"In an advanced industrial society it becomes almost impossible to seek, even to imagine, unemployment as a condition for autonomous, useful work. The infrastructure of society is arranged so that only the job gives access to the tools of production...Housework, handicrafts, subsistence agriculture, radical technology, learning exchanges, and the like are degraded into activities for the idle, the unproductive, the very poor, or the very rich. A society that fosters intense dependence on commodities thus turns its unemployed into either its poor or its dependents." - Ivan Illich
I know big words, but when they're strung together in the way that most philosophers use them, it becomes incredibly strenuous to fully understand. now, I've never looked at the book, maybe it's not like this, but I've consistently been turned off to reading directly from famous leftist philosophers in lieu of watching RUclipsrs who translate the thoughts into layman speak.
Kig V2 it’s actually quite accessible, generally at least. There are a few pages on Lacanian concepts that are dense, but the book is generally an easy (at least in the technical sense) read.
Brilliant. It made me think of the following: “There are certain technical words within every academic discipline that soon become stereotypes and cliches. Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any … It is the word “maladjusted.” This word is the ringing cry to modern child psychology. Certainly, we all want to avoid the maladjusted life. In order to have real adjustment within our personalities, we all want the well‐adjusted life … But I say to you, my friends … there are certain things in our nation and in the world (about) which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize. I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, leave millions of G-d’s children smothering in an air tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self‐defeating effects of physical violence. " Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
@@stuffupthecracks "But there is a definite move away from capitalism, whether we conceive of it as conscious or unconscious Capitalism finds herself like a losing football team in the last quarter trying all types of tactics to survive." -Rev Dr MLK Jr.
"Just look at us. Everything is backwards, everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, psychiatrists destroy minds, scientists destroy truth, major media destroys information, religions destroy spirituality and governments destroy freedom." (Michael Ellner) Look for this brillant guy, he´s still living !!
As an exploited academic worker, the increasing incursion of capitalism into education is really disheartening. We are quickly moving back into a space where only the children of aristocrats will be allowed access to a liberal arts education and everyone else is being forced into professional programs. Parents used to largely encourage children to get an education, now they tell them to get job skills. The horizon is getting narrower and narrower where selling your labor is the possibility of life.
Exploited academic worker lmao. Then do something else. Hmm I wonder what system allows you to freely choose were to be gainfully employed and payed well...
Absolutely. I get asked nothing but "What are you going to do with *that* ?!!" about my English Literature/Philosophy degree. I don't know? Anything I can? I just wanted to understand the world a little bit better.
That was excellent, until the last part where the argument seems to forget itself. You even said earlier that capitalists incorporate capitalist fatalism into the commodity market, then uses the examples of Democratic platforms and multi-million dollar anti-capitalist movies as a sign of hope. I'd argue that those are prime examples of capitalism trying to co-opt anti-capitalism, itself.
the hope lies in the people seeing the co opt scheme and rejecting it. In these waning days, capitalism is desperate and its machinations become more transparent. My fear is the people are too ignorant and too far gone to prepare for what comes after this capitalism...which will be a terrible thing if not addressed now
In other words, the "natural process" of economic development that Marx outlined is coming into being. Capitalism is either everything or nothing to you people. "Capitalists trying to co-opt anti-capitalism" is as close a definition of impending communism we'll get I'm afraid
Yeah, you´re right. That truly means, here is no true alternative. If every chances to rebel against the system are always co-opt to main stream culture by the same system. This is getting to true dystopian reality. It is fucked up and my mental health either.
I'm late to this party, but. This video reminded me of a book that I just finished reading, which is David Graeber's "Bullshit Jobs: A Theory." He talks a lot about the increase in jobs that literally have no point or have been created just because of a problem that could be removed; he even pointed out how it doesn't seem to matter who is in charge of the government, as it was Obama who said we couldn't (in the US) completely get rid of insurance because... ... what about all the jobs associated with that industry? What about THOSE people? Which really, I think, should've prompted more people to go: If these people have jobs that aren't useful and really, actually, are getting in the way of us receiving GOOD healthcare... shouldn't we want those jobs gone? Shouldn't we want to find ANOTHER system to make sure those people are taken care of but aren't having to work such needless jobs?
Love the username. This is why I hesistate to believe the claims that we will all be replaced by robots, maybe the fear of which causes us to get useless degrees which causes us heavy debt, a fear of robots, and all to fall into the same fast food job we would have if we never went to university at all.
I think it has little to do with needless jobs and more to do with fiscal responsibility. When you zoom out, the US government spends 29% of yearly budget on Healthcare (Medicare & Medicaid & other federally subsidized health programs). People act like we don’t have subsidized healthcare and poor people just die if they’re broke. Not true. If your income is low, (Less than $29k single person household) you get 100% free insurance and can get care from wherever you want for free in the US, you are the luckiest person on earth and will receive the best healthcare on earth. Social security is another 26% of government spending and national defense another 15%. At the end of the day, we’re running out of money and if we push the envelope too far, our system will collapse.
That kaleidoscope effect was incredible and weirdly kept me more focused on the words on screen. Also, this video was well worth the wait. Glad you're back :)
Nuh uh! Capitalism is what Baby Jesus gave us when he wrote the Constitution. It's perfect. Milton Friedman is going to come back to life and lead us to the promised land, just you wait!
We have comforted ourselves to death and what’s worse is that we have blinded ourselves to the solution. We have left our humanity and oneness with nature, what was always, to the artifice and the Gods we have created.
If we keep blinding ourselves to these injustices, it means that most people are not that self aware at all meaning majority of people are stuck in the blue pill state. They’ll never free themselves from the Matrix, because many adults who are working are so overworked, exhausted, angry, angry at the world and life.. A lot of them are pissed off and so overworked because of the low minimum wage and lack of minimum pay.” They are making less money than their upper middle class peers..
@@joeosbornegregory8333 Key word is pretending. They can spend another couple trillion to prop up the corpse, but there's no necromancy that can breathe life into this decaying monster. We are living through the end of capitalism.
And the superior response of the socialist countries to the pandemic will also play a decisive factor in the future. At least it has shown that a general and centralized welfare state is superior to face the challenges that lye ahead of us way better than the complete anarchy of the market.
@@user-hu3iy9gz5j hahahaha imagine thinking capitalism means free markets and a lack of government intervention. nice try. capitalism is where the rich concentrate wealth so much that they control the government and write policies, through lobbying, to increase their gains and fuck the worker. THAT is REAL capitalism. not coporatism or crony capitalism or whatever you brainwashed bootlickers have tried to call it. capitalism will ALWAYS accumulate into smaller and smaller numbers of hands. it cannot be fair and never wants to be. get your head out of ayn rand's gaping asshole.
Great video. I was no familiarized with the concept but I feel that I got a lot of information from the video. Nicely packed and delivered. The editing and visuals were phenomenal. Keep up the work!
You mention games and movies that push against the cage of capitalist realism. In the book he talks about how this type of media helps capitalism sate the populations growing anger and will to revolt against the system. Anyway great vid and cool to learn more about his inspirations.
every year it feels sadder and at peak, yet it gets darker still the next one, and the last minute of this video seems sillier and sillier,, thank u, often coming back here
This is such a strange video to watch on Google's RUclips, on my smartphone, connected via 5G, sitting in my comfortable living room. I feel like a vacuum cleaner contemplating the evil of both dust and energy.
of course - if you deregulate markets, profits rise due to monopoly; economically, society became the opposite of equal opportunity society and became a class society. democracy is replaced by market logic.
Love this video! This is probably the only video I've seen that goes into the semiotics of capitalist realism at this level of detail, or really at all. Amazing stuff 🌺
Capitalist realism reminds me of that famous David Foster Wallace 'what is water' talk. The sense that often the most obvious and pertanent issues, are the most difficult to question. If we only ever know one reality, its incredibly difficult to think outside that box. Its like asking an adoptee what its like to have adoptive parents from birth - its an absurd question
The problem with this video's conclusion is that it starts with a false premise, that being that the US has a capitalist economy. We have socialism in the US, and the specific form that socialism takes in the US is corporatist/fascist.
That's not how the terminology works. For the economy to be concidered socialist the workers would have to own the means of production either directly or through the state. None of this is true in capitalism or fascism, and absolutely not in the united states.
