if i changed my profile and avatar and made a thread about the post-marxist view of social quarantine or something i could probably get a book deal rn
under modern capital the workers primary condition is one of alienation. in classical marxism this is alienation from his labor, more specifically the products of his labor. now the failures of late stage neoliberal capitalism force him into literal alienation, into a quarantine.
quarantine as literal and symbolic alienation is, on the mental landscape, at once all three types of semiotic signifier. it is an icon, in that it bears direct resemblance to actual alienation. social distancing is a physical embodiment of the distance between worker and product
it is also what peirce termed “an index” as it is evidence of what is represented in its signification. as smoke proceeds from fire and thus signifies it, this physical alienation stems from the failure of the workers social situation to keep him safe + connected with “real life”
it is also “a symbol” in that the connection between physical isolation and the distance between the actions we take in society and the fruits of those actions, and the dissatisfaction this naturally breeds, is culturally conditioned and not truly innate to the situation.
in short the promoting + in some cases forced practice of social distancing is a type of symbolic hyperreality. we, forced into a culture characterized by atomization and inability to connect with one another, are now forced to inhabit that feeling of isolation in a literal sense
hello. lyotard defined post-modernism as a skepticism of meta-narratives and the only cohesive thread running through the entire coronavirus situation is widespread skepticism towards the general narratives framing it, ie skepticism towards the competing metanarratives about it
what do people who study this stuff actually do with their time. make youtube videos about how the new avengers movie ties in with foucault or something i guess
