Cynical & Ironic Detachment (was Re: Uh huh...)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Peter Kilander wrote to Angela:
>Angela wrote:
>>which raises in another context some of the stuff i was alluding to in
>>the previous post.  namely, are there occassions when a cynical ironic
>>detachment is conducive to making people form attachments to
>>conservative agendas?
>[snip]
>And Angela, have you read Terry Eagleton's excellent book on postmodernism?
>You'd probably agree with what he has to say. A basic point is the idea that
>there are no meta-narratives is a meta-narrative. Maybe you could expand on
>your point about certain meta-narratives being in the service of a
>suspension of critique?
>
>Cynical detachment and irony is often tied to powerlessness. This goes to
>the point of Reagan and the alienated masses. (there was also his
>contradictory don't worry, be happy attitude) Eagleton's theory is in part
>that the reason critical theory and postmodernism has spread like some sort
>of virulent, mutating virus is the left's stunning defeat right after the
>60's. The 60's didn't pan out from an anti-capitalist perspective.

I agree with Peter's point (and I like Terry Eagleton as well).

Zizek also has a great line on the problem of irony and cynicism. In a
nutshell, ideology doesn't simply work by making us blind to what's really
going on; irony and cynicism allow us to keep on doing what we are doing
even when we _know_ that what we are doing is not in our interest. Or
rather, our 'knowledge'--our ability to 'see through' capital & the state's
subterfuge--makes us feel like we are not caught up in ideology, while in
reality we continue the business as usual, acting in accordance with
capital & the state's requirements, that is to say, _ideologically_. In
other words, irony is a bad faith of educated workers who 'know better.'

Yoshie