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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>l am wondering why alan mckee thinks that
'working class' taste is necessarily a dismissive matter. is it so for him or is
it so for jean burgess?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>l am puzzled.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>caroline W</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>[totally uneducated.]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:wwilliams.caroline@bigpond.com">williams.caroline@bigpond.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=csaa-forum-request@lists.cdu.edu.au
href="mailto:csaa-forum-request@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum-request@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 12, 2004 1:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> csaa-forum Digest, Vol 6, Issue
13</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Send csaa-forum mailing list submissions to<BR><A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A><BR><BR>To
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replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<BR>than "Re:
Contents of csaa-forum digest..."<BR><BR><BR>Today's
Topics:<BR><BR> 1. Re: Re: csaa-forum Digest, Vol 6, Issue 11
(John Scannell)<BR> 2. latham, labor and aspirationalism (Aren Z.
Aizura)<BR> 3. RE: ALP 101 (Melissa Butcher)<BR> 4.
Re: RE: wanting to be effluent (John Scannell)<BR> 5. is it
possible? (Alan McKee)<BR> 6. Re: is it possible? (John
Scannell)<BR> 7. goebbels (Nicholls,
Susan)<BR><BR><BR>----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
1<BR>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:44:33 +1000<BR>From: John Scannell <<A
href="mailto:diaspora@tig.com.au">diaspora@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Subject: Re:
[csaa-forum] Re: csaa-forum Digest, Vol 6, Issue 11<BR>To: CSAA discussion
list <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:
<<A
href="mailto:416B4511.3030207@tig.com.au">416B4511.3030207@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed<BR><BR>I guess some of this is
directed at me...<BR>I thought I was err...being 'ironic' as they say.<BR>The
construction of simple archetypes is something I learned from 8 <BR>years of
Liberal rule.<BR>But still there is no excuse for Meatloaf, I stand by that.
Even if its <BR>means totalitarianism.<BR><BR>Alan McKee
wrote:<BR><BR>><BR>>> Props to Jean Burgess. Isn't it a bit
dismissive - and rather odd in <BR>>> Cultural Studies - to dismiss
people on the basis that they have <BR>>> working-class or middle-class
tastes in culture?<BR>><BR>><BR>> Alan McKee, PhD<BR>> Film and
Television<BR>> Creative Industries Precinct<BR>> Queensland University
of Technology<BR>> Kelvin Grove<BR>> QLD 4059<BR>>
Australia<BR>><BR>> 07 3864 8235<BR>> 07 3864 8195
(fax)<BR>><BR>> _______________________________________<BR>><BR>>
csaa-forum<BR>> discussion list of the cultural studies association of
australasia<BR>><BR>> <A
href="http://www.csaa.asn.au">www.csaa.asn.au</A><BR>><BR>><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
2<BR>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:55:49 +1000<BR>From: "Aren Z. Aizura" <<A
href="mailto:alchemic@antimedia.net">alchemic@antimedia.net</A>><BR>Subject:
[csaa-forum] latham, labor and aspirationalism<BR>To: <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@darlin.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@darlin.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:
<<A
href="mailto:BD9184D5.41F6%alchemic@antimedia.net">BD9184D5.41F6%alchemic@antimedia.net</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"<BR><BR>Hi everyone,<BR><BR>Like everyone else,
I'm stunned by the election result -- not so much<BR>because I really wanted
Labor to win, but by the enormity of the swing to<BR>the right, and the Senate
result. Brett's article was very much on the ball<BR>about the politics of
emotion or affect that have been mobilised over the<BR>last nine
months.<BR><BR>One thing I wanted to ask, though, after comments such as
these:<BR><BR>> The reticence of the Labor Party to advertise its policy on
Iraq, like<BR>> its kinder approach to refugees, stems from its attempt to
win back a<BR>> number of marginal seats, usually located on the fringes of
Australia's<BR>> cities.<BR><BR>But wasn't mandatory detention a policy
Labor came up with, originally?<BR>Until very, very recently, Labor's policy
on mandatory detention was hardly<BR>different to the Coalition's. The Labor
detention policy is 'kinder' to the<BR>extent that it aims to reduce the
amount of *time* undocumented migrants<BR>spend in detention; plus a
concession to various left-liberal NGOs who have<BR>focused on issues like
