Sunday 22 April 2012

Your daily dose of Nietzsche.

Just a short post:

Whilst researching Fascism and Friedrich Nietzsche for my essay, I came across this rather interesting interview on the subject of Friedrich Nietzsche, which is very helpful when trying to understand Nietzsche's ideas. I find it wonderfully ironic that, considering Nietzsche's key idea is that "God is dead", his writings are often as hard to understand clearly as biblical texts.

Sunday 15 April 2012

"A bunch of bad apples"

I have just finished watching the documentary The Corporation. A very interesting documentary, well ballenced, containing the veiws of both critics of corporations and capitalism and corporate CEOs, overall a good documentary critising capitialism and large corporations basically ruling the world, however to me the most interesting part comes early on in the documentary.

First it explains how lawyers of large corporations were able to use laws originally meant to stop the government from depriving people of life, liberty or property without due legal process to aquire private propety and profit whilst no one person is ever held responisble, all based on corporations being considered a person legally, meaning they have all the rights a person does.  The documentary follows this logic one step further, saying that if corporations are legaly considered a person and so are granted all the rights that a person is granted, then what kind of person are they?  It proceeds to psychoanalyses the 'behaviour' of large corporations to determine their mental state.

After studying a number of casestudies and comparing the corporations' 'behaviour' against the DSM-IV's (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) symtoms of psychopathy, namely: Callous unconcern for the feelings of others, Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, Reckless disregard for the safety of others, Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit, Incapacity to experience guilt, Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviours, all of which had been displayed by the corporations studied, leading to the conclusion that corporations are psychopaths. 

Since I am studying representing political ideologies as characters I am very interested in doing a similar to the study performed in the documentary on the ideologies I am studying. Below is the first in a series of videos that make up the free online version of the documentary:


Saturday 14 April 2012

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

I have just finished reading George Orwell's Animal Farm. It's a great book and I highly recommend it but, like many political works of fiction, it isn't a pleasant nor fun read, but then it doesn't need to be and nor should it be.

The story tells of how the animals of Manor Farm rise up, overthrow their human masters and begin to run the farm themselves. However as time goes by what was originally a paradise were all animals are free soon turns into a nightmarish place were "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

The book is an allegorical tale of the Russian revolution and criticises soviet communism, and as such is full of characters, places and events that represent historical figures, peoples, places and events to do with the Russian revolution.

All in all, in regard to communism, the book seems to point out the same conclusion I came to after reading The Communist Manifesto, which is that although the basic ideas of equality and people working for the benefit of everyone are sound and overall positive ideas, in my opinion,  the system that communism puts in place, where the state owns everything and everyone owns the state, is very open to corruption. It's easy for someone in power to abuse that power, a tale the world is all too familiar with, resulting in a society where some people suffer so others can benefit, which is exactly what communism seeks to destroy.

I found this a great read and a very helpful criticism of communism.  Below are some links to some web pages where people explain/explore exactly what represented what in animal farm.


Animal Farm - Comparison of characters to the Russian Revolution

George Orwell - Animal Farm - Interpretation of characters and symbols

Monday 9 April 2012

"...and "Do what thou wilt" shall be the whole of the law."

Just finished reading Alan Moore's V for Vendetta as part of my research into representing political ideologies as characters. A great read and I highly recommend it.

For those who don't know and perhaps haven't had the good fortune to read this masterpiece, I'll quickly sum up the plot. Set in an alternate 1998 where following a war Great Britain has become a fascist state, controlled by a Nazi-esque political group call "Norsefire", it follows the story of Eve Hammond, a young prostitute who is saved and taken under the wing of the anarchistic terrorist known only as "V", who "educates" her whilst also carrying out an elaborate plot to take down the fascist regime and usher in a state of anarchy.
   
As I have said before, seeing as Alan Moore is a self-professed Anarchist, V for Vendetta is kinda Alan Moore's Ode to Anarchy, and as such a great source of research  for me since it is an anarchist talking about anarchism as well as exploring fascism. Through the plot of the V for Vendetta Alan Moore talks about his beliefs regarding anarchy and fascism, exploring and questioning the morals of both.

[spoilers]

It questions the need for revolutionary violence and it's moral repercussions, after all V is a murderous terrorist, throughout the book he murders and bombs to achieve his goals. Interestingly Evey refuses to help V kill, "I won't do any more killing, V. Not even for you." - Eve, and in a marvellous monologue V explains how although violence is necessary to achieve his goals, it has no place within a "better world" and even goes so far as to organise his own execution because of what he has had to do to build a "better world".

