tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30053212011-04-22T02:57:20.632Z<b>notes and links from </b> <a href="mailto:bat020@NOSPAMPLEASEgmail.com">bat020</a>bat020noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-38562770396374120092007-05-21T19:12:00.000Z2007-05-21T19:29:54.680Z

The negative wears the trousers 'Real' is what we may call a trouser-word. It is usually thought, and I daresay usually rightly thought, that what one might call the affirmative use of a term is basic - that, to understand 'X', we need to know what it is to be X, or to be an X, and that knowing this apprises us of what it is not to be X, not to be an X. But with 'real', it is the negative use

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1130423197104210352005-10-27T14:23:00.000Z2005-10-27T14:30:06.183Z

Ideology today Three studies in consumer desire A peculiar microtrend in consumer advertising has recently caught my attention: a penchant for unexpected dialectical reversals in the normal ideological discourse of consumerism. Whether this constitutes a symptom of something significant underlying — perhaps mass advertising reaching a certain saturation point, or more prosaically, an impending

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1124293785336661432005-08-17T15:48:00.000Z2005-10-27T14:27:50.183Z

The politics of What If? Zizek on counterfactuals Exhibit A: witless reactionaries desperately trying to justify the summary execution of an innocent man in London last month by armed plain clothes police officers. Their strategy? Constant hysterical invocation of an absurd counterfactual scenario: "What if he actually had been a suicide bomber?" Exhibit B: witless warmongers desperately trying

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1102263606694698352004-12-05T16:19:00.000Z2004-12-05T16:59:30.240Z

Trouble at the Telegraph Galloway's libel victory I've been following the George Galloway libel story with a personal as well as a political interest – I was working for the Telegraph at the time of the smear – so I was doubly satisfied to see my former senior management come a cropper in the High Court last week. The atmosphere in the Telegraph office back in April last year was bitter,

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1101945819087403942004-12-01T23:45:00.000Z2004-12-05T17:03:09.440Z

Leninism today Ascherson on Deutscher on Trotsky Neal Ascherson works as a political journalist for the Observer, but he is also a seasoned political operator in his own right, being active on the right wing of the Scottish Labour Party in the 1970s and running for office as a Liberal Democrat today. I can't say I've ever been particularly taken by Ascherson's work or his brand of

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1100986840203154502004-11-20T21:40:00.000Z2004-11-22T16:14:35.386Z

• A Poppy by Peter Howard (requires Flash)

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1100493713420294492004-11-15T04:40:00.000Z2004-11-15T05:10:42.843Z

Guantanomo Bay Back and causing difficulties Tony Blair was interviewed by Sky TV over the weekend on his return from talks with George Bush. Adam Boulton, Sky's political editor, asked him if any progress had been made on releasing the four Britons still detained in Guantanamo Bay. Here is Blair's reply: "It's difficult, because we have to make sure our own security is going to be

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1100180556833069092004-11-11T13:32:00.000Z2004-11-11T14:00:44.660Z

• A few snippets worth reading – Over at CounterPunch, Stan Goff has a pleasantly rambling account of an encounter with a neocon bigwig, while Ghada Karmi reflects on life after Arafat. James at DML has dug out an interesting polemic on the "twilight of the liberal hawks" (it's by a libertarian, but don't let that put you off too much). And finally a blast from the past – Yasser Arafat makes his

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1100022281091937402004-11-09T17:37:00.000Z2004-11-11T14:01:18.100Z

Assault on Fallujah Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition Further to the comments on secularism below, and for anyone interested in the mindset of some of the American troops currently "liberating" Fallujah, a little noticed report from Agence France Presse makes pretty hair-raising reading: Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle With US forces massing outside

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1099679189863076152004-11-06T01:00:00.000Z2004-11-10T15:17:32.420Z

US elections Zizek on Bush Slavoj Zizek's response to George W Bush's re-election – The Liberal Waterloo – has been published by In These Times, the Chicago-based radical magazine. It's a typically spiky piece centred on the following thesis: Hegel wrote apropos Napoleon that he had to lose two times: Only after Waterloo did it become clear to him that his defeat was not a military

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1099569227240302642004-11-04T11:38:00.000Z2004-11-11T17:14:52.996Z

• Coupla recommendations – CounterPunch has a characteristically feisty response to the US presidential elections, while over at ZNet, Michael Albert dissects the corpse and makes some sensible suggestions – plus there's a forensic analysis of controversies at the recent London ESF that's well worth reading.