@@absolutelynotacommie No, that's how an economy is considered Marxist. Socialism is public control/ownership of the means of production. Marxism is just one form of socialism.
@@absolutelynotacommie Regulations, taxation, and lobbying are how public control of the means of production takes form in the US. I think you might be a little too focused on the idea of full ownership here. Look up the concept of dirigisme, it's how fascist/corporatist economies operate.
It would be within our own interest to create our own means of production and compete in the market. Stock markets would likely crash, but if we know how to provide for ourselves it should only affect the ones currently profiting from capitalism.
@@DarkAngelEU homesteading, do you realize how much land we waste on manicured front lawns and spacious backyards left unused by the technologically preoccupied youth? Throw some potatoes in the ground, maybe even some tomatoes. Did you know you can grow black pepper indoors and that you can buy a mini houseplant sized lemon tree online? Start a garden, be as self sufficient as you can we live in an age where all the knowledge of easy gardening and household diys are at our fingertips so use it, be a producer not a consumer.
i agree that the emphasis on the individual is capitalized which questions the “revolutionary” factor of the feminist movement and other movements aimed towards self-determinism. what deems to be revolutionary when focusing on the individual struggle reinforces the very system that oppresses it instead of pointing the interrogation light toward capitalism the movements further strengthens it
To put it another way Capitalist Realism has successfully dimmed our horizon and conceiving of our world in any other way. We see only the same and have been blinded by conceiving anything other, the vast scope of humanity has been narrowed by the narrowing paths and views we have sleepwalked to the destruction of our humanity.
I head Europe has WAY less ads on TV, billboards, screens, etc. I'd love to be there. Imagine that, not being sold something every second of your life.
People tend to confuse industrial music and noise music with "new horizons" in art. This isn't an argument against Death Grips or Clipping, but to those kind of arguments of the direction of music future.
Excellent point. I guess the argument isn't that these are the new horizons, but that they are steps toward it. Not necessarily because of their noisiness, because innovations can be made using other sounds than that, but because of the collective image, the aesthetics. Clipping's first album, midcity, featured Daveed Diggs rapping over white noise while holding his own using only his flow due to the less-than-rhythmic noise. Death Grips, furthermore, utilise an idiosyncratic style. We get used to it as we listen to it more and more, but it is a somewhat independent expression in today's musical climate. And disregarding music influences, I'd say their style would sound at least nominally futuristic. Maybe that's all we've got now, but it's a start.
Just read this book. While I think that Fisher has some very insightful critiques, I think the work fails on two points. First, the assertions about mental health were made without any evidence. Broad generalizations indicting capitalism for mental dysfunctions require some compelling evidence, but there's no strong data to even suggest these have increased in capitalist societies, much less at a greater rate than in non-capitalist societies. And to what degree may increasing rates of mental illness correlate to better diagnosis and a cultural sensitivity or reduction in shame? Without considering these questions, these assertions fell very flat for me. I'm far from convinced that capitalism is to blame for an increase in mental illness. Second, Fisher falls prey to his original thesis, which is a lack of an alternative vision. It is all well to discuss the problems with capitalism, but it does nothing without proposing a better system. Would an alternative system necessarily improve on _any_ of the problems that Fisher highlights? Did the USSR have a better environmental record? Do religious fundamentalist societies experience less mental illness-or do they merely misdiagnose it? How is "the left" to propose a reduction in bureaucracy in a non-capitalist fashion? Capitalist Realism is an intriguing work, but it makes absolutely no progress against its subject beyond complaints without a broader context. And as such, it risks being simply absorbed into the morass of co-opted rebellion.
Here's what I don't get. Why can an individual disassociate (so to speak) from their past and future and exist as a series of more or less disconnected points in time yet the argument is brought that on a cultural level, modernism is indeed a sort of donor substrate post-modernism references/refers to? In other words, why should individuals be without past or future, yet society as a collective of individuals forming culture and ways of perceiving the world, be immune to that? Honest question. Can somebody spell that out for me?
_excellent vid. nice to see Fisher everywhere, digital and real, The World Transformed events [run by Momentum] are always talking about Fisher. weird how left and right politic-subculture are being enfused by Fisher and Nick Land respectively. don't know why no-ones talking about how both these lads are from the same _*_accelerationist_*_ philosophy and worked together at Warwick Uni PhilDep [and CCRU, obvs]. how can they branch out in such disperate paths? and why are no BreadTubers doing content on NRx?_
Thank you so much, Aleksandr! There's a point to this: Fisher kept somewhat defending Land throughout his life, he didn't reject him entirely, although he disagreed with him. And how could they branch out in such disparate paths? I think it has something to do with the source from which both derived; Deleuze and Guattari's 'A Thousand Plateaus'. When you're out to make as many connections as possible, there's room for a lot of differences. And I haven't considered NRx as such, but I am working on a script for a video on accelerationism. It won't be the next video, but most likely the one following that. I'm not sure where to go exactly yet, but I would love to feature Land in it.
@@SimonObirek _oooh, i look forward to your vid with bated breath. accelerationism is a tough one to tackle, i think that's why there's so little consumable [as opposed to esoteric or just plain shitposting] video content on it. _*_perhaps_*_ somewhere to go, just to show the real-world effect; the shadowy Dominic Cummings [ran the __Leave.EU__ campaign in Britain] is a true believer, he never _*_explicitly_*_ states it, but his rabid blog is proof enough [__dominiccummings.com/]__ certainly makes for interesting reading. esp since Cummings is still heralded in Tory activist circles. but i know all this is v Britain-centric_
@@JackJames2612 That is exactly why I wanna do it; a lot of videos on the subject are esoteric and more like memes than an exploration of the ideas. I have saved the link, I do think, however, I will look at accelerationism from both the left and the right to see what's up.
it's almost as if 'supply and demand' was just a marketing ploy to get everyone to swallow the whole pill. Like all marketing strategies, it was just a lie in the end, like a pretty doll stuffed with rotting meat.
It is literally impossible for supply and demand to "fail". It prevails in any society of exchange. If there is a single idea that has gained universal approval among economists, that is supply and demand. Even Marx recognized its necessity
This comment section is completely bonkers, so it would not surprise me this guy genuinely believes capitalism was the biggest problem during covid and not travel restrictions, lockdowns, US funding Wuhan labs for gain of function research, or anything else
Love the glimmer of hope you gave us at the end. A light in the fog of capitalism. I wonder if Mark was aware of the potential for change. I like to think he was.
@@gregoryjfowler but the form is the content transmission. . . I mean, love the video but for those of us eith headphones it's a useful audio feature. Just drop it in your speech audio channel and it takes care of "Ss" and "SHs"
What the hell did all that mean? Am I the only one who didn't undersatand most of that? I've had a peripheral introduction to some of Fisher's ideas, enough that I want to understand them. I've even read "Capitalist Realism." Yet I didn't understand most of it; nor have I understood any of the videos I've seen so far. These big concepts are thrown so quickly at me that I can't wrap my mind around them, and there are so many big, weird words that I don't know that it makes it all seem so impenetrable. Is there anyone who's done a kind of Fisher For Dummies that translates all this into plain English? I feel like a grounding in various writers and their philosophies are necessary to understand any of this, and I hope that's not true as I get the feeling these ideas are important and I want to understand them.
Capitalism has become the only system and because of that, people have a hard time imagining a different way of living other than what we got today. This means that since birth we become part of the system through education, cartoons, toys, advertisements, experiences and eventually careers, work and the family system. There is no alternative because people have been programmed to defend capitalism because they cant imagine anything else and if they do, they go back to what they already know. Even more leftist movements that are trying to get us away from capitalism due to very important concerning issues like mental health and the environment are quickly absorbed by the system and commercialized and exploited. As Slavoj Zizek said “it is easier to imagine the world ending than an end to capitalism”
@@AvelierPlays Its like the notion of dumping Google. We ALL would like to do that, but is it realistic? have all the firedoors been welded shut? Is a life which doesn't include google even possible? most say no and simply submit. Who is to say these people even submitted as much as dismissed crazy thinking? Maybe Google IS the proper flow of life and not his big brother snake everybody hates but puts-up with. Maybe the problem isn't Capitalism, it's BAD Capitalism like bad water. It could just be really bad maintenance procedures allowing too much garbage to accumulate.
