[FRA:] Marcuse question

[matthew piscioneri]

Fred,

Thanks for the explication. Respectfully, what do you respect the neo-con 
administration to do? Power always seeks to consolidate. We'd be shocked and 
cynical if this wasn't the case. More and more commentators are making 
public -- exposing -- the fairly mundane (yet surprisingly still effective) 
fear-of-the-other strategy of Blair, Bush and Howard et al.

Exposition is probably as much as we can do, other than laughing at 
it...i.e. not being drawn into the dialectic of knee jerk critique...the 
aestheticized indication of how passe it is to beat the electorate into 
submission via fear and anxiety.

I think the earnest, masochistic critical bloc helps to sustain fear by 
forgetting to laugh. IMO, it's more about deflating the balloon of hysteria. 
it's a shame the Other side don't assist the deflation...Why not? 
Wallerstein explains it quite neatly. It's as much in the power interests of 
the Other to have a satanic West to rail against. Probably time we either 
all tried really hard to grow up a little, or remember to laugh at the more 
absurd aspects of the human condition.

best regards,

Mattp