children in detention -- at the loss, I would argue,<BR>of presenting a firm
line about how any kind of mandatory detention is<BR>wrong. <BR><BR>Labor also
supported the 2003 federal anti-terrorism legislation (although<BR>various
left-Laborites didn't) and really, was the Latham stance on Iraq so<BR>much
more preferable? I read the 'Troops Home By Christmas' malarkey as a<BR>badly
designed Whitlam performance. I say 'performance' because I think<BR>that's
exactly what it was: a cynical attempt to mobilise ex-Whitlam
voters'<BR>nostalgic memories of the Vietnam war, and on the way pick up the
approval<BR>of the 'numerous' anti-war protesters -- who, by that time, had
vanished<BR>into the ether. The famous 800 troops would have been redeployed
in Iraq on<BR>'humanitarian' missions, not sent home.<BR><BR>There are other,
more scary ALP policies that are worth mentioning here:<BR>Latham's promise
that every school-leaver would be working or studying<BR>rather than
unemployed -- more decimation of the dole, anyone? And people in<BR>NSW can
look to Bob Carr to figure out what racialised politics might be<BR>like under
Latham: more 'left' xenophobia/nationalism and panic about<BR>migrants taking
'our' jobs, gangs etc etc etc.<BR><BR>I think all this will be evident to
Brett and to many others. What interests<BR>me, however, is how even though I
knew Labor was no better than the Liberal<BR>Party, part of me still wanted
Labor to win. I was anticipating a<BR>generalised moment of enthusiasm on the
left followed by anger and<BR>recrimination, not unlike the UK liberal left's
response to Tony Blair --<BR>and yet I still felt shattered on Saturday
night.<BR><BR>I don't think this is an isolated phenomenon, given the previous
posts. And<BR>I want to understand why this is so. Apart from demonstrating
the failures<BR>of majoritarian politics, as Brett noted, what does it mean
when a<BR>significant proportion of the population really cares more about
their<BR>mortgages than other people and vote Liberal? What does it mean when
another<BR>significant proportion of the population can pretend (even
momentarily) that<BR>we're being offered any kind of viable alternative in
Latham's Labor?<BR><BR>Aren
Aizura<BR><BR>_________________________________________<BR><BR>"There's no
need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons."<BR>(gilles
deleuze)<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
3<BR>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 11:43:39 +1000<BR>From: "Melissa Butcher" <<A
href="mailto:melissa@riap.usyd.edu.au">melissa@riap.usyd.edu.au</A>><BR>Subject:
RE: [csaa-forum] ALP 101<BR>To: "CSAA discussion list" <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:<BR><<A
href="mailto:F6263763864E574E8213522884C275EE0E6A39@riapserv.riap.usyd.edu.au">F6263763864E574E8213522884C275EE0E6A39@riapserv.riap.usyd.edu.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<BR><BR>With the greatest love and respect folks
are we not being a little bit<BR>'ivory tower' here? If anyone is angsting
about 'the masses' seeming<BR>inability to listen to any of our words of
wisdom some of the recent<BR>comments on the list might give an indication as
to why they tune out. <BR><BR>Cheers<BR>Melissa B. (who thinks 'Bat out of
Hell' is a classic, loves 'Kath and<BR>Kim', send up or not, owns not Freedom
Furniture but even worse ...<BR>IKEA, is quite partial to Fondue, and despite
her occassional white<BR>trash behaviour is still capable of the odd critical
thought).<BR><BR> <BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au</A><BR>[mailto:csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au]
On Behalf Of John Scannell<BR>Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 11:28 AM<BR>To:
CSAA discussion list<BR>Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] ALP 101<BR><BR>I read an
interview or Q&A at some stage where Latham was asked about<BR>his
favourite musical artist...<BR>His reply (much to my own personal horror) was
'Meatloaf'.<BR>When Ian says...'Maybe Kath and Kim is not such a sendup/comedy
after<BR>all?'<BR>Well I can only say with much sadness that it is
not.<BR>Which is why I can't watch it because there are some things so spot
on<BR>that it makes me ill.<BR>Latham lost the battle for white trash
supremacy - WWE showdown style.<BR>I loved Sally's<BR><BR>>I can't help but
think that Australia is dominated by the Freedom <BR>>Furniture Flunkies
who can't think beyond Macro-suede couches, fake <BR>>mohair throws and
fondue sets.<BR>><BR>Don't forget the Hillsong Church CDs.<BR>Great music
for the showdown (WWE style) between Good and Evil currently<BR>being
orchestrated in Iraq.<BR>If I was part of the Labor machine I would have
gotten Latham to 'find<BR>Jeeeeeeeeesuss' and quick smart.<BR>OK, maybe not.