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1097431639181178602004-10-10T18:01:00.000Z2004-11-10T15:18:40.960Z

In memoriam Jacques Derrida, 1930–2004 Paging through the teletext news this morning (an eminently written medium), I learned that Jacques Derrida had finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Like the death last year of Edward Said, I'd been expecting this news for a while now, wondering what an appropriate obituary might say, how one could possibly recapitulate his oblique, voluptuous

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1097189199861691972004-10-07T22:33:00.000Z2004-11-10T15:20:08.726Z

Tough liberalism Naomi on Moqtada Good piece by Naomi Klein on Moqtada al-Sadr in today's Guardian. It's written from a liberal point of view, of course, but it's sharp, considered and alive to political complexities. Makes a refreshing contrast to the moralistic baying that characterises so much of liberal "thought" these days. And it's worth reading just for the dressing down she gives to

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1097063849033949552004-10-06T11:49:00.000Z2004-11-11T17:09:32.313Z

Short shrift 'Outside the parameters of decent comment' That's the verdict of Alan Duncan, the diminutive Tory international development spokesman, on his erstwhile sparring partner Clare Short. And the reason for Short's abrupt ejection from the hallowed circles Decent Commentry? Why she's only gone and drawn a comparison between Iraqi insurgents and the French resistance. This,

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1097060717550640402004-10-06T11:02:00.000Z2004-11-11T17:17:19.180Z

Suspicious minds Wittgenstein on Shakespeare Hmph. High time I restarted this damn thing, I suppose. This popped up in my inbox, thought it was interesting, though I'm not quite sure why: It is remarkable how hard we find it to believe something that we do not see the truth of for ourselves. When, for instance, I hear the expression of admiration for Shakespeare by distinguished men in

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1083191732058258412004-04-28T22:35:00.000Z2004-11-11T17:18:17.273Z

• One of Zizek's favourite tracks is his "substances deprived of their malignant property: coffee without caffeine, cream without fat, beer without alcohol" routine. One could add: investment without exploitation, as exemplified by so-called "ethical funds" targeted at the liberal bourgeoisie that scrupulously avoid investing in arms, tobacco, porn and other Bad Stuff. Of course, the problem

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1082658958679419512004-04-22T18:35:00.000Z2004-11-11T17:18:43.516Z

• Update on Axel Springer – porn baron Richard Desmond hurled abuse at Telegraph bosses today and "goosestepped around a boardroom in mockery of the German group's bid for the paper", according to Media Guardian.

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1082596832429391772004-04-22T01:20:00.000Z2004-04-22T01:24:32.700Z

• Ever heard of Axel Springer? Well apparently they're Germany's biggest newspaper publishing group and they're leading the field in the auction to snap up the Telegraph. They're pro-EU and pro-Israel... which could lead to some interesting ideological contortions.

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1082588585501571462004-04-21T23:03:00.000Z2004-04-22T01:17:26.686Z

• Some good news for a change: that nasty little racist toad Norris McWhirter has finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Predictably, the obituaries all either play down or omit all mention of his support for apartheid. And it seems his twin brother, shot dead by the IRA in 1975, is now a martyr to anti-terrorism, rather than a rabid Nazi toerag who deserved everything he got. And while we're

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1081980314813112962004-04-14T22:05:00.000Z2004-04-21T23:07:23.500Z

• The Telegraph splashes on grave news of a celebrity marriage on the rocks... no, not Posh'n'Becks, but Bush'n'Blair. According to Michael Rubin, formerly of the Coalition Provisional Authority, there are fundamental divisions between British and American officials over how to run Iraq. Translating out of Rubin's doublespeak, it seems the split runs down the faultline between old-fashioned

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1081968430319652842004-04-14T18:47:00.000Z2004-04-14T19:26:18.983Z

• Nice piece by Hywel Williams in today's Guardian trashing the ludicrously over-rated Isiah Berlin and his brand of ditsy liberalism.

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1081896986843951022004-04-13T22:48:00.000Z2004-04-22T18:49:50.123Z

• Here's an interview with Bruce Fink, one of the better Lacanians, on the intricacies of translating JL. Nice article, shame they've decided to publish it in 7pt text (what is it with Lacanians and headache-inducing design? – see lacan.com for more). It's reassuring to discover that Fink knew bugger all in the way of French before getting into Lacan – from his account it sounds like his early

bat020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005321.post-1081896453872969772004-04-13T22:46:00.000Z2004-04-13T23:21:24.420Z

• Hmph. High time I restarted this damn thing, I suppose.

bat020noreply@blogger.com