Absences and Inhumanity: Six Works of Abstract Horror

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Veech

Of course, as an academic, he probably feels compelled to distinguish himself in order to stay relevant. It's certainly disingenuous, but it's how the game is played.

Convincing people you're a turbo-bigot probably isn't a smart move for an academic.

[Coa]

Nick Land: the Alt-writer | Prospect Magazine


I'm not particularly interested in all this stuff about Land and alt-right thing, but certain points made in this text exemplifies myopic and bigoted thinking of, yours-typical, Ivory Tower (anglo) liberal.

Nietzsche is apparently 'Tolkien crap' and Burroughs 'immature (genius)'. That's the problem for me, this kind of clear-cut denomination - 'keeping hands clean'.

Nietzsche is certainly not typical philosopher by any means; nor is Burroughs typical writer. Nietzsche is a prime example of, said disparagingly, 'Continental Philosophy' (nobody on the continent knows what the #### that is), while Burroughs is drug-propelled hack who is only acceptable because he belonged to, essentially left oriented, Beat movement. And he was homosexual. We acknowledge them, wash our hands very good and run away. Going deeper in it or taking any of their work seriously is big no-no. And so, of course, thinkers, philosophers, writers like that are left to retards, so they come and do their thing, as they always do. And they are very serious.

People who consider themselves Left can't afford to act like that, Left should always be one ready to embrace, to be inclusive, to go deeper in it, if necessary to subvert to their cause - worst thing for the Left would be this kind of distancing, labeling and moralizing-away from it. What I want to say is that, take for example, Marquis de Sade in France. Who wrote about him? Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Le Brun... Left. They accepted him, analyzed him, politicized him, subverted him, basically transformed him into progressive, feminist, liberal humanist. You do it like that, you don't hold your dumb reserves and prejudice of what is acceptable or which is the right way to fight for liberal causes.
Can we have Nietzsche with revitalization of values but without rest of it? or hippe-WSB, without all that Mugwump crap? Being bigoted, snarky puritan, should not be the way of Left intellectuals.

[Mr. Veech]

@ Coa

One of the reasons I avoided graduate school in philosophy after attaining my BA was because of some of the intellectual dishonesty I discovered on the part of Continental philosophers. Nietzsche, for example, was appropriated within a post-Marxist context which was completely hostile to the spirit of what he wrote, a fact which is apparent to anyone who bothered to actually read his work. The fact is that the events of the Cold War disillusioned many post-Marxist theorists (e.g., Foucault, Deleuze). Nietzsche was effectively used as a placeholder.

I always loved Kaufmann's scholarly work on Nietzsche, though. But it was too intellectually honest to become fashionable.

[Druidic]

Unless it's a piece of crude political propaganda, it's a mistake to judge art by politics.

Would "The Colour out of Space" have been a different story if Lovecraft were a liberal? I doubt it. The mature artist, even if a fantasist, works with the world we all know; it's not political fantasies that direct him.

[Druidic]

Perhaps not, James lol. If a well known Liberal had written Red Hook it might well have been hailed as a brilliant portrait of right wing paranoia. Don't forget Lovecraft wrote "Eryx" which reads like the work of a bleeding heart Liberal.

My point remains the same. It's the work that counts, not the artist's politics.

[Hidden X]

Quote Originally Posted by Coa

People who consider themselves Left can't afford to act like that, Left should always be one ready to embrace, to be inclusive, to go deeper in it, if necessary to subvert to their cause - worst thing for the Left would be this kind of distancing, labeling and moralizing-away from it. What I want to say is that, take for example, Marquis de Sade in France. Who wrote about him? Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Le Brun... Left. They accepted him, analyzed him, politicized him, subverted him, basically transformed him into progressive, feminist, liberal humanist. You do it like that, you don't hold your dumb reserves and prejudice of what is acceptable or which is the right way to fight for liberal causes. Can we have Nietzsche with revitalization of values but without rest of it? or hippe-WSB, without all that Mugwump crap? Being bigoted, snarky puritan, should not be the way of Left intellectuals.

You should note that de Sade was "subverted" AFTER his death.

Far cry from trying to do the same for someone like Land who is very much alive and kicking and is opposed to any such interpretations of his theories, not to mention his definite, active political/ideological involvements. I have a hard time seeing how you can do liberal "subversion" of living philosopher who is actively, vocally working against everything that western liberalism stands for. Might as well try to do the same with Roger Scruton and the like, while we're at it...

[luxfugio]

I have enjoyed conservative works of art; I have read every novel by William Peter Blatty, who at the end particularly was a Right-winger. And Kingsley Amis, that crusty British drunk who managed to inject his every perversion into even his finest work, as in my favorite, "The Green Man".


If only there were actually an Alt Left.

Then we could break into the banks, arrest the bankers, drag Donald Trump out of the White House and slap him till his face was crimson. If only.

The sense of communitarian justice on the part of the Left has sung its death rattle. Most liberals--I won't say Leftists, because they tend to be a more hands on bunch, or were--would rather twiddle their hands at home than risk themselves in something like a revolution.

Right wingers are dumpy and thirsty for violence, and only need and create pretense for who and where.

I have enjoyed conservative works of art; I have read every novel by William Peter Blatty, who at the end particularly was a right winger. And Kingsley Amis, that crusty British drunk who managed to inject his every perversion into even his finest work, as in my favorite, "The Green Man".

I can't believe Thomas Ligotti's site is like this, attracting quasi fascists like it does and has continued to for a few years now.

It'd be hard to slap the orange out of him.

It isn't just a problem with the left. The right and their elected buffoon president have been crying themselves to sleep over sports players kneeling. People are becoming ridiculously sensitive to other views being expressed.

[Hidden X]

Quote Originally Posted by luxfugio

If only there were actually an Alt Left. Then we could break into the banks, arrest the bankers, drag Donald Trump out of the White House and slap him till his face was crimson. If only.

Sadly, this is the only way to change anything nowadays, and only way to really deal with modern conservatives... and yet, it is less likely than ever, for all the posturing to the contrary.

[Evans]

Quote Originally Posted by James

It isn't just a problem with the left. The right and their elected buffoon president have been crying themselves to sleep over sports players kneeling. People are becoming ridiculously sensitive to other views being expressed.

I disagree. For a long time it has been an unspoken assumption in American culture that the more offensive a view or statement is the more virtuous one is in expressing it, because = 'Freedom of Speech'. When Milo Yiannopoulos praises the US for 'having a tradition of freedom of speech Europe has never had' he is not referring to actual censorship laws - as far as I know laws in the UK are very similar to the US - but to that attitude.

Quote Originally Posted by luxfugio

I can't believe Thomas Ligotti's site is like this, attracting quasi fascists like it does and has continued to for a few years now.

Where are these quasi-fascists? Like five years back some people here may have been fans of Land's work when it was part of the whole Speculative Realist vogue but I really doubt any of them were fascists. Save for a certain troll with multiple animal themed accounts we've never had anything approaching fascism.

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X

Might as well try to do the same with Roger Scruton and the like, while we're at it...

You would just end up with something like Adorno and Horkheimer's Kulturindustrie with a little more of a focus on architecture.