>Fucked by the mainstream – Part 3

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In the mainstream media you have people who’ve applied to the rules and who know that there are certain things that are not proper to say. They’ve probably been filtered out since their education days. A large part of education is actually based on understanding that there are certain things that are not proper to say and to think. If you do, if you’re too independent, you won’t go very far. That, and to be able to pass some exams after you’ve memorized some “good books” they’ve thrown at you, is education. All according to plan.
Perhaps you’ll learn what wine to drink as well.

The result of this filtering process is an uniformity of ideology in the intellectual culture. The people in the mainstream media are pretty much in agreement, and they believe what they are talking about. That’s very important, because it’s very hard to believe one thing and say another. So these people truly believe what they are saying, and thus they are very obedient to the system. They serve power. Of course, they don’t like to hear that. They want to hear that they question power, which they sometimes do – but only within that chosen framework.

Mass media’s main function seems to be to marginalize as large a part of the population as possible, so they don’t interfere with decision-making. That’s why you get shitty sitcoms, soap operas that never end, endless exploitation articles about Jozef Fritzl, shows about babies with five heads etc etc… Crap that makes you occupied, cut away from thinking for yourself.
Sure, we have media that express different views than those of the business community, but they cannot attract capital, so they won’t live that long. The business community have no problem with that (some Rolex ads and they’re done) and thus they have the real power. Of course, people are interested in “real” issues and would hopefully read Stockholms Fria, Oskorei and Counterpunch, for example, if they knew about it and weren’t distracted by that crap on TV, but there’s no market for that kind of journalism. The market and the money are within the business and entertainment industry, the capitalist industry. Issues that matter to working people are no fun. And again, writing stuff to educate the masses to overthrow the people in power is not good for business, so no money there either. Dissident voices in dissident media are not able to survive in this arena where cash is king.
Still, the dissident voices won’t ever shut up.


For more info on this topic you might want to read Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky.
It’s available in Swedish here and in English here.

Also check these YouTube videos:

>Fucked by the mainstream – Part 2

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These are the cold hard facts: The major media units are huge corporations dictating what should be discussed within a certain framework. These institutions naturally work in their own interests, thus dissident opinions have no say here because that would undermine the corporation’s capital interests. The smaller media units will have to adapt to the agenda set by those in power, because they lack resources to act differently.

Knowing this, let’s look at the sources reporters use. Since they work within this framework, the sources they use are not unbiased expert sources, but rather sources that represent already established opinions and that work in their (the corporation’s) own interests. Many times the reporters are not even aware of how this works, due to the illusion of open debate mentioned in Part 1 (only pre-defined opinions within chosen subjects within a chosen framework are allowed).
If you chose to go outside these established opinions you will face major resistance. You will realize that the level of evidence requested all of a sudden is extremely high. If you’re reporting about vested interests, you hardly won’t need any verification at all. If you’re writing about atrocities carried out by the guerilla, all you need is one hearsay witness for confirmation and then you’ll be able to write endless shitty articles about it without anyone questioning you. If you want to write about torture carried out by an American military officer you’ll need videotapes, tons of witnesses and a whole goddamn mountain of evidence to back it up – or else you won’t get through in major media. One quote from a “high U.S. government official” is good as reliable evidence, while ten quotes from a dissident voice are worth nothing. Knowing this, and knowing what it’s like to work where things have to happen fast, it’s easy to understand why most journalists choose the easy way out. They have neither the time nor the pride to fuck with those in the major league. Naturally, the big boys won’t even let you do that because that would be undermining the core of the corporation. Also, a journalist simply cannot afford to lose his job…

Major media consists of a few mega-corporations and when it comes down to it it’s all about increasing profits and market shares. That’s how corporate capitalism works. It’s nothing new, it’s nothing odd. That’s the way it is. And if you’re not in there to play the game, to help your corporation to increase profits and so on, then there’s no place for you in the game. You’re voice will not be heard if you’re raging against the system. Simple as that.
You’ll have to take your work elsewhere, and sometimes not even the alternative media will be good enough. When dealing with certain subjects you’ll be forced to take your work underground, which is exactly quite the opposite of what society should want you to do, had it practised what it preaches: freedom of speech, democracy and justice for all.
Sadly, that’ not how it works and ultimately this false representation of virtues and moral will end in conflict.

