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[criticalfutures]

The track ‘In The Flesh’ invites the audience to “go to the show” - to come along to the rally and show support before forces mobilise and foment a violent uprising across the streets of London. The band onstage, characterised in live performances of the album by a surrogate band comprised of different musicians adorning life masks of Floyd members Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason, replace a Pink that remains ‘comfortably numb’ in his hotel room:

“I've got some bad news for you, sunshine

Pink isn't well, he stayed back at the hotel

And they've sent us along as a surrogate band

We're gonna find out where you fans really stand!”

This uncanny representation of band members is understood to represent the musicians’ surrogacy as agents of ideological repression, insofar as they serve to perpetuate the dominant ideology, also acting as a form of entertainment to keep the subjects enthralled and entertained while, ‘behind the scenes,’ they are in fact complacent in their own oppression through ignorance and acceptance. Taking into account Freud's psychoanalytic consideration of the role of the uncanny, it is recognised that an intentional feeling of discomfort and unfamiliarity actively subverts and disrupts the individual’s understanding of the reality around them. The use of these masks can also be understood to comment on the role of the musician in a capitalist society - by portraying the band members as masked and interchangeable, Waters suggests that musicians are often recognised to be commodified tools of an industry which promotes capitalist ideals of excess and grandeur.

[criticalfutures]

Omaginw going back to the 80s and telling the your ancestors that, in the future, all politicians will be like Margaret thatcher. That all the parties will be in line with the tory party, even labour. And that Thatcherism has been the basis of all decision making in Britain since she was in office.

Imagine the despair on their faces.

[criticalfutures]

depression and anxiety are symptomatic of a capitalist system which inflicts unease and insecurity upon individuals. humans are not designed to be constantly exploited and manipulated for their labour force. capitalism is unnatural, and causes untold suffering to millions.

the pain and discomfort that are products of this system are stigmatised, privatised and hidden. mental health issues are not treated with the same respect as physical health issues are, and those who suffer are pumped full of drugs to make them all better for a short period of time. a worker can’t be exploited when they’re depressed and mentally unwell. so, the larger issues are ignored in favour or short-term, quick fixes.

[criticalfutures]

they gathered at the cenotaph,

and all agreed with hand on heart,

to sheathe the sacrificial knives.

but still, the dark stains spread between their shoulder blades.

a mute reminder of the poppy fields and graves.

and when the fight was over, we spent what they had made.

but, in the bottom of our hearts, we felt the final cut.

pink floyd - southampton docks, 1983

[criticalfutures]

pride isn’t about turning straight kids into queer kids.

pride is about making sure queer kids don’t turn into dead kids.

[criticalfutures]

What the fuck is this disaster of a film

[criticalfutures]

- using preferred pronouns is suicide prevention.

- using correct pronouns is basic human decency.

- using correct prounouns is active allyship.

- using correct pronouns is gender-affirming.

- using correct pronouns isn't difficult.

“too much blood has flown from the wrists of the children shamed for those they chose to kiss.”

[criticalfutures]

i've been thinking about nostalgia a lot recently. the idea of longing for a better, more fulfilling and content time in our lives. nostalgia is the product of a world that doesn't allow us to imagine a future. there is no future time to look forward to because there is no innovation or change. all there is to come is the intensification and repetition of capitalism. therefore, we look to the past for hope and comfort, knowing things can only get worse. i call this ‘futurelessness.’

but this isn’t always a negative feeling. nostalgia and the longing for a better world can be used as a radical, transformative tool. if we use the power and the hope from the past against the current closed horizons of the present, we can push back against the systems of oppression that seek to push conformity and reduce us to mere cogs in the machine. nostalgia is revolutionary.

[criticalfutures]

capitalism must exploit in order to reproduce itself. it needs a source of energy to perpetuate its ceaseless cycle of propagation. it is a leech that siphons the human spirit and subjugates the human will.

“capital is an abstract parasite, an insatiable vampire and zombie-maker; but the living flesh it converts into dead labor is ours, and the zombies it makes are us.”

- mark fisher

[criticalfutures]

death to fascism and the neoliberalism that enables it.

fuck your colonialism.

fuck your empires.

fuck your genocide.

from the rivers to the seas, all colonised lands and peoples will be free.

[criticalfutures]

“(capitalism) is a desperately rotten, corrupt system and you're causing untold misery. not just with your neighbors in central and south america, but all over the world with this vast army that eats up 57% of every tax dollar. i pay taxes in america, so i feel that's one thing i can talk about: 57% goes toward killing brown people in foreign countries - in order to remain powerful, in order to maintain the status quo, so that these old men can go on building their huge, huge piles of cash and continue increasing the margin of inequality between the very rich and starving. or even the very rich and the just-getting-by. all those people who never have $100 in their pocket ever, but they have credit cards, so they live in debt their entire lives.”

- roger waters

[criticalfutures]

hey! welcome to my blog :]

i'm toby, i have an undergrad degree in philosophy and ethics, will be studying for a postgrad degree in critical theory in september, and i'm from the uk!

this blog is a space for me to share my ideas on politics, post some of my favourite quotes and song lyrics, and be me! i'm super into the work of mark fisher and pink floyd :D

please feel free to reblog and follow if you're interested in my content!

[haters will be blocked and negative comments deleted]

[criticalfutures]

“by and large, i am as ashamed as i could possibly be of our colonial past. i take no pride in the fact that for 150 years or so the sun never set on the british empire, and that we were out raping and plundering and stealing as much as we could from everybody all over the world. that kind of imperialism is not something that as an englishman i am proud of.”

- roger waters

[criticalfutures]

“the very oppressive pervasiveness of capitalist realism means that even glimmers of alternative political and economic possibilities can have a disproportionately great effect. the tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of reaction which has marked the horizons of possibility under capitalist realism. from a situation in which nothing can happen, suddenly anything is possible again.”

- mark fisher