Posted by ALP on September 19, 2009, 13:27:53
We don't want the riff-raff turning up.
From the latest anxietyculture.com mailing:
LATEST NEWS
- Abandon Normal Devices! (Festival of New Cinema and Digital Culture). This
festival is happening in Liverpool, UK, September 23-27 2009. Some
interesting things are planned, including a workshop from the
culture-jamming tricksters, the Yes Men.
http://www.andfestival.org.uk/siteNorm/home.php
http://tinyurl.com/abandonfest-brochure (PDF brochure)
http://tinyurl.com/hplus-mag (brief preview from H+ magazine)
Plus a few other items of interest from the newsletter...
- Most UK newspapers, on September 8th, 2009, headlined with the "news" of a
massive terrorist plot. Actually, the story was recycled from April 4, 2008.
And when it appeared in April 2008, it was recycled from August 2006 (when
the plot was originally reported as foiled). Compare the front pages, 2008 &
2009:
http://tinyurl.com/mail040408 (Daily Mail text 2008)
http://tinyurl.com/mail080909 (Daily Mail text 2009)
For another example of recycled terror "news", see:
http://www.mediahell.org/recycledhysteria.htm
- Surrealism boosts brain power. According to a study published in
Psychological Science journal, exposure to surrealism enhances cognitive
mechanisms to do with learning. (Science-a-gogo, 16/9/09)
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20090815220704data_trunc_sys.shtml
- "WILL FEMINISM MAKE THE COUNTRYSIDE OBESE?"
"HAVE GYPSIES DEFRAUDED YOUR PETS?"
Generate your own tabloid headlines at the Daily Mail-o-matic:
http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/
See also the 'Daily Mail Oncological Ontology Project':
http://dailymailoncology.tumblr.com/
- Police use of Taser stun guns has increased by nearly a third
(Independent, 17/8/09). This rise followed the decision to give Tasers to
officers who don't carry traditional firearms. The official line is that the
50,000-volt guns "defuse dangerous situations", but the following Youtube
video shows a more disturbing use:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dik-mgCDcg
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-taser-use-up-nearly-a-third-1773294.html
DIARY OF DISTRACTIONS
18 September 2009 - I wish more media critics would pay attention to the
"Establishment TV" phenomenon - the tendency of BBC and ITV to broadcast
(usually in prime time) "documentaries" which seem little more than PR for
various types of police, "emergency services" and other authorities. Here
are some examples I noted over a few days in July:
BBC1 - The Truth About Crime, (28/7/09, 21.00)
ITV1 - Send in the Dogs (police & their dogs), (28/7/09, 20.00)
ITV1 - Car Crime UK, (28/7/09, 21.00)
BBC1 - Seaside Rescue (29/7/09, 20.30)
BBC1 - Double Jeopardy (documentary about man acquitted of vicious attack,
and evidence arguing for his retrial), (30/7/09, 22.35)
ITV1 - Real Crime, (30/7/09, 22.35)
BBC1 - Traffic Cops (31/7/09, 20.30)
There's a longer list here:
http://www.anxietyculture.com/rant.htm#establishment
These shows often come across as the state equivalent of TV ads for banks
and insurance companies - they portray "the authorities" in a friendly light
by showing the human qualities of their employees. They seem, in a way, to
function as damage-limitation PR. So, Magna Carta is being dismantled,
illegal wars are fought in your name, video surveillance is everywhere, your
internet activity is monitored, you're robbed and lied to by government on a
daily basis - but you needn't fear, because the authorities are essentially
friendly and on your side.
When members of the public are shown complaining in these programmes,
they're typically presented as unreasonable, hostile or slightly insane - as
if you must be mentally disturbed (and probably a danger to society) if you
object to the way the authorities are selflessly taking care of you.
If you complained to the BBC about these shows, you'd probably appear
paranoid. After all, they seem pretty harmless on the face of it. But I
wonder sometimes about the cumulative "cognitive framing" effect - the
endless repetition of a particular worldview, and the virtual absence of
programmes which show "the authorities" in a less sympathetic (but probably
more accurate) light.
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