HermetIc.

com HakIm 8ey 8ookmark Metadata

Search +
CrIsIs oI MeanIng CrIsIs oI MeanIng
Peter Lamborn WIIson Peter Lamborn WIIson
The author was In NYC Irom Sept. 9th to Sept. 15th and thIs pIece was wrItten In the
week aIter the attack.
A Iew days aIter the event, the New York TImes ran an InterestIng artIcIe on the
advertIsIng "Industry" and Its crIsIs. Not onIy zIIIIons oI doIIars a day etc. etc., but a weIrd
eIIect: suddenIy It seems ImpossIbIe to have advertIsIng at aII. t seems massIveIy
"InapproprIate" to move product as per usuaI wIth shrIekIng & InsInuatIng, mockIng &
sneerIng, prurIence & peepIng; wIth hate & envy masked as IashIon, wIth greed thInIy
dIsguIsed as Ireedom oI choIce.
Death and tragedy occur every day, every mInute, not onIy In the Iormer ThIrd WorId,
even In New York, even In AmerIca. Why hasn't advertIsIng ever seemed shameIuI to
anyone ever beIoreZ The medIa - whIch cannot utter a sound wIthout pukIng up a cIIche
- speaks now oI the wakIng oI a sIeepIng gIant (meanIng that we wIII no Ionger
terrorIsm etc.) - but what was thIs sIeepZ And what does It mean to wake Into a IeeIIng
oI shameZ
Last week, It seems we were wIIIIng to admIt that our hIghest socIaI vaIues couId be
expressed In prIce codes (the "mark oI the 8east" as the cranks say, the "prophets oI
doom"). ThIs week, we IeeI shame. n a TImes IntervIew a IashIon desIgner expressed
doubt that her work had any sIgnIIIcance and wondered II she couId go wIth It.
The IashIon Industry Is aIso ashamed; HoIIywood Is ashamed; even the news medIa
expressed some IIeetIng IongIng Ior decorum & dIgnIty & decency.
Are we supposed to IeeI thIs shame over our trIvIaIIty, our mean-spIrItedness, our PoMo
Irony, our consumer Irenzy, our hatred oI the body and oI aII nature, our obsessIon wIth
gadgetry & "InIormatIon", our degraded pop cuIture, our vapId or morbId art & IIt, & so
on & so onZ - or shouId we deIend aII thIs as "Ireedom" and our "way oI IIIe"Z
Our Ieaders are teIIIng us to return to normaI routInes (aIter a decent perIod oI
mournIng) In the assurance that they wIII assIgn sIgnIIIcance to the event, they wIII
embody our hate & desIre Ior revenge, they wIII medIate Ior us wIth the Iorces oI "evII".
8ut what exactIy Is thIs normaI IIIe to consIst oIZ Why do we IeeI thIs shameZ
SchooIchIIdren (agaIn accordIng to the TImes) ask theIr teachers what It means that the
terrorIsts were wIIIIng to dIe, to kIII themseIves; and theIr teachers evade the questIon,
sayIng that "we don't understand." And the ad execs, they don't understand eIther -
they're bewIIdered. Awake but conIused by a crIsIs oI meanIng. Last week aII meanIngs
couId be expressed In terms oI money. Why shouId 5000 murders change the meanIng
oI meanIngZ
A hyper-IashIonabIe taIIan cIothIng company uses death to seII Its products.
Photographs - even huge bIIIboards - showIng peopIe dyIng oI ADS or waItIng to be
executed - desIgned to seII wooIIy jumpers. n thIs IIIe as normaIZ ShouId we return to
ItZ
For a Iew days no musIc was heard In the streets. No thumpIng bass speakers rattIed the
aIr, no chants oI hate Ior women & queers, no "MadIson Avenue ChoIrs" hymnIng the
ceIestIaI deIItes oI commodItIes or vacatIons In the mIdst oI other peopIes' mIsery.
For a Iew hours or days there appeared no oIIIcIaI spIn on the event, no sIogan]Iogo In
the medIa, no InterpretatIon, no meanIng. We watched the cIoud drIIt around the cIty,
IIrst to the East over 8rookIyn then up the west sIde oI Manhattan, IInaIIy over the east
sIde as weII. WIth the smeII and the poIsonous haze around the moon came a nIghtmare
abut the occuIt sIgnIIIcance oI the cIoud: - angry bewIIdered ghosts In a vast whIte
cIoud. And we breathed that cIoud Into us. We'II never get It out oI our Iungs. What the
cIoud wanted was an expIanatIon, a meanIng.
8ut next day the spIn was In, the medIa had Iound or been gIven Its answer - "Attack On
AmerIca", our Ireedom, our vaIues, our way oI IIIe, carrIed out by "cowards" who were
nevertheIess not "physIcaI cowards" (as some oIIIcIaI expIaIned In the TImes). Perhaps
they were moraI cowardsZ He dIdn't say.
Why do they hate usZ A Iew peopIe have asked but receIved no coherent answer. Do
"they" hate "us" because we use oI 75Z oI the worId's resources even though we onIy
constItute 20Z oI Its popuIatIonZ because we bomb 8aghdad & 8eIgrade wIthout rIskIng
even one AmerIcan IIIeZ because we export a vapId sneerIng mean-spIrIted cuIture to the
worId, vIdeo games about death, movIes about death, TV shows about death,
commodItIes that are dead, musIc that kIIIs the spIrItZ because we've made advertIsIng
copy our hIghest art-IormZ because we deIIne "Ireedom" as our Ireedom to ruIe & be
ruIed by moneyZ
The poIItIcIans have toId that "they" envy us and our way oI IIIe and thereIore wIsh to
destroy It. Envy - yes, why notZ The whoIe system oI gIobaI capItaI Is based on envy. t
has to be. No envy, no desIre. No desIre, no reason to spend. No reason to spend,
ImpIosIon oI gIobaI capItaI, q.e.d. 8ut then why shouId the ad execs & IashIon desIgners
& sports teams & entertaIners IeeI thIs strange unaccountabIe shameZ
And why shouId the terrorIsts have been wIIIIng to dIe just because they envy our weaIth
& our way oI IIIe & our Ireedom to buy, and spend, and wasteZ What does It meanZ
AIter the HoIocaust (or HIroshIma, or the CuIag) certaIn phIIosophers saId that there
couId be no more art or poetry. 8ut they were wrong apparentIy. We have poetry agaIn. t
may not mean the same thIng It meant beIore. t may not mean anythIng. 8ut we have It.
And who couId have dreamed at the gate oI 8uchenwaId or TrebIInka that one day we
wouId have - NIke ads or sItcoms about IawyersZ
s any meanIng goIng to emerge Irom the 9]11 eventZ WIthout meanIng tragedy ends not
In catharsIs but sImpIy depressIon, endIess sorrow. Our Ieaders "seek cIosure" - perhaps
by kIIIIng many AIghan chIIdren - perhaps by a new Crusade agaInst the Saracens -
and oI course by a return to normaI. We'II show "them" - by reIusIng meanIng. We wIII
sIeep because It Is our rIght not to awake to conIusIon & shame.
HermetIc. com About Contact Support the IIbrary
HermetIc HostIng HermeneutIcon Hrmtc Underground
Our sIeep wIII be troubIed. We'II have to "sacrIIIce a Iew Ireedoms" to protect Freedom.
We'II have to Iear & hate. 8ut wIthIn a Iew weeks or months we wIII have burIed even the
Iear & hate, rather we wIII have transIormed aII that emotIon to the mage, to the EvII Eye
oI the medIa, our externaIIzed unconscIous. We'II have sItcoms agaIn and gangster rap
and arguments about our rIght to downIoad It aII Ior Iree Into our home computers.
We'II get those aIrpIanes IIyIng, once agaIn poIIutIng "our" skIes wIth noIse &
carcInogens. We'II overcome our shame. And that wIII constItute our revenge. That wIII
be our meanIng. Our moraIIty.

8ack to HakIm 8ey and OntoIogIcaI Anarchy.

Hosted by HermetIc. com