What to
do?<BR><BR><BR><BR>><BR>_______________________________________<BR><BR>csaa-forum<BR>discussion
list of the cultural studies association of australasia<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.csaa.asn.au">www.csaa.asn.au</A>
<BR><BR><BR>_______________________<BR><BR>Melissa Butcher<BR>Research
Institute for Asia and the Pacific<BR>Level 2 G12, 353 Abercrombie
Street<BR>The University of Sydney<BR>Australia NSW 2002<BR>Tel: +612 9351
8540/8547<BR>Fax: +612 9351 8562<BR>Email: <A
href="mailto:melissa.butcher@riap.usyd.edu.au">melissa.butcher@riap.usyd.edu.au</A><BR>Web:
<A href="http://www.riap.usyd.edu.au">www.riap.usyd.edu.au</A><BR><BR>"Have
patience with everything unresolved and try to love the
questions<BR>themselves" (Rainer Maria
Rilke)<BR>********************<BR>IMPORTANT<BR>The contents of this E-mail
message, and any documents attached to it,<BR>may be privileged and
confidential. Any unauthorized use is strictly<BR>prohibited.<BR><BR>If you
receive this electronic mail in error, please accept my apologies<BR>and
delete it. Thank you. Email is a document as defined by the
NSW<BR>Freedom<BR>of Information Act Sect.6
(1)<BR><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 4<BR>Date:
Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:07:44 +1000<BR>From: John Scannell <<A
href="mailto:diaspora@tig.com.au">diaspora@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Subject: Re:
[csaa-forum] RE: wanting to be effluent<BR>To: CSAA discussion list <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:
<<A
href="mailto:416B4A80.5000606@tig.com.au">416B4A80.5000606@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed<BR><BR>Mel<BR><BR>Your 'bogan'
project is an insightful one...actually it also draws my <BR>attention to the
fact that I have always seen a rather strict <BR>delineation between the bogan
and what I perceive as the 'white trash' <BR>threat.<BR>I know we don't use
that term bogan here in NSW, discourse being what it <BR>is, but I have
empathy with Bogans/Westies but find myself at odds with <BR>white trash,
mainly because of the element of delusional aspiration that <BR>I ascribe to
the latter.<BR>For instance, in a Sydney based context I see Westies/Bogans as
more <BR>working class and aware of their marginalisation whereas for me
'white <BR>trash' is the working class that think they are upwardly mobile and
<BR>forget how they acheived that mobility which is representing more and
<BR>more of this vaguely identified majoritarian group.<BR>So you could say
that Westies are not the same people as those that hail <BR>from 'the Shire' -
the Sutherland Shire in Sydney - who all swung to <BR>Pauline Hanson a few
years back and have swung to the Liberals again <BR>now. Many of the Westies
do listen to Meatloaf but they have probably <BR>burnt the CDs rather than go
to Miranda Fair to buy them.<BR>A great analogy can be found in Woody Allen's
Small Time Crooks, which <BR>although maligned by critics at the time I found
to be much more <BR>insightful about what the former working class does when
its finds its <BR>out of its depth in the cultural capital stakes. Far more
insightful <BR>than say a movie such as The Castle which has all of its
archetypes <BR>screwed up and pissed me off no end. Kath and Kim is similar in
this <BR>respect (although closer to white trash than boganism, they way I see
<BR>it). You can sort me out on that.<BR>Mark Latham needs to be more aware of
this delineation (and I can offer <BR>my services to the Labor party).<BR>They
could easily get hold of the lists of subscribers to 'the Franklin <BR>Mint'
and the Hillsong Church for a start.<BR>This would help identify the those
that they have lost forever and who <BR>probably now live or are planning to
live on the NSW central coast.<BR>John<BR><BR>Mel Campbell wrote:<BR><BR>>
Jean said: "I have to stick my head up here and object to the <BR>>
conflation that is going on here between (bad/debased) taste patterns,
<BR>> (low) class locations and the replacement of issues-based with
<BR>> aspirational politics, if that is indeed what's going
on."<BR>> <BR>> In turn I feel I must stick my head up here and
say that even though I <BR>> now hate my MA thesis and never want to
revisit its stupid topic ever <BR>> again, its main contention was that
certain concepts (or discourses, <BR>> as I Foucauldianly branded them) can
be represented in the media as <BR>> "identity categories" in order to
smooth over temporarily the <BR>> potential for political disquiet in
Australia.<BR>> <BR>> The example I used in the accursed thesis
was the concept of the <BR>> "bogan". I argued that 'bogan' is not a class.