>Fucked by the mainstream – Part 1

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What ways are there for dissident voices to speak up and be heard? In mainstream media there are none.
Dissident voices equal a menace to society, therefore media only allows discussion within a framework that serves the interests of dominant institutions. This means we have a very limited spectrum of debate where media takes its own chosen subjects and then presents a range within that framework “open for debate”, when in reality these debates only enhances the strenght of their pre-defined assumptions. This makes us think that everything within that chosen framework represents the whole possible spectrum of opinions. We think we can debate just about everything, and it looks like that as well, but it’s nothing but a scam. The subjects are chosen by those in power and only opinions that fit within that specific framework are allowed. It’s simply a debate among people who are admitted into mainstream discussion.

So how does this work? It’s pretty easy to see. Institutions work in their own interests. If they didn’t, they’d be of no use for anyone. They would be totally meaningless in the long run.
Media consists of a few major mega-corporations who set the framework for what should be talked about, and then the smaller media units simply have to adapt to what the major media units focus on. Only major media have the resources, the money and the staff and the “credibility”, so they set the agenda.

Now… Corporations have a product to sell (the audiences) and a market they want to sell it to (the advertisers). So, the major newspapers are selling its readers to other businesses, and since the major media units consists of very privileged readers who in fact are the elite and political class that makes decisions in our society, it’s fairly easy to see what picture of the world they are presenting. To make things work, to make these huge corporations successful, that picture will have to satisfy the needs and interests of the buyers, the sellers and the market.
As already stated: Institutions must always work in their own interests, or else they won’t work at all. Of course there’s no place for dissident perspectives in such a closed system.

(These articles will be very much inspired by the thoughts of Noam Chomsky)

>Music that matters: Dystopia

>Mankind, to whom are you kind? The peace that you mold is a lie
Before I’m paid, the system comes and takes half away, for bombs someday
See the world through sunken eyes

Exactly eight years ago I praised the band Dystopia when reviewing their album The Aftermath in Close-Up Magazine #38 (April 2000). I wrote something like “if you send me a tape I’ll send it back to you filled with Dystopia stuff”. I got one tape, from Jonn Jeppsson, now a prominent writer for Close-Up. Those were the days. Tapes instead of CDR.
Anyway, I still praise Dystopia as one of the very best bands ever. Their take on punk, metal, hardcore, doom and sludge is truly unique, and their misanthropic message is something I can wholeheartly agree with. The lyrics, music and artwork all work very well together, and for once it all seems for real: an honest fuck off spat in the face of humanity.
In 2008 they released their third and final album, simply entitled Dystopia. Maybe not as good as their previous efforts, but still way ahead of most scumbags out there. I witnessed them live two times and they fucking slayed! They were way ahead of us all.

Here are three songs for you to worship:

Hands That Mold
– taken from the Human = Garbage CD (1994, Life Is Abuse/Misanthropic/Common Cause)
Socialized Death Sentence – taken from The Aftermath CD (1997, Life Is Abuse/Misanthropic/Crawlspace)
Leaning With Intent To Fall – taken from the Dystopia LP (2008, Life Is Abuse)

Please read the lyrics as well.

