Politics of Boredom

[LeoCasey at aol.com]

Well, Kelly my love, we can't even agree on what is boring. If there is one 
genre of film and text that I have found absolutely boring, one genre which 
is as stereotypically predictable as the sun rising at the start of the day 
and setting at the end of the day, it is pornography. If ever there was a 
world of pseudo-trangression, it is, IMHO, the world of academics steeped in 
such a culture; if ever there was an example of the Foucaultian thesis that 
"repression" is not the primary mechanism of modern power, and that 
"liberation" from such "repression" is an illusory escape from the mechanisms 
of power, pornography fits the bill. I happily cede to you a superior 
knowledge of the genre, and willingly admit that I know next to nothing of 
your examples.

But, I must disappoint you: my discursive intention is not to excite, not to 
relieve you from your boredom and ennui. Alas, even if I thought that those 
were worthwhile activities, and I must admit that the mere thought of them 
strikes me as, well, boring, I fear that there are pretty constitutive of 
your current social condition. 

But it was a fairly graceful an exit from an argument where you were clearly 
mistaken in about five different places, without any admission to that end. 
Could we call that "rhetorical deviousness?"


> there wasn't a lick of personal insult in any of that.  the pivner quote 
> was n't a suggestion that what you typed was like a fart. the suggestion 
> that you wear a see thru nighty is about how you continue to provoke and 
> it's not turning me on. think of it like this, leo. it's more like blowing 
> smoke rings. have you ever seen the porn flick, Deep Throat?  In the 
> opening scene, Linda Lovelace's roomate is spread eagle on the kitchen 
> counter blowing smoke rings, while her bf goes to town. think of it like 
> 

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <../attachments/20001106/30a303b3/attachment.htm>