Mark Fisher is the reason im going into Media + Technology Studies. His work is important to human survival going forward in this dark world. What a fucking joke though that Russell Brand who narrated the book is now a fucking loon
Made me ponder upon the place the psychedelic movement has these days. In the '60s, I think, the whole movement had the drive to take upon the system due to tensions and diverging ideas with the structures. The apparent initial inability for the system to take control of such pulsing glimmer might have given rise to the idea of an alternative, something else, another way. I believe it' safe to say that, nowadays, the psychedelic movement got metabolized. Now, insane movement of capital revolves around drugs. The movement has been halted. I drew the parallel with the green movement you talk about in the video and how it might be undertaking a metabolizing process. What do you think?
Mark Fisher started writing a book titled "Acid Communism" before he passed. The introduction is included in the recently published anthology "k-punk". “The installation of capitalist realism was by no means a simple restoration of an old state of affairs: the mandatory individualism imposed by neoliberalism was a new form of individualism, an individualism defined against the different forms of collectivity that clamoured out of the Sixties. This new individualism was designed to both surpass and make us forget those collective forms. So to recall these multiple forms of collectivity is less an act of remembering than of unforgetting, a counter-exorcism of the spectre of a world which could be free. Acid Communism is the name I have given to this spectre.”
@@torigurafu You take the drugs to escape the capitalism but when the drugs wear off, as they inevitably do, the capitalism remains. The psychadelic movement was ill-fated, and it was well that it was. Escape from true engagement and true grappling with the problems that capitalism posed is sheer hedonism and leaves in place the heirarchies and institutions that perpetuate the very inequities you come back to after the drugs have been metabolised. I would draw parallels with today's green movement and its obsession with purity. Drawing on ideas that the Nazis like Heidegger originally put forth like how only food, or energy, or industry that is "local" is somehow more pure, more innocent, more "better" in some ephemeral way. And this shows up in many movements all deriving from that common background, like the whole locavore fad and "food miles". Somehow, choosing to buy food from a farmer that is closer is to wash away all the problems that we face in our food system today. Apparently this will ensure that subsistence farmers in Africa will have assured harvests and that the 30-40% of embodied energy that is wasted in the transport of food that spoils, is excusable as long as it is "local." The pursuit of "freshness" that demands highly regimented and vertically integrated cold chains and the fossil-fuel driven transport networks to get things from farm to table literally overnight is justifiable because "fresh" is "pure" and "healthy". In the end you are buying a _symbol_ of health and a _symbol_ of wealth: "fresh" foods take more energy and labour to produce and transport and are therefore more expensive than "processed" or preserved or canned foods which are more equitable and convenient. It is basically the middle class wanting to dissociate themselves from the food systems that sustain the lower class. Staples like beans and rice are "unhealthy" due to their carbohydrate content. Whereas fresh spinach that arrives overnight in the refrigerated truck is full of "vitamins" and is somehow more "healthful". But where the green movement has been most co-opted is in energy and energy systems. Taking on the energy philosophy of Amory Lovins in full, the "green energy future" is one where distribution of wind farms and solar panels and biomass co-gen supersede the lumbering, centralised giants of the power grid today. The problem is that Amory Lovins is a petroleum industry consultant and he knows damn well that to drive wind turbines and solar panels to the ludicrously low capital costs of today, demands an immense investment in a globalised supply chain, and the marine diesel fuel to back that up. Silver from Spain, copper from Australia, coking coal from America, rare earths from Mongolia, polysilicon from Germany is brought together in China to produce solar panels in giant centralised factories where workers risk exposure to heavy metals and carcinogenic dust so that rich people in gated communities in California can pay "nothing" for their monthly power bill. Of course, the rich family doesn't pay with their health or their mineral resource wealth or the integrity of their environment - working people in other countries do. The "purity" and "localism" of "green energy" is pure capitalism. Far from being distributed _production_ and a devolution of power to the local level, it is instead distributed _consumption_ of foreign labour, foreign minerals, employing precarious contract labour to install, and _requiring_ neoliberal market intervention and market creation to subsidise its entry into the electric grid. Far from producing localisation and internalisation of environmental impacts, "green" capitalism has externalised all the costs of production and delivery of a _simulacra_ of green purity to far away places. Instead of questioning the policies and infrastructure that enabled "distributed" solar and wind to grow so quickly in "liberalised" (privatised) electric grids, variable renewables are used as a wedge issue to accelerate the marketisation and atomisation of power production. Democratic planning, participation and ownership of nationalised power generators is replaced with a simulacra. A solar panel that you "own" and power that you "produce" is "free" and "clean" and "pure". When in fact it is anything but.
The culture shift in the 60s that led to ALL MODERN CULTURE OUTSIDE CONSERVATISM was a result of CIA doing psy ops. Literally. The only thing the culture shift did that was good was occupy wall street.
Adam Curtis has some great insights into the failure of mid-C20th counterculture, finding that its resolute failure to shape the world to its whims caused it to become aloof and withdrawn, no longer concerned with changing the world in its entirety but instead carving out increasingly smaller and more esoteric countercultural fiefdoms that eventually collapsed into the Cult of the Self.
The words used during the video seems like the font from Supreme, the funny thing is that by using this methodology in the making of the video, a strange sensation emerges from within while watching a content fundamentally anti-corporation, or at least, a critique to the capitalism system, but what is bugging me right now is that I can't find the right word to describe this feeling, this emotion can be seen in a variety of things, it's applied to any situation when you use the weapon/tool of the 'enemy' against them, but I still can't describe the funny sense of irony of it all, a supreme example of it would be using the foe's sword to cut their throat with the purpose of making the road to revenge more meaningful/impactful, it has such a novelettish feeling to it, just like Dolores from Westworld using Caleb as a tool against humanity, quite ironic, quite poetic.
Yeah it's really ironic that Barbara Kruger who is known for her criticism on capitalism had her signature art style turned into one of the biggest symbols of modern capitalism.
Very neat. What we need to overcome is Right Wing Anarchy, a form of antiCapitalist Capitalist reform for politics that doesn't create tolerable diplomacy or negotiations between corporate parties. Right Wing Anarchy truly dismantles all economies and creates disorder. Conscious, ethical, Green Capitalism that provides equal opportunities for growth is the future of education and work. I am not a Capitalist, but the future is Green Capitalism through Democracy.
Growth is a problem though. Instead of pushing growth (usually for growth’s sake), we should be pushing comfort and joy. Community. Happiness. Infrastructure. Support.
@@AtheistEve Not all growth. If it is truly for equality, fair treatment of workers, and evolutionary Green economies, it really isn't that bad. Even Marx and Lenin were for this kind of growth.
@@alanhansmannkurtcobain8811 In simple terms, growth (in economic terms) is anti-environment. And anything anti-environment is anti-life. Green-washing capitalism is very similar to the way capitalism uses any counter-cultural or youth movements. We had it during the sixties/seventies with how the peace movement was hijacked by companies for the aesthetic. Same with the punk movement. It’s all just grist to the capitalist mill. We know that capitalists don’t care about workers, families, communities. People are killed for demanding their native land rights, people’s environments are destroyed for cheap meat. Capitalists break up unions, take whole countries hostage, enslave workers. There’s no such thing as fairness, equality and environmental justice in capitalism. If it exists at all, it’s just window dressing.
@@AtheistEve I wouldn't stereotype anyone. Ultimately, Marx was an ethical Green Capitalist who began a Leftist Communist. He became Liberal. I think you need to give some breathing room to corporate ethics, equity, and fairness. By all means, I understand what you're saying, but don't be so quick to stereotype every Capitalist. True, the rich 1% are profiteers and not very good Capitalists. I totally agree that they are destroying our World for profits, but don't be so quick to assume every Capitalist is Evil. Sure, there's alot of Evil in it, but again, Democracy is ethical Capitalist reform and not so bad. Neither is Bernie Sanders. I'm definitely for him and not a Capitalist or profiteer. I have donated over 33 million in Nirvana and other associated royalties to human, Earth, animal rights and liberation organizations and movements, but this is not about me. It's about rising out of ideological prejudices.
