Re: <nettime> Privacy, Moglen, @ioerror, #rp12 (Lascaux)

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

"Religion" is no more credible than "art," to describe Lascaux, perhaps
much less so due to its hyper-explanatory application to cultures (also
an aggregatingly suspect term) from a polished view, to gloss raw material
with a narrative rationale likely to appeal to consumers, or best, to funders
of research most responsive to religious attribution especially if slathered
with nationalistic significance. Holy Land, Mecca, Wall Street.

Sanctification of cultural sites "world monuments" is no different than
cathedralization nor museumification nor illusory non-proliferation of WMD.
And glorification and disparagement of these preenings is a given, verily
red-neckish, Marxian, atheistic aesthetic of duplicity.

Yet nations promote chauvinistic tourism as a leading industry right up there
with faith-based lotteries, voting, and, pathetically, higher 
education's critical
thinking of fey jadism of the cloud mind. Internet monumentalism joining
millions of minions ant-hiving at mouse, keyboard, and network as if
constructing a pyramid, each ant nudging a blip of quartz up the pile.

Look back from ahead, ah, yes, the Lascaux syndrome favoring the
imaginary past to avoid anxiety of what's now, fear of what's coming.

Nobody venerates the comforting past like the aged.



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