It's not a subculture. <BR>> It's not an aesthetic. It's not a 'real' group
of people at all. <BR>> Instead, it's a technique, most visibly deployed in
Australian <BR>> media, and most clearly so over the last ten or so years,
for <BR>> polarising Australian society while reinforcing the social agenda
of <BR>> the government or ruling social group of the day.<BR>>
<BR>> In the case of the Howard government, parochial and long-standing
<BR>> 'Australian values' have been re-articulated through the figure of
the <BR>> bogan (and similar undesirable "others") to serve their <BR>>
neo-liberal ideological interests. For example, the "battler" and the <BR>>
"fair go" have become "mutual obligation", "queue-jumpers", economic <BR>>
self-interest, and the systematic shift from public to private sector.
<BR>> And you know, I don't see Mark Latham as being substantially
different <BR>> on many of these issues, particularly his obsessive focus
on <BR>> individualism.<BR>> <BR>> But small-l liberals can be
just as divisive. For example, the failure <BR>> of the republican
referendum was interpreted by republican supporters <BR>> at the time as an
"attack of the bogans", those ill-informed morons <BR>> who would be
left-leaning if only they were smart enough. That's why I <BR>> find it
patronising when I hear people bemoaning the stupidity of the <BR>>
Australian electorate last weekend.<BR>> <BR>> Taste patterns, as
Jean points out, are an important way of <BR>> representing this cultural
divide. I actually had a chapter about Kath <BR>> & Kim in the damn
thesis. I argued then (and still believe) that the <BR>> real issue for us
is to analyse how social divisions are constructed <BR>> through the media,
rather than reproducing them in our own thinking.<BR>> <BR>> But
might I add that I am no longer interested in the specific issue <BR>> of
bogans. I just wanted to draw your attention to a wider social <BR>>
technique that I see operating in Australia.<BR>> <BR>>
Cheers,<BR>> <BR>> Mel.<BR>><BR>><BR>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
Find local movie times and trailers on *Yahoo! Movies.* <BR>> <<A
href="http://au.rd.yahoo.com/mail/tagline/*http://au.movies.yahoo.com">http://au.rd.yahoo.com/mail/tagline/*http://au.movies.yahoo.com</A>><BR>><BR>>------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>><BR>>_______________________________________<BR>><BR>>csaa-forum<BR>>discussion
list of the cultural studies association of
australasia<BR>><BR>>www.csaa.asn.au<BR>><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
5<BR>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:03:14 +1000<BR>From: Alan McKee <<A
href="mailto:a.mckee@qut.edu.au">a.mckee@qut.edu.au</A>><BR>Subject:
[csaa-forum] is it possible?<BR>To: <A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A><BR>Message-ID:
<<A
href="mailto:5.1.1.5.2.20041012130221.0128e498@pop.qut.edu.au">5.1.1.5.2.20041012130221.0128e498@pop.qut.edu.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed<BR><BR><BR>>Is it possible to
be intelligent, informed and ethically-aware and vote <BR>>for a right wing
party?<BR><BR>Alan McKee, PhD<BR>Film and Television<BR>Creative Industries
Precinct<BR>Queensland University of Technology<BR>Kelvin Grove<BR>QLD
4059<BR>Australia<BR><BR>07 3864 8235<BR>07 3864 8195
(fax)<BR><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 6<BR>Date:
Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:13:25 +1000<BR>From: John Scannell <<A
href="mailto:diaspora@tig.com.au">diaspora@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Subject: Re:
[csaa-forum] is it possible?<BR>To: CSAA discussion list <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:
<<A
href="mailto:416B4BD5.1060907@tig.com.au">416B4BD5.1060907@tig.com.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed<BR><BR>A good question - Like
'Liberals for Forests'?<BR><BR><BR>Alan McKee wrote:<BR><BR>><BR>>>
Is it possible to be intelligent, informed and ethically-aware and
<BR>>> vote for a right wing party?<BR>><BR>><BR>> Alan McKee,
PhD<BR>> Film and Television<BR>> Creative Industries Precinct<BR>>
Queensland University of Technology<BR>> Kelvin Grove<BR>> QLD
4059<BR>> Australia<BR>><BR>> 07 3864 8235<BR>> 07 3864 8195
(fax)<BR>><BR>> _______________________________________<BR>><BR>>
csaa-forum<BR>> discussion list of the cultural studies association of
australasia<BR>><BR>> <A
href="http://www.csaa.asn.au">www.csaa.asn.au</A><BR>><BR>><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
7<BR>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:13:28 +1000<BR>From: "Nicholls, Susan"
<<A
href="mailto:Susan.Nicholls@canberra.edu.au">Susan.Nicholls@canberra.edu.au</A>><BR>Subject:
[csaa-forum] goebbels<BR>To: "CSAA discussion list" <<A
href="mailto:csaa-forum@darlin.cdu.edu.au">csaa-forum@darlin.cdu.edu.au</A>><BR>Message-ID:<BR><<A
href="mailto:8A6248246535CF4DB0DDB9D0546721570228EED2@spirilium.canberra.edu.au">8A6248246535CF4DB0DDB9D0546721570228EED2@spirilium.canberra.edu.au</A>><BR>Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<BR><BR>Thanks for your note :o) Actually I
find myself being somewhat cheered by the ongoing response in csaa forum. It's
making me feel less minoritised.<BR>It so happens that I am teaching my
first-year professional communication students about propaganda, and came
across that quote. It is really quite frightening how many of the classic
propaganda techniques were used by the coalition during the election
campaign.<BR>Best,<BR>Susan<BR><BR>_____________________________<BR>Dr Susan
Nicholls<BR>School of Professional Communication<BR>Division of Communication
and Education<BR>University of Canberra<BR><BR>Tel 02 6201
5720<BR>_____________________________<BR><BR>> ----------<BR>> From:
Natalya Lusty<BR>> Reply To: CSAA discussion list<BR>> Sent: Monday,
October 11, 2004 4:27 PM<BR>> To: CSAA discussion list<BR>> Subject: Re:
[csaa-forum] FW: ::fibreculture:: The politics of emotion/ Aspirations in the
suburbs<BR>> <BR>> <<File: ATT126995.txt>><BR>> sorry to
flood your inbox - but the Goebbels quote is seriously scary because it is so
apt.<BR>> ...obviously still very depressed :(<BR>> I wonder what
Meaghan will have to say about it all!!! <BR>> <BR>> Nicholls, Susan
wrote:<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Shock is right. Profound melancholy is
another emotion today. Thanks, Danny, for posting Brett's most interesting
analysis. Here is further food for thought. <BR>> <BR>> 'By simplifying
the thoughts of the masses and reducing them to primitive patterns, propaganda
was able to present the complex process of political and economic life in the
simplest terms. ... We have taken matters previously available only to experts
and ... hammered them into the brain of the little man.' - Josef