For the mental health element I think R.D Laing was very progressive in spotting the societal role in causing so called sickness, reading Politics of Experience in combination with Fisher can be enlightening I think
As necessary as it is, there is one huge problem in aligning "green critique" with leftism / capitalism. The right are critiquing green ideas as being just a cover for leftist policy. It´s important to stress that climate change us a problem that concern us all, and find solutions for it that somehow accomodate people on all sides of the political spectrum.
As said in the video. Capitalism by its fundamental nature cannot be sustainable, because it must keep growing constantly and at an exponential rate. The only solution to ecological problems are leftist ones.
Green critique is not a smokescreen for leftist policy, it IS leftist policy. "Green capitalism" being what it is, the only small but authentic flash of green to the right is ecofascism, which (spoiler alert) could never work, is wildly unappealing to even the most gullible dunce, and would kill everybody and everything.
When did Barbera Kruger's work move into the public domain? Talk of aesthetic style, appropriation and the notion of hauntology does not make her creation the only available form of graphic communication and in this instance renders it pastiche.
"Capitalism --- it is the only social system that has brought prosperity to the world, and of prosperity pre-18th century nobody could have dreamed of, the way that we live now in the 21st century, it wasn't even possible in people's imaginations The enormous amount of progress, of freedom, or wealth has been brought by this one system. ... We know what the road to prosperity is and people can go down that road by themselves if you give them the right ideas. They don't need perpetual aid and help (socialism // welfare). They can build a life for themselves but they need the right ideas and the right social system and the USA has demonstrated what that system is." ---- Onkar Ghate.
Ah, why can’t I remember what movie this is from at 13:34? It’s so familiar, I’ve definitely seen it. Pls halp 😅 Edit: was it Brazil? I loved that movie when I saw it ages ago, but my memory is beyond terrible
Capitalism learned to 'capture externality'?? Externalities need to be ACCOUNTED FOR. We have not yet created policy that requires industries to pay fees proportional to how much they deplete resources, emit pollution or destroy wildlife habitat. IF we charge appropriate fees, profitability will align with sustainable practices. (An appropriate fee is one that is high enough to motivate efforts to REDUCE harmful impacts...to the point that random surveys show that most people think impacts are acceptable.) If we share proceeds from fees equally, no one will live in abject poverty. What problem is there w/ capitalism that would not be reduced or eliminated by making prices more honest and sharing (a monetary representation of) natural wealth?
That's not ''supreme style''.You need some kind of a a background for titels and subtitles to work on both white and black background and that color works on both.
@@Somnivers nah I'm pretty sure it was a conscious choice to use the absurd marketing and pricing of the Supreme brand as a symptom of late stage capitalism but I COULD be wrong
@@coldblaze100 It could be intentional ,but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the absurd Supreme marketing.They are one of the brands that didn't really need much marketing efforts.The fact that celebrities think it's some celeb brand and they advertise it ?Supreme pretty much was very anarchistic in their methods and views compared to all the streetwear brands at that time.
@@Somnivers yeah ik that but Supreme exemplifies the notion that capitalism commodifies every aspect of human existence, even the idea of commodification itself, if given enough time and freedom
I don't understand how you can say that Kurt Cobain was entitely precorporsted by capitalism and then say that Death Grips is truly challenging the system. Does capital precorporate anticapitalist art or not?
Friend, amazing video! Just wondering where does Lacan define the Real as "what insists but does not exist"? This would be super helpful for my research :)
Thank you so much, Eddy! And I don't think Lacan does that, actually; Lilian Munk Rösing, a Danish theoretical psychoanalyst, writes that the unconscious insists, but doesn't exist, and I think that might be Fisher's reference. She writes about it in terms of ethics and she herself references Lacan's seminar VII, "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis".
"No I ain't shit and I like that You want a statement, I'm like, "Why's that?" Your parasite's showing, that's not my bad Your bad's pathetic, your bad's your price tag Your bad's embedded in your lives, a white flag A sterilized white flag, born, bred, and buried in it Wears you like a cherry finish, keeps you valuable and shiny You're a shiny clown to me and the Powers That B" Love the Death Grips shoutout at the end, no group that I know of captures this seemingly never ending modern downfall as much as Death Grips does.
Great thing I’ve noticed: since I’ve started watching this kind of videos on RUclips it seems like advertisement disappeared.
lucky
Yes of course.
Mine have increased :C
Sounds like they are are demonetizing leftist videos.
They’re on to you 😂
"In an advanced industrial society it becomes almost impossible to seek, even to imagine, unemployment as a condition for autonomous, useful work. The infrastructure of society is arranged so that only the job gives access to the tools of production...Housework, handicrafts, subsistence agriculture, radical technology, learning exchanges, and the like are degraded into activities for the idle, the unproductive, the very poor, or the very rich. A society that fosters intense dependence on commodities thus turns its unemployed into either its poor or its dependents." - Ivan Illich
Utterly ridiculous.
Only because we specialised did we enable production to rise and made it possible for wealth to exist.
You don’t have time for this - get back to work
capitalist realism is a short book everyone should read, it's mindopening
I’m not finished yet, but yeah, it’s wild
I know big words, but when they're strung together in the way that most philosophers use them, it becomes incredibly strenuous to fully understand.
now, I've never looked at the book, maybe it's not like this, but I've consistently been turned off to reading directly from famous leftist philosophers in lieu of watching RUclipsrs who translate the thoughts into layman speak.
Kig V2 it’s actually quite accessible, generally at least. There are a few pages on Lacanian concepts that are dense, but the book is generally an easy (at least in the technical sense) read.
I ordered it right after I saw this video, just came in the mail this morning.
@@domenicogrimaldi591 That's capitalism for ya
“Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.” R.D. Laing.
I like that quote as well as this one: ‘It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.’ -Jiddu Krishnamurti
Brilliant. It made me think of the following: “There are certain technical words within every academic discipline that soon become stereotypes and cliches. Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any … It is the word “maladjusted.” This word is the ringing cry to modern child psychology. Certainly, we all want to avoid the maladjusted life. In order to have real adjustment within our personalities, we all want the well‐adjusted life …
But I say to you, my friends … there are certain things in our nation and in the world (about) which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize. I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, leave millions of G-d’s children smothering in an air tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self‐defeating effects of physical violence.
"
Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
@@stuffupthecracks "But there is a definite move away from capitalism, whether we conceive of it as conscious or unconscious Capitalism finds herself like a losing football team in the last quarter trying all types of tactics to survive."
-Rev Dr MLK Jr.
"Just look at us. Everything is backwards, everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, psychiatrists destroy minds, scientists destroy truth, major media destroys information, religions destroy spirituality and governments destroy freedom." (Michael Ellner) Look for this brillant guy, he´s still living !!
The book's a red-pill. A literal RED-pill. Its a fantastic book
Red phill with a hammer and sicle
@jestersMadhouse more then million. Capitalism kills 20 million a year. We should end it fast!
@jestersMadhouse imagine resorting to stupid meme comments
@jestersMadhouse GOP kills more.
Literal? You ate the book?
As an exploited academic worker, the increasing incursion of capitalism into education is really disheartening. We are quickly moving back into a space where only the children of aristocrats will be allowed access to a liberal arts education and everyone else is being forced into professional programs. Parents used to largely encourage children to get an education, now they tell them to get job skills. The horizon is getting narrower and narrower where selling your labor is the possibility of life.
That’s a hard argument with the plethora of scholarships available for people with no money
Exploited academic worker lmao. Then do something else. Hmm I wonder what system allows you to freely choose were to be gainfully employed and payed well...
Absolutely. I get asked nothing but "What are you going to do with *that* ?!!" about my English Literature/Philosophy degree. I don't know? Anything I can? I just wanted to understand the world a little bit better.
@@dive7733 every kid who deserves it, yeah actually
@@gamerrevolutonif you dont want the average person to be educated, you will reap what you sow
That was excellent, until the last part where the argument seems to forget itself. You even said earlier that capitalists incorporate capitalist fatalism into the commodity market, then uses the examples of Democratic platforms and multi-million dollar anti-capitalist movies as a sign of hope. I'd argue that those are prime examples of capitalism trying to co-opt anti-capitalism, itself.
the hope lies in the people seeing the co opt scheme and rejecting it. In these waning days, capitalism is desperate and its machinations become more transparent. My fear is the people are too ignorant and too far gone to prepare for what comes after this capitalism...which will be a terrible thing if not addressed now
In other words, the "natural process" of economic development that Marx outlined is coming into being. Capitalism is either everything or nothing to you people. "Capitalists trying to co-opt anti-capitalism" is as close a definition of impending communism we'll get I'm afraid
@@scientifico Well, it is mainly your ideological tradition that sought to overturn capitalism. Aren't you happy to finally succeed?
