Rakesh writes:
> And her discussion of how situationist insights are at the root of
> some postmodern insights is quite helpful too. She also qutoes
> Debord: this is "the first time in contemporary Europe no party or
> faction of a party even tried to pretend that they wish to change
> anything sigificant." In the US this is called Rortyism, I believe.
I'm not sure if by this you want to equate the SI's positions with
Rortyism and certain apathetic tendencies in postmodernism, or...well,
I'm not sure what. If memory serves, the Debord quote is from his
_Comments on the Society of the Spectacle_, and is an expression of
dismay at the lack of any visible opposition to capital and the state.
Baudrillard, on the other hand, seems to have merely lifted Debord's
concepts and drained them of Debord's critical intentions. That's a
simple, obvious proposition, but Plant took I can't remember how many
pages working up to it, and that was the source of some of my
impatience with her book.
As far as Rene Vienet goes, I've heard a rumor that this former
situationist was now a big wig in the French nuclear power
industry/bureaucracy, but have no other info.
Thanks for the Barrot reference; I'll look it up.
--
Curtiss