Cop Shows & Althusser's Law (was Re: surplus and other stuff)

[Charles Brown]

I wouldn't want anybody to think that I agree with Paul that I am not basing my theory of cop shows on material evidence. In this case, my evidence is from many, many years of watching television, unfortunately. But that misfortune has the sideeffect of accumulating mountains of data. That there might be two or three shows today that are exceptions to this generalization does not detract from the observation that the main effect of cop shows is not to foster
critique of the role of police in our society. Even Paul's description of the shows he refers to is not convincing to me that these are exceptions to the general pattern.

On empirical evidence, Prof. Frithjof Bergman once pointed out in a class on philosophy of science, that social sciences are sometimes plagued by a tendency to make statements that tell us less than we know already. Most of us have enormous (and sufficiently random) samples of what is on television in general. We don't need a sociological data survey to tell us what we already know at least in some dimensions. Social scientists should be resourceful in using facts we already have from our experience.

Another fact I feel sure in is that there are a disproportionate number of cop shows relative to other occupations. I haven't seen  any shows based on auto or steelworkers lives. There are very few or none on busdrivers, etc. , etc.

Charles Brown




>>> Paul Henry Rosenberg <rad at gte.net> 01/26 6:08 PM >>>
Well, I went WAY over-limit yesterday, so today I*m trying to make
amends.  So I offer one response to all comers on the variously-named
cops thread.

Where to begin?

How about the beginning:  It all began with Charles Brown writing 

> Don't you think that
> cops as heroes/oppressors is Judy's subjection of us ? 
> Television, which I call Big Brother that we watch instead
> of BB watching us, is a main site of subjection. Think of
> how many cop shows there are, where they make cops such 
> lovable people ?

and me questioning this lumping together of all TV cop shows.

My point here is that it*s quite wrong to make generalizations about ALL
cop shows which are only true about the major thrust of MOST of them. 
It misses all the interesting complexity and contradictions, as well as
distracting attention from what really IS true about all of them.  This
seems elementary to me.

In the middle of his long response to me today, Charles says:

> Paul
> I'm not talking about "the television shows", I'm talking
> about SPECIFIC shows: "Homicide" and "Law & Order."  Your
> statement is objectively false when applied to these two
> shows.  BOTH of them have dealt with police violence &
> corruption, as well as with the repressive nature of
> the law itself.
> 
> Charles: Those shows, if they are as you say, are exceptions.
> Most television shows are not subtle critiques of the police
> and the legal system.

In other words, Charles provisionally AGREES with me--they ARE
exceptions, which was, after all, my point all along: *cop shows* are
not a unitary thing.

Now, why and how can he go on and on attacking me with no idea in hell
what I*m talking about, since he hasn*t seen the shows???

What I*m all het up about is the contempt for empirical evidence that
this betrays, and which I think permeates a hell of a lot of left
thought, much to our detriment.  

Doug, of course, is a shining example to the contrary, and since we*re
all here under his auspices, it seems like as good a place as any to
make a stand on the side of evidence.

Now, Charles and I have both had our fun saying nasty little things
about each others cognitive abilities and such, and it*s mighty tempting
to continue a bit longer in that vein.  But, as Dylan Thomas famously
asked, *Is Your Ernie Really Necessary?*  Alas, no.

Charles egreggiously misrepresents me numerous times and I could have my
jollies having back at him, but for many of this list all this would
amount to would be some kind of male identity performance.  Yawn.

The deeper question is why does this happen?

Charles and I undoubtedly have lots of other points on which we agree,
and we could have disagreed about this in a much more productive way, so
why did this happen?  Why does it (not ALWAYS, but SEEMINGLY) ALWAYS
happen?

Part of it, I*m sure, is learned helplessness, and part of it is Freud*s
*narcissism of small differences.*  We can probably build quite a
catalog of explanations.  How do we understand their relative
importance, and more importantly, how do we actually DO something about
it?  This seems to me part of what motivated Doug to start this list in
the first place.

I do think that part of the problem HAS to trace back to the kinds of
ideas we cultivate and how well they relate to material conditions.  

Dipping back into the realm of content, I think that the kind of
cultural studies developed in England--Stuart Hall & such--was much more
respectful of the empirical, and that this had a number of beneficial
effects, not just ideologically, but also in a day-to-day sense. 
Arguing over facts of necessity brings you together in a way, while
arguing over theories CAN allow you--and in the wrong circumstances
wildly over-reward you--to diverge.

I believe that this has been part of the influence of French Theory in
America over the past 20 years or so, and I think it is pretty much of a
Bad Thing.  But I hardly think that that explains everything.  It
doesn*t even begin to explain *Why Theory?*  In the long run, I think
that Theory is just one manifestation of more fundamental underlying
problems, and so I don*t want to reify and demonize it excessively.  I*d
like to cultivate a measured critique of it, even if it is much more fun
to just satirize the hell out of it.

One thing*s for sure--there*s something very alluring about Theory. 
It*s mind candy for grad students.  But that does not a balanced diet
make.  If old-fashioned Marxism seems dull as meat-and-potatoes, who can
be surprised at the rise of Theory.  But there are other options.  Mike
Davis shows that, and the recent attacks on him should tell us
something.  He*s seen as a threat.  This should catch our attention. 
Lani Guinier is another figure under attack who should have caught our
attention more.  George Lakoff is another who hasn*t been attacked, but
whose ideas about understanding and confronting rightwing moral
discourse deserve our attention in the face of such attacks.

There are ways of thinking closely connected to the real world that can
excite, can reach everyday people, and can challenge the smartest of us
to get smarter in response, ways that, unlike Theory in general, are not
so ignorant of history that they labor mightily to reinvent the wheel. 
(Someone smart recently pointed out that Butler just seems to be saying
that people make history, but not under conditions of their own
choosing.)  

I don*t think that Theory is the goblin here.  I think the tendency to
undervalue history, undervalue stubborn, specific facts is far broader
than that.  I*m not talking about dull fact-mongering.  I love the
struggle to make facts stand forth in shining significance so that they
may inspire the larger struggle.  

So I talk about *Buffy, The Vampire Slayer* and *Law & Order* a whole
lot more than I talk about television.  

Blake spoke about *minute particulars* and he was onto something,
believe you me.

Context is everything.  It gives specific meaning.  It allows us to know
what we*re talking about.  That grain of sand contains the universe in
just this way...

-- 
Paul Rosenberg
Reason and Democracy
rad at gte.net 
-- 
Paul Rosenberg
Reason and Democracy
rad at gte.net 
 
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"