(no subject)

[lapsedmodernist]

Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: "This Third World War is raging" in Iraq. "The whole world is watching this war." He says it will end in "victory and glory, or misery and humiliation."--said Our Leader.

A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

Also the fact that this is in the news again fits into my theory of The North Korean Time Lag as unit of measurement.

Also, my morning routine, in addition to coffee, now includes cognitive grumpiness and balancing act, stemming from my semiotic ennui and linguistic aphasia, nee my ironiagnosia (born as in splitting my fucking head open, Athena-style), which, in turn, stem from the fact that language has imploded. Reality has cannibalized the lag, the lacunae that produced irony or hyperbole. Referents that were inscribed in that equation have become outdated.

But, here's what I think: we need new hyperboles. "Orwellian" has stopped being a hyperbole, now it's just true and yesterday's news. It is an impotent word now, standing shyly in the corner, covering its flaccid manhood. But are we so weak? Are we so entrenched in the iconic cultural referents of modernism that we, as a generation, with a cultural moment of our very own clearly demarcated on the calendar as if served on a silver platter, can't come up with one good fucking hyperbole? Are the pomo-haters right, has EVERYTHING been invented already, and we are just pawns, grinning idiotically through a semiotic Gotterdamerung?

People! In our signifying practices we are no better than the ostriches that hide their head in the sand at the prospect of Peak Oil. It's coming, it is quite possibly already here, and if we are going to critique the industrial sector for not getting with the fucking program and preparing to switch the infrastructure over to alternatuve sources of energy instead of proceeding with the apocalyptic endgame of diminishing returns going on now, we should be able to do the same with language. We have hit the Peak Oil of Dystopian Metaphores. You are not going to impress anyone with "orwellian" or "brave new world" or "handmaid's tale" anymore. Furthermore, you are not even going to be able to emphasize. You will think you are emphasizing, but you will be producing verisimilitude, describing reality as is. You will think you are new wave, but, alas, you are verite. So sad.

So everyone, come up with one good hyperbole for our zeitgeist, to fight our ineffectual army of zombie hyperboles that we have been left with.

Let yourself be inspired by Dr. Frankestein, God, Saussure, Lewis Carroll, or Mr. Malaprop.

Start...NOW!

Comments

[yanatonage.livejournal.com]

you use semiotic as an adjective a whole lot

Is that you giving the finger?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

"semiotic" is an adjective, fair and square. And not really one that has adequate synonyms, not with all the nuances.

And

Is that you giving the finger?

Why, yes, it is!

[klingrap.livejournal.com]

Dude, it's really hard to concentrate on your rants when you're freaking out in your icon.

Let me get this straight: what you're saying is that you want us to come up with an adjective describing the political and economic state of our world in general, America in particular? And you want us to draw on the annals of literature and philosophy for inspiration?

I was actually kinda digging gotterdamerung, mabye switching it up to gotterdamerwhatever because the 'whatever' is what got us here in the first place, but I think the more appropriate term would just be FUCKTARDED.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

you're just envious because you don't have an animated GIF icon.

is "fucktarded" hyperbole? Discuss. I will consider the neologistic possibilities of gotterdamerung.

why settle for the lesser evil?

[buttler.livejournal.com]

it's hitlerrific!

Re: why settle for the lesser evil?

[warpsmith.livejournal.com]

Now that's revoltertainment!

[orpheusinhades.livejournal.com]

The reason they're still playing the "Hussein started 9/11" business is that it still plays wonderfully in the boonies. There's no reason to give up a lie if even after it's been proven to be a lie, everyone still believes it.

How about "Ragnarocious"?

[pirat-ponton.livejournal.com]

actually, the reason they are still playing that is because the authorization of force specifically and explicitly required the unelected administration prove that iraq was responsible for sept 11 (http://www.c-span.org/resources/pdf/hjres114.pdf)

[alice-ayers.livejournal.com]

Something like ragepolcalyptic?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

no, but if someone could make me an emoticon for that, I'd be happy.

[contrasoma.livejournal.com]

"Furthermore, you are not even going to be able to emphasize."

Hmm...Quadruple-plus ungood? Schreber-esque oppression? "Dang, I feel like I'm living in a KMFDM video"?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Dang, I feel like I'm living in a KMFDM video"?

I like that!

semiotic goetterdaemerung

[(Anonymous)]

seems already to be upon us.. didn't bjoerk (or was it madonna?) note already in the early 90's that "words are useless, especially sentences; they don't stand for anything - how can they explain how i feel?"

as for contemporary zeitgeistliche hyperboles.. at times even a brief walk through midtown is usually enough to start me wondering if 'revelations' was more than just religious frippery... on better days i try to limit the cliched scope of such visions of pending doom... but you do recall the myth of atlantis

[concrete-tiger.livejournal.com]

A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

That must mean I'm employed by every company I ever sent a résumé, or that tried to recruit me. Genius.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Ha on the logic tip, but I don't think even that's a valid parallel. Saddam: neo-Soviet style atheistic dictator. Osama: raging fundamentalist, who called for the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam.