Yeah, you´re right. That truly means, here is no true alternative. If every chances to rebel against the system are always co-opt to main stream culture by the same system. This is getting to true dystopian reality. It is fucked up and my mental health either.
@@scientificoits so funny watching capitalism promote its own alternatives.
I'm late to this party, but. This video reminded me of a book that I just finished reading, which is David Graeber's "Bullshit Jobs: A Theory." He talks a lot about the increase in jobs that literally have no point or have been created just because of a problem that could be removed; he even pointed out how it doesn't seem to matter who is in charge of the government, as it was Obama who said we couldn't (in the US) completely get rid of insurance because...
... what about all the jobs associated with that industry? What about THOSE people?
Which really, I think, should've prompted more people to go: If these people have jobs that aren't useful and really, actually, are getting in the way of us receiving GOOD healthcare... shouldn't we want those jobs gone? Shouldn't we want to find ANOTHER system to make sure those people are taken care of but aren't having to work such needless jobs?
Love the username. This is why I hesistate to believe the claims that we will all be replaced by robots, maybe the fear of which causes us to get useless degrees which causes us heavy debt, a fear of robots, and all to fall into the same fast food job we would have if we never went to university at all.
I think it has little to do with needless jobs and more to do with fiscal responsibility. When you zoom out, the US government spends 29% of yearly budget on Healthcare (Medicare & Medicaid & other federally subsidized health programs). People act like we don’t have subsidized healthcare and poor people just die if they’re broke. Not true. If your income is low, (Less than $29k single person household) you get 100% free insurance and can get care from wherever you want for free in the US, you are the luckiest person on earth and will receive the best healthcare on earth. Social security is another 26% of government spending and national defense another 15%. At the end of the day, we’re running out of money and if we push the envelope too far, our system will collapse.
@@spencedoglol yesh just send more billions to israel
That kaleidoscope effect was incredible and weirdly kept me more focused on the words on screen. Also, this video was well worth the wait. Glad you're back :)
Nuh uh! Capitalism is what Baby Jesus gave us when he wrote the Constitution. It's perfect. Milton Friedman is going to come back to life and lead us to the promised land, just you wait!
JediNiyte Top kek
@@aximtaioreunin7917 2015 called. They want their meme back. (yes, I am aware of the irony)
Yes! All of capitalism is nothing more than a mere religion! Thank you.
0of jesus in turning point USA lmao
@@nevadataylor cult of death were we sacrifice the poor working class, more true today with the pandemic
We have comforted ourselves to death and what’s worse is that we have blinded ourselves to the solution. We have left our humanity and oneness with nature, what was always, to the artifice and the Gods we have created.
If we keep blinding ourselves to these injustices, it means that most people are not that self aware at all meaning majority of people are stuck in the blue pill state. They’ll never free themselves from the Matrix, because many adults who are working are so overworked, exhausted, angry, angry at the world and life..
A lot of them are pissed off and so overworked because of the low minimum wage and lack of minimum pay.” They are making less money than their upper middle class peers..
Thank you. This video is literally helping me stay alive by putting a form to my thoughts and emotions. Have a beautiful day.
wonderful. helps to clarify what we are all experiencing.
ruclips.net/video/dPwwM4l-cHk/видео.html
Well Coronavirus looks like the hole Fisher mentions at the end
I was just thinking that as he was talking about it! Glad I'm not the only one that recognizes it!
@@joeosbornegregory8333 Key word is pretending. They can spend another couple trillion to prop up the corpse, but there's no necromancy that can breathe life into this decaying monster. We are living through the end of capitalism.
And the superior response of the socialist countries to the pandemic will also play a decisive factor in the future. At least it has shown that a general and centralized welfare state is superior to face the challenges that lye ahead of us way better than the complete anarchy of the market.
@@LudicalWho are "they"? The state. To prop trillions into the economy is not very capitalist if you ask me
@@user-hu3iy9gz5j hahahaha imagine thinking capitalism means free markets and a lack of government intervention. nice try. capitalism is where the rich concentrate wealth so much that they control the government and write policies, through lobbying, to increase their gains and fuck the worker. THAT is REAL capitalism. not coporatism or crony capitalism or whatever you brainwashed bootlickers have tried to call it. capitalism will ALWAYS accumulate into smaller and smaller numbers of hands. it cannot be fair and never wants to be. get your head out of ayn rand's gaping asshole.
Great video. I was no familiarized with the concept but I feel that I got a lot of information from the video. Nicely packed and delivered. The editing and visuals were phenomenal. Keep up the work!
Thank you, I will!
love the way this guy takes a pile of topics and puts them into a coherent whole that's easy to understand
You mention games and movies that push against the cage of capitalist realism. In the book he talks about how this type of media helps capitalism sate the populations growing anger and will to revolt against the system. Anyway great vid and cool to learn more about his inspirations.
“Capitalism kills art but any art created under capitalism is just a means to pacify the masses”
every year it feels sadder and at peak, yet it gets darker still the next one, and the last minute of this video seems sillier and sillier,,
thank u, often coming back here
finishing it off w death grips was unexpected but gold, nice summary, thank you
This is such a strange video to watch on Google's RUclips, on my smartphone, connected via 5G, sitting in my comfortable living room. I feel like a vacuum cleaner contemplating the evil of both dust and energy.
Did not expect the death grips shout-out at the end, amazing video
This is absolutely fantastic. Why is RUclips just recommending this to me
Algorhythms -> They k n o w what you l i k e ;D
lol you just had to push that death grips thing in the end didnt ya
Just found your channel!! Amazing job!! I never comment, but I just wanted to say how great, informative, and inspiring this video was!!
Nice Barbara Kruger aesthetic.
KA FKA yes, the supreme irony..
I don't understand this so take my dislike
This is a fantastic source, referenced and everything, thank you very much
of course - if you deregulate markets, profits rise due to monopoly; economically, society became the opposite of equal opportunity society and became a class society. democracy is replaced by market logic.
The “market” is made up of people and as time goes on, more ppl have access to capital, you’re financially illiterate
Class division and democracy are not mutually exclusive
Another fantastic video. I'm so glad I found your channel - such high quality, interesting content!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Charlie! I'll keep it up!
Love this video! This is probably the only video I've seen that goes into the semiotics of capitalist realism at this level of detail, or really at all. Amazing stuff 🌺
Semiotics .. down the bus stop is it?
What's the background music at 0:41? Does anyone have a link?
I just love the quote at 7:17. We are all so stuck in this system... RIP Mark, we needed your wisdom and insights right now!!
Capitalist realism reminds me of that famous David Foster Wallace 'what is water' talk.
The sense that often the most obvious and pertanent issues, are the most difficult to question.
If we only ever know one reality, its incredibly difficult to think outside that box.
Its like asking an adoptee what its like to have adoptive parents from birth - its an absurd question
I read the book years ago. I needed this refresher today, and to especially connect to Palestine. Thank you, excellent video.
Why are you styled like the 80's Generation ?
great video thank you. loved the ironic use of the "supreme" aesthetic
Supreme stole their aesthetic from the artist and designer Barbara Krueger! Check her work out, it's very cool.
The problem with this video's conclusion is that it starts with a false premise, that being that the US has a capitalist economy. We have socialism in the US, and the specific form that socialism takes in the US is corporatist/fascist.
That's not how the terminology works. For the economy to be concidered socialist the workers would have to own the means of production either directly or through the state. None of this is true in capitalism or fascism, and absolutely not in the united states.
@@absolutelynotacommie No, that's how an economy is considered Marxist. Socialism is public control/ownership of the means of production. Marxism is just one form of socialism.
@@TheDemoraI yes, socialism is public ownership and/or control of the means of production. And that doesn't describe the economic system in the US.
@@absolutelynotacommie Regulations, taxation, and lobbying are how public control of the means of production takes form in the US. I think you might be a little too focused on the idea of full ownership here. Look up the concept of dirigisme, it's how fascist/corporatist economies operate.
