Return to Saussure

AI generated image     “Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves… The logical outcome of Fascism is an aestheticizing of political life. Communism responds by politicizing art .”  Walter Benjamin Introduction In the closing lines of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935), Walter Benjamin delivers his most cited political opposition: “The logical outcome of Fascism is an aestheticizing of political life. Communism responds by politicizing art” (Benjamin, 1969, p. 242). For Benjamin, fascism’s strategy was to mesmerize the masses through spectacle while preserving existing property relations; communism’s alternative was to redirect artistic production toward political struggle. Brilliant as this opposition appeared in its own day, hinds...

Nostalgic? AI art Introduction: Provocation or Gaslighting? In a widely circulated video clip in YouTube titled “Why People Were ‘Happier’ Under Communism,” Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek delivers a provocative thesis: that people in communist regimes experienced a peculiar form of psychological stability, even happiness, precisely because their lives were constrained. The following is a summary of selected moments from the video: “ The notion of happiness itself is very ambiguous and has deep implications. There was a brief period of political openness in Prague in 1968. Then, the Soviet tanks came and crushed the reforms. But here's the paradox: people often claim they were happier during that period. Because their material needs were modestly met. Maybe once a month you'd go to the supermarket and buy coffee. It wasn’t much, but there was a certain comfort in the limitations. You weren’t constantly bombarded with choices and pressure to succeed...