Crit Studies

"According to Brian Rotman in his 1987 book Signifying Nothing: The Semiotics of Zero, three parallel developments in Western Culture changed our relation to reality beginning in the 13th century: the use of zero as the "sign of nothing," the emergence of paper or virtual money, and the use of the vanishing point in representation. All three developments allowed us to conceptualize the relativity and artificiality of the world we create for ourselves. They disentangled the reality of human creation - tied as it remains to both our mortality and our rational pursuit of a controllable realm of experience - from the infinite, the unknowable, and the unreal. God and man became separate in a productive manner."

How would I relate this to today - right now, this moment? I'd talk about the hurricane and the different "interpretations" of what occurred. All, except the fanatics, will agree that the hurricane itself was outside of the "controllable realm" of human experience.

Some assert the chaos and anarchy, the aftermath of the hurricane, was not part of the uncontrollable, but rather a mismanaged reality, something we humans could have, given the proper preparation, done something substantial about. Some go farther, implying within this line of reasoning that the reason or at least a factor in the insufficient response has to do with the victims being poor and/or black.

Others see the chaos and aftermath differently, as part in parcel of the "uncontrollable realm" of experience, that shit happens and it is obvious that the poor that will suffer most because they have the least amount of resources and know-how to respond. The fact that the victims are mostly black reflects the reality of the demographics in the south.

And then there all the different gradations in between...some local ineptitude plus some federal ineptitude, and is it "to be expected, human fallacy" ineptitude? Or "cognizant, lazy, and negligent" ineptitude? Or worst, racist, malicious, purposeful "ineptitude?"

The final factor and topic of an entirely different story, I imagine, is the media representation of the hurricane and what ideology is embedded. I must admit that I have not watched much coverage, but it is clear the media is driven by profit and with the high production costs of celebrity journalists and world wide distribution and money for access, one thing is clear - they need viewers. What is the first thing we learn that you need to capture the audience: Conflict. And there is no conflict in the idea that all of this was uncontrollable....

But don't forget the REACTION as well...which will hide as arguing for the "uncontrollable," but is another form of conflict. *one might argue that this post is reaction and probably be right.

On a somewhat related note, I would like to watch Grizzly Man because I think Herzog deals with the idea of man and nature and their relationship. The main character in Grizzly Man goes up to Alaska to live with bears and prove that nature is indeed harmonious and sweet, if only we weren't so pesky and aggressive, all the nice little animals could live together happily...Herzog disagrees, he thinks nature is murderous, chaotic, and cruel. And he shows in Grizzly Man what he thinks happens to the naive, the childish, the fools who don't agree. They get eaten.