Collapsing the Walls of Reality

Via Key23:

Viewing language as a binding agent of reality, it only takes one further step to realize that the language one possesses forms a border of reality. In a culture that communicates primarily thru written words, alphanumerical symbols comprise a frontier of the imaginable. What one does not possess words for, one cannot intelligently articulate in the local symbol system. Concepts exist, but beyond an accessible border. The Burroughsian concept of language as virus seems particularly illustrative in this regard. The rapid self-replication of such recently created language memes such as ‘war on terror’, ‘9/11’, ‘abortion isn’t birth control’, ‘intelligent design’ and (perhaps most dangerous) ‘reality’ as a misnomer for the consensus reality offered to middle America by mass media stand as striking evidence of the malleability of one’s personal reality thru language. On September 10, 2001 the term ‘war on terror’ would make about as much sense as ‘war on anger.’ Yet a mere four years after the attack on the WTC and Pentagon nearly everyone in the western world has a grasp of what ‘war on terror’ means. Indeed, some pundits even suggested that this linguistic construction helped the Texas Taliban coast thru to their second term of office by consciously avoiding use of the word ‘Iraq.’

Politics, however, seems only to codify things already thoroughly sold to the masses in the ideasphere of Yesod. While I count myself in the camp of those who do not consider America a democratic republic anymore of even the most rank variety, the people still need reassurance. All but the most naked and brutal domestic police states have ruled effectively without at least the tacit apathetic consent of their people. Analysts and critics have written endlessly about the effect of the mass media on shaping popular opinion as relates to politics. I suggest that the explorations have not gone far enough. Dr. Terrence McKenna explores the idea of television as a drug in his classic social history of chemical induced brain change Food of the Gods. He also posits the view that language doesn’t operate as a reflection of reality but rather that (as far as such Aristotelian maxims work) language is reality. Pairing these ideas one sees a grimmer picture of television media than posited by post-Chomskyan media theory. Television operates as a drug that sedates the body and dulls the senses while simultaneously feeding memetic poison into the human brain. Perhaps most terrifying, all this information gets fed into the human brain under the guise of ‘reality.’

‘Reality’ television seems to have accelerated the project beyond the wildest dreams of even the wiliest television executive. Americans describe the heavily stylized events of a reality television series as if they actually represent the reality recorded by the camera and the reality of the lives of the ‘stars.’ They see in reality television a way to relate to the montage of images and sound presented before them. Particularly for the younger generation this inundation of images hooks deep into the psyche. Increasingly people see themselves as stars of their own little reality series, formerly known as ‘life’ with their own internal monologue (or personal desocialization device- iPod, Discman, &c.) supplying soundtrack, their recollections providing a seamless edit of reality into discrete bundles of time- episodes, seasons and so on.

The omnipresence of surveillance does little to downplay the idea of ‘every man and woman a (television) star.’ The phenomenological process of television- the recording of framed events onto magnetic tape, available for further playback and editing- has all but blanketed the urban centers of the United Kingdom and under the auspices of Department of Homeland Security grants now creeps out of gas stations and banks and onto highways in America. What role does reality television play in increasing the acceptability of such phenomenon? Clearly, a feedback dialectic exists on this front. Westerners enjoy the sensations resulting from acting as a subject of voyeurism. Simultaneously, the observation of the dreary events that bleed together to form their little lives provides a sense of reassurance- yr important enough to watch. Cameras pop up more numerous than rose gardens in the mallscape becoming like the classic water to a fish. Still, it seems impossible to accept that the saturation of public space with surveillance has little effect on public behavior. Besides the most obvious feeling generated- paranoia- the reality show effect kicks into hyperdrive. Many have rightly observed that when looking down the barrel of a camera, ‘real’ seems about the least appropriate word to describe human behavior (leaving aside questions of just what ‘real’ ‘is’ for now).