#117: 'The Memeing of Mark Fisher' and Creative Resistance (ft. Mike Watson)

It's Not Just In Your Head

Ikoi and Liam chat with author Mike Watson about the late great Mark Fisher, the addictive pace of the internet, slow meme movements and the need for reflection, spirituality, mortality, Qanon and Pizzagate, a fair society vs archetypal heroic stories, leftist well-being, selling dirty bath water, being a digital flaneur, the dialectical image, acid communism, helping other people for the sake of it and much much more!

"Watson is fast becoming one of the most impressive left analysts of our strange digital era; helping to fill the void left by Mark Fisher's tragic passing. In his new book-part tribute to Fisher, part cultural analysis, part reflections on the Frankfurt school-Watson shows the enduring power of a dialectical approach to capitalist realism and exposes the many ways post-modern neoliberal culture has successfully neutered liberating aesthetics. In the powerful final chapter, Watson rethinks the potential of Frankfurt school critical theory to provide answers, and sketches an inspiring vision of what the acid-left can be. We may not have all the answers, but all of us should be very grateful Watson is on hand to help us ask the right kinds of questions. --Matt McManus, Professor of Politics at Whitman College"

References:

The Memeing of Mark Fisher: How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What to do About it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58455150-the-memeing-of-mark-fisher?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=lOOZj2mqna&rank=1

Can the Left Learn to Meme?: Adorno, Video Gaming, and Stranger Things: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43731703-can-the-left-learn-to-meme?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=lOOZj2mqna&rank=3

Art Militancy: A Manifesto: https://www.sublationmag.com/post/art-militancy-a-manifesto

Mark Fisher | Acid Communism (Unfinished Introduction): https://my-blackout.com/2019/04/25/mark-fisher-acid-communism-unfinished-introduction/

Alpha City: How London Was Captured by the Super-Rich by Rowland Atkinson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53986093-alpha-city

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WBAI Interpersonal Update (Wednesdays): https://wbai.org/program.php?program=431

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