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When the unknown becomes known, there no more mistique

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Elctro-Chemical stimulation

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'of course new things pop up but the difference now really is that if something explodes then before it can grow naturally people have strangled it to death with parodies online and often a scene or new style is dead before it even surfaces... An idea is copied ad infinitum until the energy is gone' - Ghost of My Life by Mark Fisher

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Trauma is a virtualization of the past, a specter that materializes in the present, haunting us. Groundness, for me, takes it away. You are no longer in the virtual/spectral; you are in the materialized, true present.

You are not bullied by the past—the could'ves, should'ves—the future that could be, that couldn't be, that would and wouldn't be. Not by specters of your own, but also of our fathers, forefathers, and the overall haunting of the world.

Perhaps, as a society, we too need groundness. Why can't we treat every single sick child?

Some will say they do not think it's their job. Some will point out the greediness of big pharma, others will highlight tax issues, point to billionaires, or discuss social struggles. Some will question, "Why the children, when foreign aid is much more needed, or animal welfare?" Some will argue it is an impeachment of their freedom. Others will simply say, "Live and let die."

This is all spectral.

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David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity

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How reverberant events in the psyche become revenant

Mark Fisher - Hauntology

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“At the same time, I believe that the argument about boredom has to be somewhat nuanced. It is certainly true that one could feel almost nostalgic for Boredom 1.0. The dreary void of Sundays, the night hours after television stopped broadcasting, even the endless dragging minutes waiting in queues or for public transport: for anyone who has a smartphone, this empty time has now been effectively eliminated. In the intensive, 24/7 environment of capitalist cyberspace, the brain is no longer allowed any time to idle; instead, it is inundated with a seamless flow of low-level stimulus.”

Yet boredom was ambivalent; it wasn’t simply a negative feeling that one simply wanted rid of. For punk, the vacancy of boredom was a challenge, an injunction and an opportunity: if we are bored, then it is for us to produce something that will fill up the space. Yet, it is through this demand for participation that capitalism has neutralised boredom. Now, rather than imposing a pacifying spectacle on us, capitalist corporations go out of their way to invite us to interact, to generate our own content, to join the debate. There is now neither an excuse nor an opportunity to be bored.

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Perhaps the feeling most characteristic of our current moment is a mixture of boredom and compulsion. Even though we recognise that they are boring, we nevertheless feel compelled to do yet another Facebook quiz, to read yet another Buzzfeed list, to click on some celebrity gossip about someone we don’t even remotely care about. We endlessly move among the boring, but our nervous systems are so overstimulated that we never have the luxury of feeling bored. No one is bored, everything is boring.”

Mark Fisher, No One Is Bored, Everything Is Boring

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I think a lot about the punk movement. Where everything was controlled by the establishment, being the government or corporations but punks silently yet very out loud reminded everyone that they are not owned. They tagged the streets with art that aimed at making it unbearable to look at. They wore clothes that provoked and made the establishment men and women to turn their face away.

Where are we now? We are owned. We do not rebel against the establishment, we want to be deep in it. Nobody cares that social media is bad for you as long as they get to own a share of it that will help them with their retirement goals. Nobody cares that banks and real estate ruins communities and is against the working class, as long as they own REITs and banking bonds. Nobody rebels the fact that they spend 6 hours a day on their phone, we do not rebel today.

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In his play No Exit, French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre depicts a psychological hell, leading to his famous declaration, “Hell is other people.” Rather than being misanthropic, it is a psychological exploration of his idea of the Look. Sartre depicts two women and a man locked in a mysterious room. They are unable to escape the “devouring” gaze of one another. One of the women accuses the man of stealing her face, because she feels automatically judged by his stare. The Look deprives the characters of their individuality, freedom, and responsibility, and locks them into a particular kind of being, as an object in the other people’s views. The experience of always being under the eyes of others causing them to lose their selves and become a collection of mirrors, reflecting what everyone else expects of them. At the end, the man finally realises what hell is.

Eternalised: In Pursuit of Meaning

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Byung-Chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive

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Capitalism is obsessed with death. The unconscious fear of death is what spurs it on. The threat of death is what stirs its compulsion of accumulation and growth. This compulsion drives us towards not only ecological but also mental catastrophe. The destructive compulsion to perform combines self-affirmation and self-destruction in one. We optimize ourselves to death. Relentless self-exploitation leads to mental collapse. Brutal competition ends in destruction. It produces an emotional coldness and indifference towards others as well as towards one’s own self.

Byung-Chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive

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Rejecting capitals comes at a high and illogical cost. You will have to disregard your health and well being. No insurance, no sick leave, no maternity care, no prescription meds, no assisted living, no disability checks. There are many health misdemeanors and major health problems that can be cured if you play the game. It's one of the 'barriers to exit' of capitalism.

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I lately noticed that the whole capitalist system realise primarily on advertising.

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We can do it all and we know how to do it all yet that is the reason

we are paralysed into avoliton.

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I didn't even lift a finger to find myself in such a battle

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'A bull can drag a heavy loaded cart but is unable to catch a mouse.' - Zhuangzi

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If we decide that we value good employment, social responsibility, customer honesty, fair products and environmental custody over corporate greed, we can flip the whole system upside down that the most valuable companie wouldn't be the ones that ruin us and everything around us.