MDMD2: Magnetical Stupors

[John Lundy]

Paul

What's that line at the opening of GR "It's all theatre..."

At its worst, this phenomenon turns everything into cheap vaudeville.  It's 
not so bad when we are talking about chess, but when it is the cruelty of 
war.  I've privately made some observations about the coverage of recent 
events that I don't really want to air here, given that the List debates 
have been far too heated for my liking anyway.

But I agree with you entirely.  I'll never forget the interview with the US 
pilot interviewed during the Gulf War gloating after dropping his bombs and 
saying "it was great to see Baghdad lit up like a Christmas tree, just 
beautiful".  The idea that there were real people and not fucking 
decorations on that tree never seemed to occur to him.  The images, as you 
point out so well, were complicit in this sickening sleight of hand.

John

On Tuesday, 25 September 2001 06:27, Paul Nightingale 
[SMTP:paulngale at supanet.com] wrote:
> I seem to remember each of the aforementioned chess players (and their
> minders) were quite paranoid; that is to say, paranoia was part of the 
game.
> They argued about the chairs they sat in, the size/design of the pieces -
> this was more Fischer than Spassky, I think. It was extraordinary as a 
piece
> of theatre; I suspect we were still getting used to the idea that sport 
and
> politics (in the TV age) were inextricably linked. 1972 was the year when
> Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics; we watched the
> aftermath on live television. Perhaps these connections have to be made 
more
> explicitly at such times of social change, which is really the point 
here.
> From the 1970s - if not before - television was going to shape the way we
> experienced politics; the most obscene example is still, probably, the 
live
> (primetime) coverage of the Gulf War. Referring to its TV-isation, Jean
> Baudrillard said it never happened. In the C18th the novel as a narrative
> form played a similar role. I'm thinking in particular of the picaresque
> novels that attempted to make connections between a range of different
> social strata: M&D as a whole is reminiscent, and certainly Ch3 in
> particular.