"Anarchy wears two faces, both Creator and Destroyer. Thus Destroyers topple empires; make a canvas of clean rubble where creators can then build a better world. Rubble, once achieved makes further ruins' means irrelevant. Away with our explosives, then! Away with our Destroyers! They have no place within our better world. But let us raise a toast to all our bombers, all our bastards, most unlovely and most unforgivable, let's drink their health, then meet with them no more." - V - page 222 (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta 20:11 09/04/2012)

It addresses the idea that once the established hierarchy has been toppled chaos, looting and rioting will ensue. Once V removes the government's ability to listen, watch and address the public,  looting and rioting does occur. Pointing out what may be obvious to some, that once people think no-one is looking they stop behaving, however V makes a clear distinction between this chaos and anarchy. He argues that this kind of disorder is a necessary phase that society must endure so that a state of anarchy can be achieved.

"All this riot and uproor, V... is this anarchy? Is this the land of do-as-you-please?" - Eve

"No. This is only the land of take-what-you-want. Anarchy means "without leaders"; not "without order." With anarchy comes an age of ordnung, of true order, which is to say voluntary order. This age of ordnung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of verwirrung that these bulletins reveal has run its course. This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos." - V- page 195

It goes on to argue that societies based around involuntary order, by their very nature, cause disorder.

"Involuntary order breeds dissatisfaction, mother of disorder; parent of the guillotine. Authoritarian societies are like formation skating. Intricate, mechanically precise and above all precarious. Beneath civilisation's fragile crust, cold chaos churns and there are places where the ice is treacherously thin." - V - page 197

It says that it is up to the people to choose between freedom or selfishness, that only by cooperating will people be able to move forward and progress, to make a better world.

"The people stand within the ruins of a society, a jail intended to out livge them all. The door is open. They can leave, or fall instead to squabbling and thence new salveries, the choice is theirs, as ever it must be." - Eve - page 260

It also explores the motives of a number of the fascist characters, the most interesting and telling of which is present as an internal monologue of the leader, Adam Susan.

"My name is Adam Susan. I am the leader. Leader of the lost, ruler of the ruins. I am a man, like any other man. I lead the country that I love out of the wilderness of the twentieth century. I believe in survival. In the destiny of the Nordic race. I believe in fascism. Oh yes, I am a fascist. What of it? Fascism…a word. A word whose meaning has been lost in the bleatings of the weak and the treacherous. the Romans invented fascism. A bundle of bound twigs was its symbol. One twig could be broken. A bundle would prevail. Fascism…strength in unity. I believe in strength. I believe in unity. And if that strength, that unity of purpose, demands a uniformity of thought, word and deed then so be it. I will not hear talk of freedom. I will not hear talk of individual liberty. They are luxuries. I do not believe in luxuries. The war put paid to luxury. The war put paid to freedom. The only freedom left to my people is the freedom to starve. The freedom to die, the freedom to live in a world of chaos. Should I allow them that freedom? I think not. I think not. Do I deserve for myself the freedom I deny to others? I do not. I sit here within my cage and I am but a servant. I, who am master of all that I see I see desolation. I see ashes. I have so very much. I have so very little. I am not loved, I know that. Not in soul or body. I have never known the soft whisper of endearment. Never known the peace that lies between the thighs of woman. But I am respected. I am feared. And that will suffice. Because I love. I, who am not loved in return. I have a love that is far deeper than the empty gasps and convulsions of brutish coupling. Shall I speak of her? Shall I speak of my bride? She has no eyes to flirt or promise. But she sees all. Sees and understands with a wisdom that is Godlike in its scale. I stand at the gates of her intellect and I am blinded by the light within. How stupid I must seem to her. How childlike and uncomprehending. Her soul is clean, untainted by the snares and ambiguities of emotion. She does not hate. She does not yearn. She is untouched by joy or sorrow. I worship her though I am not worthy. I cherish the purity of her disdain. She does not respect me. She does not fear me. She does not love me. They think she is hard and cold, those who do not know her. They think she is lifeless and without passion. They do not know her. She has not touched them. She touches me, and I am touched by God, by Destiny. The whole of existence courses through her. I worship her. I am her slave. No freedom ever was so sweet. My love, I would stay with you forever, would spend my life within you. I would wait upon your every utterance and never ask the merest splinter of affection. Fate… Fate… I love you." Adam Susan - pages 37 -39 (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta 21:36 09/04/2012)

Adam Susan, believes that he is doing the right thing. He believes that freedom and individual liberties are luxuries that society neither need nor can afford. He believes that thanks to his efforts the people are untied and so are strong, and can progress into the new century. He is also portrayed as an unloved man, he even admits in that monologue that he is a virgin. He devotes himself to his ideals and to Fate, an A.I. computer system that monitors the entire country. Once Fate is revealed to be being controlled by V, he decides to love the public instead, however all too late as he is assassinated shortly after.

All in all, V for Vendetta is a great read, and I feel represents the ideologies of anarchism and fascism, at least from an anarchist perpective, very well. I have found it very helpful in my research and although i do think that it's message isn't very sutble at all, but then again does it need to be?, I intend to use it as a source of inspiration.

Below is a short video interveiw with Alan Moore, in which he discusses V for Vendetta.