Do you ever get the feeling that ‘we’ are unwinding?
Unravelling?
Mass culture – when it was under the control of regulated authorities – provided a framework for our social identity.
In the 80s we all watched the four channels – and they framed our shared experience – of the world around us – of who we were together.
For better or worse.
We knew who we were.
And in political terms – the dividing line was clear.
We were united in how we positioned ourselves in relation to the question of what is the best way of doing things.
Now. Its not clear anymore – that there is anything unifying us.
And yet there probably is.
Social media companies – which can operate freely of most government regulation – now operate internationally – maybe not completely globally.
People born in the twentieth century can remember the common unifying framework of the printed and regulated televisual media.
But the younger generations – lack that frame of reference.
Everything has been thrown into the air – like confetti – by social media.
Or so it seems – but as the confetti falls back down – its not in a random pattern – but rather in patterns determined by the people who control and use social media to their ends.
British politics has now been framed by a post-democratic capitalist cabal – which has more in common with the control and command capitalism of China and Russia.
And we’re so embedded in these new identities formed by social media – that millions of people find themselves – coming to identify with a social media creation of national identity – whether American or British – which reformulates what it means to be American 0r British – so that nationalist identity is now realigned to a bunch of policies, ideologies and values – which serve the kleptocratic interests of China and Russia. National self-interest has been eaten from the inside – so it is now reformulated in a way to serve the interests of China and Russia and totalitarian forms of capitalism. Brexit and Farage – are understood as acts of patriotism – but which serve Putin, China and Trump.
Nigel Farage is a huge cheerleader for Trump and Putin and what they represent – and is clearly focused on prioritising the interests of the capitalists that ride on the pair’s tailcoats – and couldn’t care less about British people – but somehow when people see him through the lens of social media – they see someone championing their cause – or some cause that is painted in a Union Jack. That is the achievement of the new social media owners.
British elites – political and economic nationalist – have lost control of the British nationalist narrative – as the power of the televisual and radio and printed press – which they could control – has waned. It has slipped into the hands of social media companies, the capitalist interests that pump money into social media, and countries like Russia and China. It is the latter now which is framing how people feel and think about who they are, individually, socially, nationally and collectively – and what it means to be British.
And everything that is said is seen by social media users through this framework – so those who try to espouse a liberal democratic framework for serving the interests of the British people – that used to frame post-war media representations of what it meant to be British – find themselves on a loosing ticket. In the UK the Labour Party, slowly and perhaps reluctantly, is beginning to wake up to this new frame of reference, through which everything is seen. The real power then is in those who are controlling the frame.
The politicians have lost the ability to frame it would seem – and so real political power – it would seem lies in the hands of those who own the social media companies – and its not always completely clear who they are and what they want – but we can see how it is evolving. A globalised social identity and set of relationships, in which white males are supreme – and other people take second, third or fourth seat. And it is one, it seems, in which Muslims are framed to be the baddies.
This looks to be heading somewhere pretty fucking dark.
In Kyiv they can already see that.