There are a plethora of assumptions which gird up the
Regular World, both of the media and of institutions, and which are designed to
express hegemonic power over all other worlds, including the slow, Solid World
of human progress. These assumptions include— the idea, emanating from the
media and from corporate/bureaucratic institutions, that we are the center, and
that we represent everyone; that we are trustworthy, and work up to significant
moral/ethical standards; that anyone who wishes to be progressive or au currant
must pay close attention to us; and that the achievers chosen by us to be
celebrated are both cohesively real people and the highest achievers in their
disciplines. Yet the Regular World is maintained, also, by some obvious
fallacies— that human progress happens at even intervals, which it does not;
that there is always relevant action in the high disciplines and everywhere
else, which there is not; that corporate and bureaucratic sectors do not put
together dummy packages to sell to the public, which they do; and that slow,
Solid World progress does not (invariably) wind up grabbing the historical
brass ring every time, thus nullifying the Regular World ostensible
achievements of dummies, drones, and dupes. The Internet is now frustrating the
narratives and mythologies of the Regular World by making the Solid World, its,
slow, steady progress, accessible to be read or listened to at any time by a
public tired of clowns, dummies, and corporate drones. With this process, the
assumptions made by Regular World stalwarts, especially in the press, are being
frustrated and thwarted by a newly educated, newly enlightened public. The
question, in America,
of who stands in the cultural center is a huge one; and the same goes for
philosophy and science. That we may be standing on the threshold of the
emergence of a culturally disparate America, with a refined sense of cultural
taste, honed by contact with the Solid, is a major issue in this country, who
can no longer be taunted by Western Europe (which is far sicklier then us right
now anyway) as lightweights, nitwits, or Philistines.
If the American cultural map begins to shift around the
Solid World, obviously Aughts Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Renaissance, The
Philly Free School, Neo-Romanticism, will all benefit. Where the road may lead next is impossible to predict, except to say
that the next Philly may be Detroit in two years
or Miami in
twenty, or neither. The Regular World will not be there to force its, and our,
hand, and fill up space with corporate/bureaucratic blarney. A contradiction of
the Solid World is this— because real human progress is irregular, and can
happen anywhere at any time, the progress of Solid World culture is, in a broad
manner of speaking, psychedelic. Mind-expanding also works; and, as I send out
both a wake-up call and a Welcome to Psychedelic America, the hope I hold here
is to reach as many people as possible with the sense that the possibilities,
once the Regular World is officially snubbed, are limitless. Not that the
Regular World is going anywhere; because of who the human race largely are, it
can’t be; but the Regular World must have a sense now of being disoriented by
several generations of artists and thinkers who will not settle for corporate
and bureaucratic contexts, and demand freedom to pursue individual, organic, as
irregular-as-needs-be agendas. There may also be issues of composites or
“mutts”— conglomerate interests who want to pursue half Solid, half Regular
agendas. Okay. Still, once enough Solid energy is let into the air, the
cultural and intellectual vibe is free to create an American package deal which
has in it some passionate dedication to creativity meant to endure, rather than
merely to fill up space or represent other interests.
Post a Comment