Hands That Mold

hands that kill mold illusions of peace
their fucked up pseudo security
destroy to give birth to technology
to quicken the killing of you and me and him and her

blind – us humans think we are so smart

creating challenges
now – our sky bleeds in our hands
it’s nothing

build and build and build some more
industry fucks nature like some kind of whore
quest for invention, intelligence gone too far
synthetic environment, we’re doomed from the start

and I guess we’re all gonna die (my home)

and take everything under the sky (is nothing… to you)

skies they bleed, infecting the land
oceans they vomit onto the sand
wind so foul, a putrid reek
animals they scream in disbelief

and I guess we’re all gonna die (our lives)

and take everything under the sky (are nothing… just used)

humanicide
humanicide

black trees, dead seeds, dirt weeds
how much longer do we have?
humanicide
human beings should have never evolved at all

your heart… your heart as cold as the concrete that
you lay
your mind… clouded with the pollution that you make

hide… lies… from all of us, the ones you have chosen to die
smother our earth, blacken our skies
your quest for progress, convenient demise

man… kind… to whom are you kind
the peace that you mold is a lie, a lie, all lies
our lives float rejected down the stream
they are nothing, not you or me

Socialized Death Sentence

I am just a fucking slave
bust my ass for minimum wage
before I’m paid, the system comes and takes half away…
for bombs someday
my boss hates my fucking guts
I was never good enough
if I’m injured on the job
he’ll say tough luck
he’ll find someone else to fuck

my job… my life

landlords pissed, rent is due
haven’t worked in a few
if I don’t pay I get evicted
I’m fucking screwed
what am I suppose to do

each day… I die

your….. your job sucks
the system fucks
a timeclock head…I’m dead
employed… mind void
destroyed… can’t avoid

I try… to survive
…losing…

work work
socialized death sentence
system system
fucked all around
work work
like taking cyanide
system system
washing it down…

and I die again tomorrow…
when I wake up

Leaning With Intent To Fall

Another friend found dead in the street
A painful death of self-defeat
The reaper killed by the seeds that were sown
Another mother destined to be alone

See the world through sunken eyes

Infected soul, infected brain
Feel your flesh turn stone cold
And endless downward spiral of misery and pain is what remains

You used to do that shit for fun
A steady march of slow death
With no intention of turning back
Feel the pleasure, you taste the pain
Getting high just to get sick again

You don’t seem to be having much fun
Wake up, wake up from this lucid dream
Nightmares, nightmares are what the future brings

See your spirit fly with the angels
Fall from the heavens
Fall through your fingers

You say you’re hurting? I’m hurting too
Am I to love you? I hate the things you do
You say it’s over. you say you’re sober
You’re fucking clean
And then you fucking O.D.?

So you chose to take your life away
Suicide is an easier way

See the world through sunken eyes

We tried to change the path you were on
Feel your flesh turn stone cold
A night alone. a spoon, a needle in the arm, and now you’re gone.

Can you climb out of this hole that you’ve dug?
I wish I could help you but I can’t

Watching through my eyes is misery

Dying in your eyes, that’s all I see

See your shadow fall from heavens
Fall through your fingers
Fade into nothing

This is Hands That Mold performed live in 2002.

>Royal Till Death – A skate video

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Royal Till Death from cryptogamic on Vimeo.

Every spring I feel the urge for skateboarding. 15 years of that makes you hooked for life it seems.
What got me going this time was this cool video I found. It demonstrates how damn good the skate videogame from Electronic Arts really is. The Tony Hawk games can suck my ass – skate is the real deal. And speaking of real, that’s what I enjoy most with this game; it’s so realistic it’s almost stupid. And this video, probably done by real skateboarders, shows that. I just love the clean cool lines here, and I firmly believe you have to be a skateboarder to appreciate this game to the max. It’s as hard as real life skateboarding, I kid you not. If I hadn’t been sick this very day I would have been out the door skateboarding until night falls. Guess I’ll have to stay inside and play this awesome game instead… As real as it gets, until skate 2 hits the stores.

Nostalgia:

>E.M. Cioran: The Lure of Disillusion

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In the Talmud, a stupefying assertion: “The more men there are, the more images of the divine there are in nature.” This may have been true in the period when the remark was made, but it is belied today by all one sees and will be still further belied by all that will be seen.
E.M. Cioran, The Lure of Disillusion

To withdraw indefinitely into oneself, like God after the six days. Let us imitate Him, on this point at least.
E.M. Cioran, The Lure of Disillusion

>Into The Wild and the ego

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Photo shot in Sweden, way up north, summer 2006.