@@TheDemoraI Facism is the emergency button of Capitalism , since capitalist always find itself in crisis. Capitalism without state is Feudalism
3:12 look slowdive - slowdive album
The people calling the text "supreme style" make my heart hurt for Barbara Kreuger
Great video
And she was using type designed by Paul Renner
3:11 Slowdive!
But also, excellent video as always.
Slow dive is so good dude, I knew it looked familiar!
Capitalism needs to grow? Yet as scarcity grows prices increases so it is in the interest of the capitalist to limit supply.
It would be within our own interest to create our own means of production and compete in the market. Stock markets would likely crash, but if we know how to provide for ourselves it should only affect the ones currently profiting from capitalism.
@@DarkAngelEU homesteading, do you realize how much land we waste on manicured front lawns and spacious backyards left unused by the technologically preoccupied youth? Throw some potatoes in the ground, maybe even some tomatoes. Did you know you can grow black pepper indoors and that you can buy a mini houseplant sized lemon tree online? Start a garden, be as self sufficient as you can we live in an age where all the knowledge of easy gardening and household diys are at our fingertips so use it, be a producer not a consumer.
i agree that the emphasis on the individual is capitalized which questions the “revolutionary” factor of the feminist movement and other movements aimed towards self-determinism. what deems to be revolutionary when focusing on the individual struggle reinforces the very system that oppresses it instead of pointing the interrogation light toward capitalism the movements further strengthens it
That last sentence "and who could forget death Grips" was like "waaaht"
I STAY NOIDED
To put it another way Capitalist Realism has successfully dimmed our horizon and conceiving of our world in any other way. We see only the same and have been blinded by conceiving anything other, the vast scope of humanity has been narrowed by the narrowing paths and views we have sleepwalked to the destruction of our humanity.
I mostly lean right but the worship of capitalism and the dollar is something that’s always irked me. The part about mental illnesses is brilliant.
Then you lean not right but left
@@Blackshark876 Stockholm Syndrome, free yourself from it’s grasp.
Or he leans very right indeed…
I head Europe has WAY less ads on TV, billboards, screens, etc. I'd love to be there. Imagine that, not being sold something every second of your life.
Billboards become background noise after a while and few people watch actual cable tv anymore.
YEAH ! Europe is kinda wonderful "o l d s c h o o l" in quite many things. Please come over and visit us here, you´re welcome ;D
People tend to confuse industrial music and noise music with "new horizons" in art. This isn't an argument against Death Grips or Clipping, but to those kind of arguments of the direction of music future.
Excellent point. I guess the argument isn't that these are the new horizons, but that they are steps toward it. Not necessarily because of their noisiness, because innovations can be made using other sounds than that, but because of the collective image, the aesthetics. Clipping's first album, midcity, featured Daveed Diggs rapping over white noise while holding his own using only his flow due to the less-than-rhythmic noise.
Death Grips, furthermore, utilise an idiosyncratic style. We get used to it as we listen to it more and more, but it is a somewhat independent expression in today's musical climate. And disregarding music influences, I'd say their style would sound at least nominally futuristic. Maybe that's all we've got now, but it's a start.
Just read this book. While I think that Fisher has some very insightful critiques, I think the work fails on two points. First, the assertions about mental health were made without any evidence. Broad generalizations indicting capitalism for mental dysfunctions require some compelling evidence, but there's no strong data to even suggest these have increased in capitalist societies, much less at a greater rate than in non-capitalist societies. And to what degree may increasing rates of mental illness correlate to better diagnosis and a cultural sensitivity or reduction in shame? Without considering these questions, these assertions fell very flat for me. I'm far from convinced that capitalism is to blame for an increase in mental illness.
Second, Fisher falls prey to his original thesis, which is a lack of an alternative vision. It is all well to discuss the problems with capitalism, but it does nothing without proposing a better system. Would an alternative system necessarily improve on _any_ of the problems that Fisher highlights? Did the USSR have a better environmental record? Do religious fundamentalist societies experience less mental illness-or do they merely misdiagnose it? How is "the left" to propose a reduction in bureaucracy in a non-capitalist fashion? Capitalist Realism is an intriguing work, but it makes absolutely no progress against its subject beyond complaints without a broader context. And as such, it risks being simply absorbed into the morass of co-opted rebellion.
your editing is on point. I think adding music would add a lot more drama, though. I love the Video-Intervals, the beginning with Reagan was amazing
I haven’t even noticed that there was no music in the background. I’m so used to music in the background that I just kinda imagine it’s there.
Haha the shout-out to Death Grips and clipping at the end, they're some of my favs. I was thinking the exact same thing.
Loved it. Big thanks to you.
Thank you so much!
Here's what I don't get. Why can an individual disassociate (so to speak) from their past and future and exist as a series of more or less disconnected points in time yet the argument is brought that on a cultural level, modernism is indeed a sort of donor substrate post-modernism references/refers to? In other words, why should individuals be without past or future, yet society as a collective of individuals forming culture and ways of perceiving the world, be immune to that? Honest question. Can somebody spell that out for me?
Love that you shout out death grips. I feel like Fischer would of dug them for sure.
Well done. the last paragraph gave me hope because all we have (relative to the goliath of capitalist realism) are glimmers of alternative ways.
somebody knows what is the song at 9:40?
Well-produced and narrated homage to the late, great Mark Fisher.
Absolutely fascinating
_excellent vid. nice to see Fisher everywhere, digital and real, The World Transformed events [run by Momentum] are always talking about Fisher. weird how left and right politic-subculture are being enfused by Fisher and Nick Land respectively. don't know why no-ones talking about how both these lads are from the same _*_accelerationist_*_ philosophy and worked together at Warwick Uni PhilDep [and CCRU, obvs]. how can they branch out in such disperate paths? and why are no BreadTubers doing content on NRx?_
Thank you so much, Aleksandr! There's a point to this: Fisher kept somewhat defending Land throughout his life, he didn't reject him entirely, although he disagreed with him. And how could they branch out in such disparate paths? I think it has something to do with the source from which both derived; Deleuze and Guattari's 'A Thousand Plateaus'. When you're out to make as many connections as possible, there's room for a lot of differences.
And I haven't considered NRx as such, but I am working on a script for a video on accelerationism. It won't be the next video, but most likely the one following that. I'm not sure where to go exactly yet, but I would love to feature Land in it.
@@SimonObirek _oooh, i look forward to your vid with bated breath. accelerationism is a tough one to tackle, i think that's why there's so little consumable [as opposed to esoteric or just plain shitposting] video content on it. _*_perhaps_*_ somewhere to go, just to show the real-world effect; the shadowy Dominic Cummings [ran the __Leave.EU__ campaign in Britain] is a true believer, he never _*_explicitly_*_ states it, but his rabid blog is proof enough [__dominiccummings.com/]__ certainly makes for interesting reading. esp since Cummings is still heralded in Tory activist circles. but i know all this is v Britain-centric_
@@JackJames2612 That is exactly why I wanna do it; a lot of videos on the subject are esoteric and more like memes than an exploration of the ideas. I have saved the link, I do think, however, I will look at accelerationism from both the left and the right to see what's up.
Thank You Coronavirus. For uplifting that veil of Capitalist realism. Capitalism failed to do its simplest task....to supply and demand.
it's almost as if 'supply and demand' was just a marketing ploy to get everyone to swallow the whole pill. Like all marketing strategies, it was just a lie in the end, like a pretty doll stuffed with rotting meat.
It is literally impossible for supply and demand to "fail". It prevails in any society of exchange.
If there is a single idea that has gained universal approval among economists, that is supply and demand. Even Marx recognized its necessity
No way you can think that has anything to do with (what you think is) capitalism
This comment section is completely bonkers, so it would not surprise me this guy genuinely believes capitalism was the biggest problem during covid and not travel restrictions, lockdowns, US funding Wuhan labs for gain of function research, or anything else
Still one of my favourite video essays on capitalist realism.
Love the glimmer of hope you gave us at the end. A light in the fog of capitalism. I wonder if Mark was aware of the potential for change. I like to think he was.
