The new LBO is out to email subscribers, and I would say something about its content, but I'm transfixed by the photograph on page 3 of Michael Hardt.
How the hell does he leave the house with that ... item on his head? For those who haven't received their copy yet, Hardt is pictured sporting a bouffant creation that, at my estimate, appears to stand about three inches proud of the surface of his skull in all directions. I haven't seen a "do" like that since Barry Manilow got out of the game. God knows what it must have been like in the radio studio with all that static electricity around; I'm surprised he wasn't mistaken for a microphone.
How much alienated labour in the hairdressing trade does it take to maintain this coiffure in its candy-floss perfection, to say nothing of the environmental despoliation? Can it be anything other than succour to the global Empire to know that its most prominent academic detractor looks like one of Herman's Hermits?
I'm guessing that the illus. came from a publicity photo and it isn't quite as extreme in civilian life. But hell, it's shaken me to the marrow. I can still see it as a floating retinal image when I close my eyes. Permanent revolution? Permanent wave, more like.
dd
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