Sean Penn’s latest feat, the beautiful and astonishing film Into The Wild, really gets your mind going. In itself the movie might not be that amazing in what it shows (even though there are some truly breathcatching scenes revealing Mother Nature in her true majestic pride) – it’s what the film plants in your mind that’s the most interesting aspect, I think. But in a way, there’s nothing new here. People have always broken up from their daily lives and sought out a more meaningful existence. I guess it happens everyday, with the exception that most of us who have those wild ideas of living alone in the middle of nowhere never turn those ideas into reality…

Based on the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer the film tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young gifted university graduate who leaves everything behind (parents, sibling, friends, money) to live alone in the Alaskan wilderness. This is his reality and this is his choice – as opposed to enduring the Spectacle, a consuming reality chosen by others. Freedom and moral inquiry are the keywords here, and Chris was widely influenced by the works of Henry David Thoreau, Jack London and Leo Tolstoy – like so many others before and after him. Hell, I’m reading Thoreau every now and then and every time I start to think about life in a cabin besides a pond in a forest unknown, where I can read, write, walk, listen and explore my freedom. I guess everybody have those thoughts when reading that book.
However, I’m so deeply rooted in the consumer’s society I probably wouldn’t make it through the first night, but I’ve made some choices that will sort of pave way for a more genuine life style a couple of years ahead. That’s my great plan anyway.

After having rented shitty apartments in shitty neighbourhoods and shared flats with friends for over eight years (which was kind of hell for me at times, since I enjoy being alone, not having to socialize and attend their parties) I decided to get my very own place. When the opportunity arose – money! – I bought an apartment in an area which suited me perfect. It’s close to the city, but it’s got all the nature you could ask for and that’s a good start when slowly trying to get away…
Also, I quit a lot of things which mostly brought me headaches. I quit doing the film club, I quit my stupid job and got another one which is awesome. Recently, even though my job is awesome, I decided to cut one day so now I work four days a week instead of five to be able to do more reading, writing and the stuff that really matters to me. I quit a lot of other shit as well, just time consuming mindless crap that I could do without. A visit to the Northern parts of Sweden living the life I’m seeking for five days also made it very clear to me that that’s the way one should live. I want to devote more time to reading, writing and exploring, preferably in an environment where I can live and dwell alone.

All this, in conjunction with the film and the books I’m reading, naturally makes me think a lot. It raises a lot of questions. Is breaking away from humanity the same as escaping from reality? Is it taking the easy way out, escaping all the problems? The ultimate egoism? Well, since I have no hope for humanity, and truly believe in a dark, sterile, dead future, why should I care about others? Well I do, because I’m a humanist as well. A misanthropic humanist. Wow…
But I guess it’s my way of dealing with reality; to be creative, dynamic and to constantly develop and nurture new “skills” and ways of thinking. To do that, one certainly needs time alone.
But hey, looking at how deeply rooted I am in this consumer’s society it’ll probably take me another thirty years to get my cabin and pond. Still, that’s what I’m hoping for. I’ll have to learn to cook first, though.

In an upcoming article I’ll hopefully relate all this to Spengler and modernity. Meanwhile, in case you missed, here’s some stuff I wrote earlier that kind of connects with these issues:

Living with the dying
Oswald Spengler – The Decline of Cultures
Här finns inget varaktigt och allmängiltigt (about Spengler in Swedish)
Great movies of the 80’s: Threads
Society’s sickness
Situationism – Part 1
Situationism – Part 2
Situationism – Part 3
Planet Earth and misanthropy
The art of psychogeography

Relevant blogs:
Oskorei
Fimbulvinter

To buy the best swedish translation of Thoreau’s Walden, click here for more info.
And to watch another great movie, check out Grizzly Man.

by Mattias Indy Pettersson