A Brooklyn Culture Mafia

[Leo]

that being said, the ISIS branding is pretty cool looking.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

that being said, the ISIS branding is pretty cool looking.

insert standard "Nazis, great aesthetics, Hugo Boss, etc" comment

presumably ISIS has/had a significant branding, marketing, PR, etc element, especially at its mid-2010s peak

 

[version]

I'd love to see some marketing guy's pitch to ISIS.

 

[IdleRich]

that's never been true

Che Guevara t-shirts and posters on dorm room walls

when I was working in Chiapas in the early 00s EZLN - and specifically Marcos - merch was everywhere, inescapable

Che and especially Marcos are a far cry from ISIS but the principle is the same

not thing is off limits to capitalism. the only limit is your ability to market it to a given consumer demographic.

that is the impersonal genius part of consumerism - the potential to turn literally anything into a marketable commodity.

Just re-brand as freedom fighters and off you go....

 

[catalog]

I'd love to see some marketing guy's pitch to ISIS.

sketch show where they go in to pitch with their moodboards would be great. "and we thought of these backdrops for the beheadings..."

 

[sus]

I feel bad for the goddess, she's really dropped off the Google search results since the Islamic State got big. That'll really tank her sales figures.

 

[sus]

 

[constant escape]

@suspendedreason you hear the red scare episode with Zizek? I'm halfway through it right now. Predictably he verbally tramples over both of them.

edit: recent episode

 

[constant escape]

Maybe Zizek could be considered a forerunner to the alt-left, at least the alt-left I have in mind - still largely undefined, largely in reaction to neoliberalism.

 

[linebaugh]

have you heard the term 'dirt bag left' ?

 

[constant escape]

Yeah I've heard it applied to red scare. Think I brought it up a couple months ago, in some conversation about new developments/splinterings in the left.

 

[constant escape]

I think of dirtbag left as an alt-left in its infantile (or perhaps adolescent) stages. Seemingly largely informed by urges to seem cool, to tell off the institutional left, perhaps even aggravate the institutional left by flirting with right wing ideas.

 

[constant escape]

It (the dirtbag left) would be an early stage in the formation of a progressive heterodox left that is situated, by virtue of its heterogeneity, outside of the institutional (and therefore orthodox) left.

 

[linebaugh]

I think of dirtbag left as an alt-left in its infantile (or perhaps adolescent) stages. Seemingly largely informed by urges to seem cool, to tell off the institutional left, perhaps even aggravate the institutional left by flirting with right wing ideas.

so is it in your eyes an emerging faction or something thats always been there on the margins? Im finishing up culture of narcissism, 1979, and that would describe whats written in there.

 

[constant escape]

Not sure really. I'd imagine there have almost always been fringe groups of this or that ideological variation, but dirtbag left does seem to be somewhat recent. Or perhaps the flocking of some leftist academics to such a place, that could be new. Justin Murphy comes to mind, think he was the one I first heard use the term. He also used heterodox left to describe himself, which is a term I often use as well.

I think there is just an awkward transition involved in realizing that capitalism can be liberal, not to be too reductive.

One way an alt-left can serve the greater political landscape is by functioning as a liaison between the institutional left and the alt-right.

 

[constant escape]

By awkward, and again to perhaps be too reductive, I mean you either:

recognize that capitalism is compatible with certain progressive values, and thus support capitalism to a degree...

or

recognize that capitalism is compatible with certain progressive values, and thus develop a skepticism of those values.

 

[constant escape]

I worded that poorly, but hopefully the point shines through.

 

[sus]

Great reminder to listen to that 'cast. I saw mention of it and made a note to and then forgot. I am bigtime lookin forward.

 

[constant escape]

Yeah my dad actually brought it to my attention. I was taken aback.

 

[linebaugh]

I think whats called the dirtbag left does alot of what your describing but your probably right to say that theres no bridge made between that and the 'alt right' despite some overlap in ideas.

Is Joe Rogan saying it's either bernie or trump the greatest cultural accomplishment of the alt left to date?