reporting from the outskirts of the Empire
During the turbulent decades that preceded and followed the French Revolution, classical mythology was subject to extensive cross-pollination with Enlightenment and revolutionary literature. Many narratives were reinterpreted through the scope … Continue reading The Female Monster and the Misogynist Revolution
We don’t usually go out looking for myths: myth finds its way to manifest itself to us, an operating force that sheds light on the structure of the collective mind. … Continue reading Prometheus the Fire-Bringer and Pandora the extraterrestrial sex doll
The word “idea” has the Greek root εἴδω (“image”, “form”); a root it shares with other words, such us idol. An icon, from Greek εἰκών, is also an image, but … Continue reading Bible study for NPCs: idols, ideology, and the violence within
Conflict is deeply ingrained in the human mind. Like a cloud of electrically charged particles, it remains potential and shapeless, in an ideal resting state. When it is given ideological … Continue reading Mediatic facts and controlled demolitions from across the Rubicon
As an interpretation somewhat removed from mainstream Marxism, the natural synergies between Communism and Capitalism are a favorite topic of this blog. This trait was best recognized by no other … Continue reading Veblen, the leisure class, techno-conspirators and the leftovers
The working definition of “meme” is somewhat dry, and less innovative than it might seem. Although the term was coined by Richard Dawkins, the notion that ideas are subject to … Continue reading Experiments in fiction and reality: Catalan Separatists and Reckless Meme Necromancers
The War in Afghanistan is the longest conflict the United States has ever been engaged in. Despite what the diminishing media attention it gets might lead to believe, it is … Continue reading Contemplation and Weapons of Meme Destruction
In the last post we introduced the idea of conceptual and sensual memes. In general, sensual memes are more infectious than those based on concepts. This idea (this meme!) is … Continue reading The Fool archetype as an agent of evolution: an introduction to Internet meme ecology
The Futurist Manifesto was first published in 1909. It was written by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, a celebration of speed, youth, violence and technology. It was also a declaration … Continue reading Futurist rioting, conceptualism and sensuality
The Spanish War of Succession was a pan-European conflict ignited by the death of Charles II in 1700. Charles II was the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, a product of … Continue reading From based to cringe: Tabarnia and badly waged memetic guerrilla
The word guerrilla means “small war” in Spanish. It was first used with its current connotations in the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814). The conflict is called the Peninsular War … Continue reading The deconstruction of conventional warfare and cultural banditry
Parrhesia, from the Greek παρρησία, means literally “to say everything”, to “not hold anything back”. It is used to describe a manner of speaking frankly or boldly, to the point … Continue reading Parrhesia, subversion and piracy: the rise of the cyber-optimists