This is great work but there's this audio effect called "de-esser", your work would greatly benefit from using it
Form over content transmission
@@gregoryjfowler but the form is the content transmission. . . I mean, love the video but for those of us eith headphones it's a useful audio feature. Just drop it in your speech audio channel and it takes care of "Ss" and "SHs"
What the hell did all that mean? Am I the only one who didn't undersatand most of that? I've had a peripheral introduction to some of Fisher's ideas, enough that I want to understand them. I've even read "Capitalist Realism." Yet I didn't understand most of it; nor have I understood any of the videos I've seen so far. These big concepts are thrown so quickly at me that I can't wrap my mind around them, and there are so many big, weird words that I don't know that it makes it all seem so impenetrable. Is there anyone who's done a kind of Fisher For Dummies that translates all this into plain English? I feel like a grounding in various writers and their philosophies are necessary to understand any of this, and I hope that's not true as I get the feeling these ideas are important and I want to understand them.
Capitalism has become the only system and because of that, people have a hard time imagining a different way of living other than what we got today.
This means that since birth we become part of the system through education, cartoons, toys, advertisements, experiences and eventually careers, work and the family system.
There is no alternative because people have been programmed to defend capitalism because they cant imagine anything else and if they do, they go back to what they already know.
Even more leftist movements that are trying to get us away from capitalism due to very important concerning issues like mental health and the environment are quickly absorbed by the system and commercialized and exploited.
As Slavoj Zizek said “it is easier to imagine the world ending than an end to capitalism”
@@AvelierPlays Its like the notion of dumping Google. We ALL would like to do that, but is it realistic? have all the firedoors been welded shut? Is a life which doesn't include google even possible? most say no and simply submit. Who is to say these people even submitted as much as dismissed crazy thinking? Maybe Google IS the proper flow of life and not his big brother snake everybody hates but puts-up with. Maybe the problem isn't Capitalism, it's BAD Capitalism like bad water. It could just be really bad maintenance procedures allowing too much garbage to accumulate.
@@AvelierPlays hows does this differs from gramsci’s hegemony
We definitely haven't "lost our ego's" though...in fact, we've put them into hyperdrive.
I'm glad to see this here. K-punk all the way.
this is such a great channel deserves more subs for sure
Mark Fisher is the reason im going into Media + Technology Studies. His work is important to human survival going forward in this dark world. What a fucking joke though that Russell Brand who narrated the book is now a fucking loon
I didn't watch the whole video, but goddammit this video is awesome and a e s t h e t I c, this is so awesom, I can't stress this enough.
It's interesting how all the ills of the world and causative power structures are self maintaing
Made me ponder upon the place the psychedelic movement has these days. In the '60s, I think, the whole movement had the drive to take upon the system due to tensions and diverging ideas with the structures. The apparent initial inability for the system to take control of such pulsing glimmer might have given rise to the idea of an alternative, something else, another way. I believe it' safe to say that, nowadays, the psychedelic movement got metabolized. Now, insane movement of capital revolves around drugs. The movement has been halted. I drew the parallel with the green movement you talk about in the video and how it might be undertaking a metabolizing process. What do you think?
Mark Fisher started writing a book titled "Acid Communism" before he passed. The introduction is included in the recently published anthology "k-punk".
“The installation of capitalist realism was by no means a simple restoration of an old state of affairs: the mandatory individualism imposed by neoliberalism was a new form of individualism, an individualism defined against the different forms of collectivity that clamoured out of the Sixties. This new individualism was designed to both surpass and make us forget those collective forms. So to recall these multiple forms of collectivity is less an act of remembering than of unforgetting, a counter-exorcism of the spectre of a world which could be free. Acid Communism is the name I have given to this spectre.”
@@torigurafu You take the drugs to escape the capitalism but when the drugs wear off, as they inevitably do, the capitalism remains.
The psychadelic movement was ill-fated, and it was well that it was. Escape from true engagement and true grappling with the problems that capitalism posed is sheer hedonism and leaves in place the heirarchies and institutions that perpetuate the very inequities you come back to after the drugs have been metabolised.
I would draw parallels with today's green movement and its obsession with purity. Drawing on ideas that the Nazis like Heidegger originally put forth like how only food, or energy, or industry that is "local" is somehow more pure, more innocent, more "better" in some ephemeral way.
And this shows up in many movements all deriving from that common background, like the whole locavore fad and "food miles". Somehow, choosing to buy food from a farmer that is closer is to wash away all the problems that we face in our food system today. Apparently this will ensure that subsistence farmers in Africa will have assured harvests and that the 30-40% of embodied energy that is wasted in the transport of food that spoils, is excusable as long as it is "local." The pursuit of "freshness" that demands highly regimented and vertically integrated cold chains and the fossil-fuel driven transport networks to get things from farm to table literally overnight is justifiable because "fresh" is "pure" and "healthy". In the end you are buying a _symbol_ of health and a _symbol_ of wealth: "fresh" foods take more energy and labour to produce and transport and are therefore more expensive than "processed" or preserved or canned foods which are more equitable and convenient. It is basically the middle class wanting to dissociate themselves from the food systems that sustain the lower class. Staples like beans and rice are "unhealthy" due to their carbohydrate content. Whereas fresh spinach that arrives overnight in the refrigerated truck is full of "vitamins" and is somehow more "healthful".
But where the green movement has been most co-opted is in energy and energy systems. Taking on the energy philosophy of Amory Lovins in full, the "green energy future" is one where distribution of wind farms and solar panels and biomass co-gen supersede the lumbering, centralised giants of the power grid today. The problem is that Amory Lovins is a petroleum industry consultant and he knows damn well that to drive wind turbines and solar panels to the ludicrously low capital costs of today, demands an immense investment in a globalised supply chain, and the marine diesel fuel to back that up. Silver from Spain, copper from Australia, coking coal from America, rare earths from Mongolia, polysilicon from Germany is brought together in China to produce solar panels in giant centralised factories where workers risk exposure to heavy metals and carcinogenic dust so that rich people in gated communities in California can pay "nothing" for their monthly power bill. Of course, the rich family doesn't pay with their health or their mineral resource wealth or the integrity of their environment - working people in other countries do.
The "purity" and "localism" of "green energy" is pure capitalism. Far from being distributed _production_ and a devolution of power to the local level, it is instead distributed _consumption_ of foreign labour, foreign minerals, employing precarious contract labour to install, and _requiring_ neoliberal market intervention and market creation to subsidise its entry into the electric grid.
Far from producing localisation and internalisation of environmental impacts, "green" capitalism has externalised all the costs of production and delivery of a _simulacra_ of green purity to far away places. Instead of questioning the policies and infrastructure that enabled "distributed" solar and wind to grow so quickly in "liberalised" (privatised) electric grids, variable renewables are used as a wedge issue to accelerate the marketisation and atomisation of power production. Democratic planning, participation and ownership of nationalised power generators is replaced with a simulacra. A solar panel that you "own" and power that you "produce" is "free" and "clean" and "pure". When in fact it is anything but.
The culture shift in the 60s that led to ALL MODERN CULTURE OUTSIDE CONSERVATISM was a result of CIA doing psy ops. Literally. The only thing the culture shift did that was good was occupy wall street.
Adam Curtis has some great insights into the failure of mid-C20th counterculture, finding that its resolute failure to shape the world to its whims caused it to become aloof and withdrawn, no longer concerned with changing the world in its entirety but instead carving out increasingly smaller and more esoteric countercultural fiefdoms that eventually collapsed into the Cult of the Self.
"simul-ay-cra!"
Well oo-la-la, Mister French Man.
Seriously though, wonderful video! The role of Mental Health now is more important than ever.
The words used during the video seems like the font from Supreme, the funny thing is that by using this methodology in the making of the video, a strange sensation emerges from within while watching a content fundamentally anti-corporation, or at least, a critique to the capitalism system, but what is bugging me right now is that I can't find the right word to describe this feeling, this emotion can be seen in a variety of things, it's applied to any situation when you use the weapon/tool of the 'enemy' against them, but I still can't describe the funny sense of irony of it all, a supreme example of it would be using the foe's sword to cut their throat with the purpose of making the road to revenge more meaningful/impactful, it has such a novelettish feeling to it, just like Dolores from Westworld using Caleb as a tool against humanity, quite ironic, quite poetic.