Goebbels <BR>> <BR>> Also known as: 'It's the economy, stupid', plus
that peculiar amalgam of 'you've never had it so good' (appeal to greed)
sitting cheek-by-jowl with 'we'll all be ruined (if you choose the other mob)'
(appeal to fear).<BR>> <BR>> It's the Family First party that is the
dark horse here - they came from nowhere to (probably) holding the balance in
the Senate. Ye gods.<BR>> <BR>> Susan<BR>>
_____________________________<BR>> Dr Susan Nicholls<BR>> School of
Professional Communication<BR>> Division of Communication and
Education<BR>> University of Canberra<BR>> <BR>> Tel 02 6201
5720<BR>> _____________________________<BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> ----------<BR>> From: Danny Butt<BR>> Reply To: CSAA discussion
list<BR>> Sent: Monday, October 11, 2004 2:54 PM<BR>> To:
csaa-forum<BR>> Subject: [csaa-forum] FW: ::fibreculture:: The politics of
emotion / Aspirations in the suburbs<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Hi all,<BR>>
<BR>> I can imagine most of the Australians on this list are in a state of
shock<BR>> :7, but nevertheless I'd be interested to hear the on-the-ground
reactions<BR>> to the, uh, "commanding" performance by Howard over the
weekend, and what it<BR>> means for Australian culture or its study. I hope
Brett doesn't mind me<BR>> forwarding this from Fibreculture, but it was
one of the most insightful<BR>> discussions I've come across - relevant to
this group, and worthy of wider<BR>> exposure. There are also some
parallels to be drawn in the prevailing<BR>> political mood perhaps with
the terribly sad news of Derrida - I'm thinking<BR>> of the awful attacks
on his work from Chomsky, the Cambridge people etc.<BR>> that seem
motivated by a similar register of fear that Howard plays upon so<BR>>
ruthlessly. Being good, or right, is obviously less important than
being<BR>> familiar.<BR>> <BR>> ------ Forwarded Message<BR>>
From: Brett Neilson <<A
href="mailto:b.neilson@uws.edu.au">b.neilson@uws.edu.au</A>><BR>> Date:
Sun, 10 Oct 2004 11:48:46 +1000<BR>> To: <<A
href="mailto:fibreculture@lists.myspinach.org">fibreculture@lists.myspinach.org</A>><BR>>
Subject: ::fibreculture:: Sad news overnight<BR>> <BR>> Sad news
overnight, the death of Jacques Derrida.<BR>> <BR>> On that other
altogether more tired and predictable business, I'll post a<BR>> piece
(written a few days back) that was published in the Italian newspaper<BR>>
_Il Manifesto_ yesterday, 9 October.<BR>> <BR>> Available in Italian
at:<BR>> <A
href="http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/09-Ottobre-2004/art42.html">http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/09-Ottobre-2004/art42.html</A>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> There's another sum-up piece that I wrote last
night, but I'll post that<BR>> when it's published in a few days
time.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> The politics of emotion.<BR>>
Aspirations in the suburbs. And ours?<BR>> <BR>> BRETT NEILSON<BR>>
<BR>> It would be foolish to believe that an election in Australia could
alter<BR>> the current course of global power. Nor does anyone in Australia
seriously<BR>> expect that a change of government would change life on the
ground much at<BR>> all. Yet, at the international level, the contest
between Howard and Latham<BR>> (due to be decided on 9 October) could have
effects as significant of those<BR>> of the Spanish election of March 2004.
