Watched “hypernormalization” a few days ago with a friend, the excerpt below caused me to wonder (in an NI context) how detached and alienated most have become from establishment politics & the realities of the power their abdicating through disengaged malaise..

11 comments

1. It’s all a bit abstract and academic isn’t it? Can’t get into that at all. It’s like going to a 6th form art show – it’s nice that people are trying to make sense of some concept or other, but actually are just reading into it too far. I don’t feel like there is any useful parallel with NI.

2. That there is disengagement is inarguable. If voting is the lowest common denominator of democratic politics, then its decline – and it has declined – is a symptom of something. I don’t subscribe to the quack diagnosis that phone screens are to blame; I have more faith in people.

   Other aspects of the social fabric are also coming apart; mass political parties, mass trade unions, churches. All have been hollowed out since their mid-late 20th century heyday, but where they actively try to fulfil a social role, this can go into reverse; e.g. 250,000 joining Reform, 500,000 joining Corbyn’s Labour, mega churches seem to be doing okay at taking in the cash etc.

   Subjectively it feels like other facets of civil society have declined too – Scouting/BB, volunteering, do-gooder type activities that used to give the middle class a feel good sense. Even the working class community work that used to be such a feature of certain areas seems to have fallen away.

   Now, completely legitimate for anyone to demonstrate that I’m wrong; that third paragraph there is entirely subjective and I think all three areas are related, but even if I’m wrong, the shape of society has changed, and I wonder if that’s the cause of the elements described in para 1 & 2, including OP’s disengagement.

3. I’m sure he feels his reasons are valid, but I really, *really* missed his narration on his last few (albeit brilliant) documentary serieses. If anyone’s not aware of his work I’d urge them to have a go, it ranges between eye-opening & ‘you’ll never think about geopolitics and social history quite in the same way again’.

   [*Hypernormalisation*](https://youtu.be/to72IJzQT5k?si=AWnxRTAH4oCUU8wY) is a great place to start. [*The Power of Nightmares*](https://youtu.be/yK3wz-OyR1U?si=pdO5opM1QfrCMOPt) and [*Bitter Lake*](https://youtu.be/84P4dzow1Bw?si=O0roi-mUIy_as0I8) were made a decade apart but nonetheless make a fantastic double bill.

   After watching those two many people who’ve been recommended his work go on to inhale everything else he’s ever done without blinking.

   Most of his stuff’s available either on iPlayer or YouTube. Fkn fantastic filmmaker.

4. I think it’s a combination of things. I agree that the quickened evolution of personal technology has been a huge contributor. But then, in our own political world, it’s exacerbated by deeply entrenched tribal politics.

   I don’t think anyone would argue that we are seeing the same issues across the Western world, such as failing public services, housing, cost of living, etc.

   Even before this, there has been growing political apathy as we are faced with the feeling powerlessness in the face of our leader’s inaction & ineptitude (not forgetting regular bouts of brazen corruption).

   But now, it’s become endemic and is creating a similar extreme political divide that hasn’t been seen since post first World War.

   We are unusual because even parties that do actually want to take action (right or left) are drowned out by tribalism. We sit in a crumbling mess, and our leaders do nothing. Absolutely fuck all except bleat about community point scoring, whataboutery, and shit that doesn’t actually make a meaningful difference to our lives

   I dont blame young voters for not turning up. What hope should there be when the people in charge have chosen to squander the good will of the peace agreement in the face of ever growing social detachment. What else is there? Might as well get lost in the phone screen

   Anyway. Rant over

5. Do you think in that clip that Patti Smith was just at high, and may have been high a lot? Ok, that’s a side point.

   I feel that over 25 years after the GFA there’s a feeling of political stagnation here in NI, with politicians stuck in their old ways, or when they struggle to achieve anything solid, getting stuck in the usual tribal politics, or for some parties more to my liking getting a bit distracted with culture war issues stoked by the right wing.

   I’m struggling to see any solid improvements that politicians here are making for the betterment of people here economically, educationally or for their health. It’s making me feel very detached and despondent.

6. I’m from NI and I criticise music as a hobby. I mention this clip in my Patti Smith review. Adam Curtis is quite a compelling and persuasive sort, difficult to rebutt, but the clip was a rare instance for me to know enough to be able to cry foul. Review here: [https://storpen.substack.com/p/patti-smith-horses-arista-records](https://storpen.substack.com/p/patti-smith-horses-arista-records)

   In answer to your question, we are being given less and less accurate or complete information about our own politics. It seems as though there has been a collective abdication of responsibility and that our own institutions are passively allowing the forces around them to overwhelm every chance they get. It feels as though a (fully accurate) perception of injustice must be there at all times, lest someone have a hope. There is certainly a lot to distract too, and it’s too much for too many. I don’t think that the design we are caught in is orchestrated by any local concern, and I’m certain that our local political apparatus is equally caught in it. Rather it is the international colossus of new power systems which is pulling focus, like an in-flight entertainment system malfunctioning and triggering a plane crash.

7. People are exhausted/disappointed with specifically politics locally because there is no delivery IMHO. I don’t think bureaucracy has gotten markedly more impenetrable, it always was.

8. One of the most illuminating parts of the documentary was that the powers that be want people to be active online. Take the protest off the street. Collect online. Be in an echo-chamber. Feel a sense of achievement whilst actually not achieving anything. A detachment from reality and a form a dopamine. Everyone and nobody has a voice online and the entire space is there to contain us from actual political change.

   Technology is both bringing us together whilst disengaging us. We now have access to more information and news than we ever had before and we don’t know what to do with it. Everyone is both an expert and an idiot. And the worst part? We know all the above and we still don’t know what to do about it. It’s arrested development and it’s only going to become worse with AI.

9. Join CATU.

10. Fantastic documentary. His other films are great and woke me up to the concept of self depreciation propaganda. Our governments all across the west create theatrical performances to create an illusion of democracy. We never really truly know what’s organic and what’s cleverly staged in terms of movements, demonstrations and gurus.

    Things that give you just enough hope that ‘change is coming’, without actually ever changing anything useful. While the cogs of power continue to turn in the background. Protesting and signing an online form? Don’t care, we will do what we want.

    Our great dystopia is noticing the lack of self determination / private freedom of house ownership, car ownership, healthy nutritional food free of poisonous substances and corporate greed. A country full of people with no strong sense of self or cultural roots or cohesion. Easy to govern. Subservient.

    Every politician is compromised. Don’t forget that.

11. Adam Curtis’ films are always a good watch, but sometimes there is so much going on that I’m not sure there is a point of to it..

    Most of the takeaway is just a bleak nihilism that people can’t control their governments.

    But I think that has always been the case for all of human existence

    A group at the top who exacts control and expect the plebs to fall in line.

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