Yeah it's really ironic that Barbara Kruger who is known for her criticism on capitalism had her signature art style turned into one of the biggest symbols of modern capitalism.
Very neat. What we need to overcome is Right Wing Anarchy, a form of antiCapitalist Capitalist reform for politics that doesn't create tolerable diplomacy or negotiations between corporate parties. Right Wing Anarchy truly dismantles all economies and creates disorder. Conscious, ethical, Green Capitalism that provides equal opportunities for growth is the future of education and work. I am not a Capitalist, but the future is Green Capitalism through Democracy.
Growth is a problem though. Instead of pushing growth (usually for growth’s sake), we should be pushing comfort and joy. Community. Happiness. Infrastructure. Support.
@@AtheistEve Not all growth. If it is truly for equality, fair treatment of workers, and evolutionary Green economies, it really isn't that bad. Even Marx and Lenin were for this kind of growth.
@@alanhansmannkurtcobain8811 In simple terms, growth (in economic terms) is anti-environment. And anything anti-environment is anti-life. Green-washing capitalism is very similar to the way capitalism uses any counter-cultural or youth movements. We had it during the sixties/seventies with how the peace movement was hijacked by companies for the aesthetic. Same with the punk movement. It’s all just grist to the capitalist mill.
We know that capitalists don’t care about workers, families, communities. People are killed for demanding their native land rights, people’s environments are destroyed for cheap meat. Capitalists break up unions, take whole countries hostage, enslave workers. There’s no such thing as fairness, equality and environmental justice in capitalism. If it exists at all, it’s just window dressing.
@@AtheistEve I wouldn't stereotype anyone. Ultimately, Marx was an ethical Green Capitalist who began a Leftist Communist. He became Liberal. I think you need to give some breathing room to corporate ethics, equity, and fairness. By all means, I understand what you're saying, but don't be so quick to stereotype every Capitalist. True, the rich 1% are profiteers and not very good Capitalists. I totally agree that they are destroying our World for profits, but don't be so quick to assume every Capitalist is Evil. Sure, there's alot of Evil in it, but again, Democracy is ethical Capitalist reform and not so bad. Neither is Bernie Sanders. I'm definitely for him and not a Capitalist or profiteer. I have donated over 33 million in Nirvana and other associated royalties to human, Earth, animal rights and liberation organizations and movements, but this is not about me. It's about rising out of ideological prejudices.
"Ultimately, it's better to be a small fish in a sea of change, than a shark in a sea of apathy."
For the mental health element I think R.D Laing was very progressive in spotting the societal role in causing so called sickness, reading Politics of Experience in combination with Fisher can be enlightening I think
Love the barbara kruger inspired visuals!
As necessary as it is, there is one huge problem in aligning "green critique" with leftism / capitalism. The right are critiquing green ideas as being just a cover for leftist policy. It´s important to stress that climate change us a problem that concern us all, and find solutions for it that somehow accomodate people on all sides of the political spectrum.
As said in the video. Capitalism by its fundamental nature cannot be sustainable, because it must keep growing constantly and at an exponential rate. The only solution to ecological problems are leftist ones.
Green critique is not a smokescreen for leftist policy, it IS leftist policy. "Green capitalism" being what it is, the only small but authentic flash of green to the right is ecofascism, which (spoiler alert) could never work, is wildly unappealing to even the most gullible dunce, and would kill everybody and everything.
Leftism is also for all of us
You've got good taste in films and music, just sayin'. And great video as well! I'll be sure to check out some of these books
Im not very bright but i heard the narrator mention “break down to the present moment”. Does this concept have two faces?
When did Barbera Kruger's work move into the public domain? Talk of aesthetic style, appropriation and the notion of hauntology does not make her creation the only available form of graphic communication and in this instance renders it pastiche.
I had a cloud computing instructor named Mark Fischer and that's why I clicked on this video.
Really cool video. Thanks. Question though: what's the significance of the shots from Arctic Monkeys' "Four Stars Out Of Five" video?
"Capitalism --- it is the only social system that has brought prosperity to the world, and of prosperity pre-18th century
nobody could have dreamed of, the way that we live now in the 21st century, it wasn't even possible in people's imaginations
The enormous amount of progress, of freedom, or wealth has been brought by this one system. ... We know what the road to
prosperity is and people can go down that road by themselves if you give them the right ideas. They don't need perpetual aid
and help (socialism // welfare). They can build a life for themselves but they need the right ideas and the right social system
and the USA has demonstrated what that system is." ---- Onkar Ghate.
Thanks for the book recap
" Capitalism has reduced us to exploitable items " Vandana Shiva
Ah, why can’t I remember what movie this is from at 13:34? It’s so familiar, I’ve definitely seen it. Pls halp 😅
Edit: was it Brazil? I loved that movie when I saw it ages ago, but my memory is beyond terrible
yes
I believe that shot is from the DIRECTOR’s CUT of Brazil. It’s the “real” ending, which was cut from the theatrical release.
And here I thought the phrase meant taking capitalism serious as a worker and demanding respect in your workplace.
Capitalism learned to 'capture externality'?? Externalities need to be ACCOUNTED FOR. We have not yet created policy that requires industries to pay fees proportional to how much they deplete resources, emit pollution or destroy wildlife habitat. IF we charge appropriate fees, profitability will align with sustainable practices. (An appropriate fee is one that is high enough to motivate efforts to REDUCE harmful impacts...to the point that random surveys show that most people think impacts are acceptable.) If we share proceeds from fees equally, no one will live in abject poverty. What problem is there w/ capitalism that would not be reduced or eliminated by making prices more honest and sharing (a monetary representation of) natural wealth?
What’s with the death grips name drop at the end? That came outta nowhere lol
And then suddenly… death grips ❤
O documentário sobre Adriana, lançado em 2023, é lindo. Recomendo!
In a way you’ve taken your own personal existential crisis and turned it into a universal catalyst. 🙏🏼
Who's that lady at 9:50?
Could someone tell me what the footage on minute 10:00 is? Its amazing.
BRB gotta free my desire through becoming.
The choice to use SUPREME style on all your text has me ⚰️⚰️
That's not ''supreme style''.You need some kind of a a background for titels and subtitles to work on both white and black background and that color works on both.
@@Somnivers nah I'm pretty sure it was a conscious choice to use the absurd marketing and pricing of the Supreme brand as a symptom of late stage capitalism but I COULD be wrong
@@coldblaze100 It could be intentional ,but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the absurd Supreme marketing.They are one of the brands that didn't really need much marketing efforts.The fact that celebrities think it's some celeb brand and they advertise it ?Supreme pretty much was very anarchistic in their methods and views compared to all the streetwear brands at that time.
@@Somnivers yeah ik that but Supreme exemplifies the notion that capitalism commodifies every aspect of human existence, even the idea of commodification itself, if given enough time and freedom
@@coldblaze100 good point
its not just the system, but the technology that the system takes form of, i.e. the medium. _the medium is the message_
I don't understand how you can say that Kurt Cobain was entitely precorporsted by capitalism and then say that Death Grips is truly challenging the system. Does capital precorporate anticapitalist art or not?
Nice death grips shoutout at the end!
Friend, amazing video! Just wondering where does Lacan define the Real as "what insists but does not exist"? This would be super helpful for my research :)
Thank you so much, Eddy! And I don't think Lacan does that, actually; Lilian Munk Rösing, a Danish theoretical psychoanalyst, writes that the unconscious insists, but doesn't exist, and I think that might be Fisher's reference. She writes about it in terms of ethics and she herself references Lacan's seminar VII, "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis".
Absolutely phenomenal video, content-wise and in terms of editing, samples. Love the little Windows96 sample stuck in at 7:17!
"No I ain't shit and I like that
You want a statement, I'm like, "Why's that?"
Your parasite's showing, that's not my bad
Your bad's pathetic, your bad's your price tag
Your bad's embedded in your lives, a white flag
A sterilized white flag, born, bred, and buried in it
Wears you like a cherry finish, keeps you valuable and shiny
You're a shiny clown to me and the Powers That B"
Love the Death Grips shoutout at the end, no group that I know of captures this seemingly never ending modern downfall as much as Death Grips does.
Windows 96 for the soundtrack + Capitalist Realism = big mood much love
Where is the quote from 7:30 from?