If the Labor Party candidate, Mark<BR>> Latham, wins, the 800 or so
Australian troops in Iraq will be withdrawn by<BR>> Christmas. This would
be the first withdrawal by a coalition-of-the-willing<BR>> country that has
been in Iraq since the beginning of the current U.S.-led<BR>> invasion. But
nobody in Australia is discussing this possibility, least of<BR>> all
Latham himself. Rather, the talk is about the traditional issues that<BR>>
divide the political parties in Australia: health, education, taxes,<BR>>
interest rates, and economic management. Like the question of refugees and>
<BR>> border control, which virtually decided the last election, the issue
of war<BR>> has disappeared in the last days of the campaign, overshadowed
by domestic<BR>> issues and cynical attempts to micro-reward swing
voters.<BR>> <BR>> The reticence of the Labor Party to advertise its
policy on Iraq, like its<BR>> kinder approach to refugees, stems from its
attempt to win back a number of<BR>> marginal seats, usually located on the
fringes of Australia's cities. These<BR>> largely working class areas had
always voted Labor, at least until 1996<BR>> when they voted for the
conservative John Howard, who has maintained a<BR>> stronghold on national
politics ever since. Often dubbed the 'aspirational<BR>> classes,' the
populace of these areas is typically disinvested in the<BR>> processes of
representative democracy, concerned about their opportunities<BR>> for
social and economic betterment, susceptible to the affective claims of<BR>>
nationalism, and harsh in their attitudes to refugees (although many
were<BR>> migrants to Australia themselves). The moderate Latham, 43
years-old and<BR>> Australia's closest answer to a third-way politician,
himself grew up in<BR>> one of these areas: the vast suburban sprawl of
Western Sydney. And his<BR>> predominant rhetoric, which speaks of erecting
a 'ladder of opportunity'<BR>> for all Australians, appeals to these
'aspirational' values. Tuned to the<BR>> findings of focus groups and
opinion polls, Latham's message has gradually<BR>> been stripped of all
reference to the war, border control, or contentious<BR>> issues such as
gay marriage. And the result is boring politics, a campaign<BR>> of social
engineering (with the promised expenditures carefully matched by<BR>>
Howard at every step) that has failed to capture the attention (let
alone<BR>> the imagination) of the voters.<BR>> <BR>> The problem for
Labor is how to win back the 'aspirational' suburban seats<BR>> without
alienating their other base: the middle class, university educated<BR>>
constituencies who generally live closer to the city centres. These
groups<BR>> also deserted the Labor Party in the election of November 2001,
fleeing<BR>> mainly to the Greens (a party allied to the likes of Daniel
Cohn Bendit and<BR>> Joshka Fischer) when Kim Beasley, the former Labor
leader, attempted to<BR>> match Howard's rhetoric on security and border
control in the wake of 11<BR>> September. But this time around, the
desertion to the Greens is unlikely to<BR>> affect only the Labor vote.
There are also many people who live in affluent<BR>> conservative seats who
are threatening to vote Green to protest Howard's<BR>> pro-Bush stance on
the war, refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol, and brutal> <BR>> treatment
of asylum seekers. Derisively labeled 'doctors' wives' by<BR>> conservative
spin doctors, these voters are unlikely to shift the balance<BR>> of power
in the lower house. But they do threaten to give the Greens more<BR>>
leverage in the upper house, a factor that would make life difficult
for<BR>> the major party that wins office (so much so that Howard has
struck a deal<BR>> with the Christianity-based party Family First to
minimize this effect).<BR>> <BR>> It is at this level that the contest
in Australia is most interesting. Not<BR>> because the policies of the
Greens, which often take the form of an<BR>> anti-Americanism with strong
nationalist/protectionist implications, are<BR>> particularly novel, but
because the hate that circulates for Howard, and in<BR>> particular for his
position on Iraq, is the strongest emotional force that<BR>> traverses the
electorate. Such feeling is unlikely to pierce through the<BR>> elaborate
apparatus of image construction, swing vote capture, and focus<BR>> group
policy-making that has become the disease of majoritarian politics.<BR>>
But it carries a lesson, even for those of us committed to a<BR>>
post-representative democracy that does not take the seizure of
political<BR>> power at the level of the nation-state as its primary
objective. If Latham<BR>> is unlikely to win, it is not because his message
fails to resonate with> <BR>> the 'aspirational' voters he has targeted.
Rather it is because, in a media<BR>> saturated culture, the emotional
modulation of voters tends to outweigh<BR>> their openness to arguments of
truth and falsity. Fear, insecurity, and<BR>> precariousness are the order
of the day. And this is what the conservative<BR>> side of politics, in
Australia as elsewhere, has manipulated through a<BR>> skilful exploitation
of the relations between sense and sensitivity. If the<BR>> left is to
respond, it must find something more than a leader who can win a<BR>>
debate but is unable to win an election.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
Free Trade in the Bermuda Triangle ... and Other Tales of<BR>>
Counterglobalization<BR>> <A
href="http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/N/neilson_free.html">http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/N/neilson_free.html</A><BR>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ::posted on ::fibreculture::
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