Re: Re: Sociology of the Fading Signal

I didn't think you did, but having moved to a christian extremest area,
I thought you were under-selling the seriousness of the stance taken by
the religious right…and other extreme religious groups.

I am pleased to hear there are skeptics among your academic circle.
Someone in academe here in GA related getting a tour of churches by a
potential employer, as well as an invitation by another interviewer to
an event where their spouse was invited, and the SPOUSE was asked what
church they attend.

I don't generally take such an extreme (and simplified) stance, but
encounter that attitude nearly everyday. There are numerous counties in
GA where the 10 Commandments have been placed in the courthouses, and
the KKK has shown up in support at one courthouse. As I'm writing
this, I feel as though I'm coming from the underground…sort of a
"real" radio free america… not the propaganda one.

I think the enchantment with technology is somewhat reminiscent of the
drug experience of the 60s and 70s -except life is enhanced by, and can
only be experienced with technology in hand (substitute drugs here). It
does take on an obsessive shade, and I'm sure the Luddites have plenty
to say about the excesses of technology. I for one, love it.

-=j


On Friday, November 21, 2003, at 10:43 AM, mark cooley wrote:

> i didn't mean to indicate that totalitarian religious orders are not a
> problem - i too have lived in the bible belt - North Carolina and now
> Southern Missouri - so i see the effects of this, and i know that my
> relationship to an acedemic community (where there is a healthy dose
> scepticism about religious dogma) has refocused my views of these
> things. The thing that I find most interesting in terms of criticism
> in my professional/social group is the fact that many acedemics will
> talk endlessly about the "ideology" of christianity, and yet not even
> recognize the dogma of "Technological Progress". Perhaps,
> Technophilia should be a term used more often and added to the key
> words list on Rhizome for that matter - i think technophobia is
> already on there. hmmmm.
>
>
> JM Haefner wrote:
>
>> On Thursday, November 20, 2003, at 04:17 PM, mark cooley wrote:
>>
>>> you could say that insofar as we place almost total faith in
>> something
>>> (technology) that we see as existing outside of ourselves but is
>>> actually our own invention.
>>
>> so is god
>>
>>> i see it as this, but differing from religion in that we see
>>> technology as always evolving (and taking us with it) toward some
>>> higher state of existence rather than as a static order of things
>>> (religion).
>>
>> apparently people think god lives…therefore evolves
>>
>>> in this way perhaps the rhetoric around technology is even more
>>> disturbing than religious rhetoric because it allows for the
>> infinite
>>> expansion of capital.
>>
>> you should live in the bible belt…they fight about whether THEY are
>> the buckle of the belt
>>
>>> it is interesting to see the debates around biotechnology for
>> instance
>>> - many oppositional arguments focus on biotech disturbing god's
>> plan,
>>> whereas many scientific arguments for biotech center on a (supposed
>>> natural) progression of human's control (through technology of
>> course)
>>> of nature.
>>
>> the Hubble telescope has or should have upset many ideas about where
>> we
>> stand in the universe
>>
>>> both are essentialist positions but i am wondering which is better
>> or
>>> worse - in terms of reproducing the ideology of capitalism.
>> hmmmmm?
>>
>> money is god's reward
>>
>> Coming soon:
>> Art about the above, or
>> the KKK, or
>> the government.
>>
>> -=j
>>
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