I don't think resumes were even reviewed...

Re: Götterdämmerung

[klingrap.livejournal.com]

Dude, how do you do the umlaut? I want umlauts.

[nearly-there.livejournal.com]

Amen to that.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

nice icon.

the Seattle Times headline yesterday: Bush on Iraq War: Don't forget 9/11.

To me, this is like saying "Picasso on lunchtime: don't forget the Dark Ages!" in its seeming irrelevance among all three points.

Humpty-Dumpsterism? Seems too old; it's like something Mark Twain would write about. I'll keep thinking.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

To me, this is like saying "Picasso on lunchtime: don't forget the Dark Ages!" in its seeming irrelevance among all three points.

that is AWESOME!!!

[pdanielson.livejournal.com]

I don't know how it fits in with any of this at all, but I think Iraq: Operation Fecal Tornado has a nice ring to it.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I think that is a very evocative and probably the most apt description of the War I have encountered yet.

[polymorphic.livejournal.com]

I think the American Revolution and the French Revolution have become pure fantasies in too many minds. We have too eagerly forgotten that we, the little people, have moved mountains.

Fuck Dr. Frankestein, God, Saussure, Lewis Carroll, or Mr. Malaprop--think Laverne and Shirley.

[orpheusinhades.livejournal.com]

Free Squiggy!

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

"Also, my morning routine, in addition to coffee, now includes cognitive grumpiness and balancing act, stemming from my semiotic ennui and linguistic aphasia, nee my ironiagnosia (born as in splitting my fucking head open, Athena-style), which, in turn, stem from the fact that language has imploded. Reality has cannibalized the lag, the lacunae that produced irony or hyperbole. Referents that were inscribed in that equation have become outdated."

Because my state is exactly this as well, there will be no hyperbole on my part. But man, that paragraph above, is one of the most stimulating sentences I have read in a while. Thanks !

the death of hyperbole

[(Anonymous)]

those 'lags' or 'lacunae' between both virtual thought and actual reality on which hyperbole relies have, as you say, now all but disappeared, evaporated into seemingly thin air, accompanied by a growing belief that we can now instantly and universally actualize whatever we can virtually envision, and do so wherever and whenever we desire. in this sense our age has seen another 'death of the impossible' (certainly not its first death, though, mind you, and probably not its last), and in light of this, the hyperbole - which relies entirely on the notion of 'the impossible' for its basic function and meaning - has died as well; the death of the impossible thus ironically and contradictorily signals - or even has rendered - the hyperbole itself as the only last remaining impossible left.

or perhaps it is only hyperbole to say so..

well let them eat cake i suppose

on a personal note, I'm lovin' it.

[vertigo1021.livejournal.com]

I would think there's a good deal of possibility in the (if-fleeting)popular language of today, and co-option would be a pretty good start. i'm not totally sure where the County line is at--where hyperbole's fenceposts distinguish from basic sarcasm's--but what about common jazz like:

"She obviously hates your freedom."
"In this post 9-11 environment, it's hard to find a decent haircut."
"that's pretty Fox-News."
or
"I'm in the last throes of my morning cereal. Let me call you back."

ps: I'm sorry that you missed the highest calling.

[spawnsong.livejournal.com]

your new icon makes me want to either squeeze you, put you in my pocket, or possibly both. i'm sure the post is excellent as well, but copious amounts of fermented grain preclude me from actually attesting to this fact as i can't read what i see in near double.

[mjmj.livejournal.com]

i'm sorry, what were you saying? i couldn't hear over the shrieking and screaming (that would be me shrieking and pulling my hair and running around and screaming "we're killing the oceans!") destroying the oceans () this news item is yet another report of what i first read about earlier this year -- the acidification of the oceans. this is predicted to lead to the extinction of all coral in the next fifty years, with worse results to follow. my feeble understanding of the chemistry involved is that the CO2 in the atmosphere is dissolving into the oceans, forming carbonic acid. this is fatal for coral because they won't be able to form calcium carbonate (someone could correct me on this -- it's my recollection from a bbc radio program i heard a while ago). i've read differing reports about the time scale significance of this. some said that this change in the chemistry of the oceans is unprecedented in 20 million years, others said it is unprecedented in 400 million years. this compares with the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, which studies of Antarctic ice cores have shown is at a level unseen in 400,000 years. suggestion: look for hyperboles in the terminology of geology or astronomy.

[mjmj.livejournal.com]

hmm. my html for "destroying the oceans" doesn't appear to work. here's the long form URL:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050630/sc_nm/environment_oceans_dc;_ylt=AudRDJTVy7k_cB9vvKrLoqAhANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl