Post-Everything - On the Image (Video Exclusive)

The Hindu word and Image "Linga" is interesting especially it's transformation over the ages. Great leaps of analogy, resemblance, identity to the pure formless it is now.

Khemith

Great comment tbh, agree with a lot of it too. Although I would say maybe the image itself isn't necessarily a problem to be solved. Maybe all we need is the right images, or images that can disempower and decode the wrong images (metaimages?). After all isnt that what Pills is doing with theory content? This is why I think the culture wars and memes as inane and purely imaginary as they are are actually critically important. The world follows from images, just as the subject follows from desire. Instead of having this understanding and turning inwards, wouldn't it be better to use this insight to make the world better (or at least attempt to?) sure beats being the smartest alienated subject in the therapy room imo (lmao).

If there's something I've learned over the past few years is that anything can be a philosophical object, and the more mainstream and spectacular the object, the better. Can we ever really get beyond Barbie now that Mattell are going to make a movie of all their IPs? It's like asking if we can get beyond the spectacle, which I don't thinking is possible. Right now I;m pretty drunk, so this makes a lot of sense tbh. The gravenimage is already realised in the age of simulation tho, no need to ask if this has come about yet. If God is angry because people have created simulacra of Him, then he fucked up somewhere fr. Since he's warring against a creation of his own, what kind of god is he if he can't automatically win? "Your chauvinism is showing" Peak online leftoid judgement. This is the postmodern simulacra par excellence, just can't be fucked with fr. RE the use of philosophy, maybe it's cause I'm approaching this from a non-philosophical background, but I think the main function of philosophy is to critically assess the social phenomena we find ourselves interpellated in, to come up with concepts that help explain why the world around us is the way it is, and why we experience it in the way we do. (ie, "reacting to the icons that hold us captive"). And I agree with Marx in that the point of doing this is to change it, at least ideally. And stoicism is the polar opposite of this, so no wonder it's really popular. It provides intellectual, ideological support for the status quo, a set of beliefs that situates life's problems in your perception and non-acceptance of it, rather than recognising structural phenomena as the source of social and individual ills. And yeah, philosophy has always been self-help, because ultimately, it was done in order to better understand the world, to create a sense of security, understanding, meaning and guidance for a world which otherwise makes little or no sense and can leave one stranded in bewilderment. But I don't think this makes philosophy any less important just because this is the case. 1929 is really interesting cause it's so close to the Nazi takeover of Germany. If the medium is the message, what does that say about the emergence of the first talkies with arguably history's prime example of fascism? "there's a woman, she moves from some buttfuck, nowhere town to Hollywood to become a star". This literally became one of the founding myths of Hollywood, that anyone given enough talent/beauty can make it in Hollywood, a subspecies of the American Dream fantasy. One of the most well-known tropes and simulacra ever, I think. IMO you've hit a very rich vein of inquiry in that you can't really understand the postmodern world without undertanding images-as-signs and the precession of simulacra. I feel like you're the only theory youtuber who recognises how important Baudrillard is rn, and how he provides the updates (or deviations) to Marxism (or any radical theory) that is required in order the analysis to stay relevant. Re God or images, I don't think it's ever possible to dispense with images whether God is there or not, because even by the use of language, we create symbolic meaning, ie, mental images of things in order to allow us to communicate, create a culture, (attempt to) understand ourselves, etc. This essentially is symbolic interactionism. So even if God is there, you can never get rid of the image. Even anti-image religions like Islam will end up creating images that pertain indirectly to their religion, Allah, etc. The creation and use of symbols and images are one of those very few essentialist qualities I think you can apply to humans universally tbh. Sorry for the lengthy response, but yeah, I don't see any way out of this situation for the same reason we're not overcoming capitalism any time soon. It *is* extremely interesting however, and if we're to develop any sort of resistance, I feel like analyses of this type have to form the foundation for it, to understand exactly what we're dealing with. And reading all 3 volumes of Capital just isn't going to cut it.

anacidcommie