystification of a thing in order to elevate it to the status of the divine where it becomes unquestionable.

Mystifying Money

The state is mystification on overdrive. Past governments have sanctified themselves through “the divine right of kings,” by which monarchs claimed to be chosen by God to rule. Rebellion against the king, therefore, was rebellion against God himself. Contemporary states use more modern concepts like “democracy” or “the motherland” to justify their status. These concepts arouse feelings of awe and reverence, which further sanctifies the state and discourages dissent.

The state’s goal is to usurp power and wealth from society—the productive sector.

Taxation is the most visible way it does so, but the state’s ability to issue fiat that becomes mandatory currency is equally or more important. To do so successfully, however, the state needs society to accept and use the paper money. Some people will comply out of fear of being punished, but it is far more efficient if society conflates fiat with real wealth. If fiat can be mystified as legitimate, then the resistance is sidestepped.

Much of fiat’s perceived legitimacy comes from its source—the state—because the state is still seen as a rightful authority. Fiat is further cemented into society through state-validated means like legal tender laws and the Federal Reserve System. “High finance” is removed from average, unlicensed people and channeled through bureaucracies like the SEC and the central banking system. And, in case some people still question, tax-paid academics and experts provide the state with intellectual ammunition. Like court historians of the past who rewrote history to glorify their monarchs, the experts present convoluted economic theories that support the state’s monetary policy, using as much math and arcane language as possible.

As long as money is “created” by politicians, bureaucrats, and experts, society and individuals will never control their own wealth—at least, not in a sanctioned or safe way. A heresy is growing, however. Call it private money or cryptocurrency, nothing is more heretical than free-market money that the individual decides is of value to him.

Free Market Money vs Inflationary Paper

The state calls private money “the enemy.” Crypto is new, and it moves like the wind. The state cannot compete with it; the state does not even understand how to reproduce or to regulate it. Nor is this likely to happen in the future because blockchain-crypto is antagonistic to the mindset and mode of statists. Blockchain-crypto is the individual’s control of his own assets according to his own judgment. It is the secularization of wealth.

The fastest way to speed along the secularization of assets is to delegitimize fiat by exposing the intentional damage it does to society and individuals. In 1963, the Austrian School Economist Murray Rothbard wrote an influential book entitled What Has Government Done to Our Money? (An advocate of private money, Rothbard’s use of the word “Our” is notable.) The short book springboards off the insights of other Austrian School thinkers, such as Ludwig von Mises, who argued that money originated spontaneously due to the need of individuals to exchange on a more complicated level than barter. Money is a free-market phenomenon that the state appropriates through force. Fiat and the free market are antithetical.

Rothbard’s book explains one way in which free-market money and fiat cannot coexist: inflation, by which the first recipients of an increase in fiat money are enriched at the expense of the end recipients for whom the money has been debased. In short, the end recipient is robbed. Rothbard refers to inflation as “counterfeiting” because it is a creation of new money that is backed only by the false sanctity of the state, and its guns. But even the state cannot prevent its paper money from decreasing in value. Rothbard writes:

“Suppose the economy has a supply of 10,000 gold ounces, and counterfeiters [the state]…pump in 2000 ‘ounces’ more. What will be the consequences? First, there will be a clear gain to the counterfeiters [the state]. They take the newly-created money and use it to buy goods and services. In the words of the famous New Yorker cartoon, showing a group of counterfeiters in sober contemplation of their handiwork: ‘Retail spending is about to get a needed shot in the arm.’ Precisely. Local spending, indeed, does get a shot in the arm…As the new money spreads, it bids prices up—as we have seen, new money can only dilute the effectiveness of each dollar. But this dilution takes time and is therefore uneven; in the meantime, some people gain and other people lose…The first receivers of the new money gain most, and at the expense of the last receivers. Inflation, then, confers no general social benefit; instead, it redistributes the wealth in favor of the first-comers and at the expense of the laggards in the race.”

Describing inflation as “counterfeiting” is a charming departure from the usual legitimacy granted to fiat; it nicely captures the idea of inflation as theft and the state as illegitimate.

Most people have some understanding of the effect of direct inflation on prices because they see their own cost of living rise. But other, more subtle effects are as disastrous. One is a market distortion that Rothbard calls a “keystone of our economy: business calculation.” This calculation occurs when a business compares the cost of operation to the expected demand by customers. The calculation is one of the main cost-benefit analyses without which the free market cannot function well. The impact of crippling business calculation is rarely noted, however.

Inflation Distorts Critical Economic Calculations

Since prices do not all change uniformly and at the same speed, it becomes very difficult for business to separate the lasting from the transitional, and gauge truly the demands of consumers or the cost of their operations. For example, accounting practice enters the “cost” of an asset at the amount the business has paid for it. But if inflation intervenes, the cost of replacing the asset will be far greater than that recorded on the books. As a result, business accounting will seriously overstate their profits during inflation—and may even consume capital while presumably increasing their investments. Similarly, stock holders and real estate holders will acquire capital gains during an inflation that are not really “gains” at all. But they may spend part of these gains without realizing that they are thereby consuming their original capital.

The illusory profits also “suspend the free market’s penalizing of inefficient, and rewarding of efficient, firms.” Equally, inflation distorts people’s personal lives by punishing economic virtues like thrift. If $100 borrowed today can be repaid tomorrow with money that has a lower purchasing value, then at least three consequences are likely to follow. People will embrace borrowing rather than saving. They will spend the money they borrow or earn; “people will say: ‘I will buy now, though prices are high, because if I wait, prices will go up still further’. As a result, the demand for money now falls and prices go up more, proportionately, than the increase in the money supply.” Lenders become tight fisted.

The state typically addresses this “money shortage” by cranking up the printing press again, and the cycle of inflation continues. At some point, the entire system of fiat begins to break down, and individuals—even those inclined to obey—seek out alternative currencies or stores of value. At this point, the state’s veneer of sanctity also starts to crack. To maintain its monetary hold, it must either ban the alternatives or control them. Either tactic carries danger, however. Just as legitimization of the state makes individuals obey, the blatant misuse of power makes them resist.

Leaving the Church of Force-Based Money

The best time to resist and demand financial freedom is right here and now before the system goes any farther off the rails. The rebellion comes when a nexus of at least three factors occurs.

The first is when people fully grasp the monetary scam being committed by the state. In this endeavor, What Has Government Done to Our Money?is invaluable.

The second factor is when they realize the state and society cannot peacefully coexist. The state destroys all of value in society such as voluntary exchange, respect for rights, and a reputation built on honesty. The battle against monetary statism is not against any particular politician or public policy like inflation. The issue is deeper. The battle is against an entrenched tolerance of the state’s aggression. The 18th-century anarchist William Godwin expressed the human importance of rejecting aggression. “Force is an expedient, the use of which must be deplored. It is contrary to the intellect, which cannot be improved but by conviction and persuasion. Violence corrupts the man who employs it and the man upon whom it is employed.” If Godwin is correct, as I believe he is, then sanctifying the state is an act of inhumanity.

The third factor in the nexus is the existence of practical alternatives to fiat. Without alternative forms of free-market currency and wealth, those who stand up for financial freedom can all too easily become martyrs crushed by the state. And religions have already produced enough of those.

Source: news.bitcoin