Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics

Information and Infrastructure Technology Act (1993), 36

Inhofe, James, 153

institutions. See civil institutions; global zero institution; labor unions

International Monetary Fund, 54

Internet: Bush's removal of documents from, 149; characteristic uses of, 43- 44; fantasy of abundance and, 25-26; inequalities of structure in, 28-30; interpassivity on, 31, 37-38; linkg practices on, 44-45; mass mobilizing via, 4 7-48; neoliberal perspective on, 56; 9 / 11 truth videos on, 155-58; political empowerment via, 36-42; as public's preferred news source, 145- 46; second opinions via, 64; value of abundance vs. scarcity and, 179- 8onn; as zero institution, 42-45. See also bloggers and blogging; contributions; networked communications media

interpassivity concept, 31, 37-38

Iran: in Bush's axis of evil, 951 97, 118-19, 121, 188-89n9

Iraq: in Bush's axis of evil, 95, 97, 118"-191 121, 188-89n9

Iraq War: Abu Ghraib prison and, 72, 134; analysis of, 19-20, 140; Bush's mission accomplished speech on, 118-19; Bush's persistence in justifying, 10, 25, 81-83; condemnation of, 141; democratic theory on run-up to, 81-92; fake news about, 8; opposition to, 46, 81- 86, 93; public deception in, 15

Israel: criticism against, 129

Jackson, Henry M., 191043
Jeferson, Thomas, 106-7

Johnson, Lyndon B., 106-7

Jones, Steven E., 158- 61

J orke, Dirk, 77

Journal of 9 I 11 Studies, 158

justice: democracy's inability to represent, 76; personal freedom vs. social, 33-34; preemptive, 71-72. See also criminal justice system

Kane, Tim, 69

Kant, Immanuel, 135

Kennedy, John F., 105-6, 145, 158

Keynesianism: criminal justice in, 71- 72; demise of, 54-55; necessities for consumption in, 68; regulatory emphasis in, 52-53; symbolic identities in, 66- 67, 73· See also welfare state

King, Samanth� 6

I<insell� Sophie, 7o

knowledge: belief vs., 188n3; Reagan's categorization of evil as, 108-14; as seemingly neutral, 88-89. See also certainty and credibility; facts; unknowingness and unknowabilit}r

Korean conflict, 104

Krugman, Paul, 19�ru2

Kurtz, Stanle}7i 188n8

labor unions: decline of, 6s, 185n45; left's retreat from, 34; neoliberals' breaking of, 54

Lacan, Jacques (and Lacanian psychoanalysis) : on ambiguity oflanguage, 169; applying theories of, 77; four discourses of, 79-80; on imaginary and Real alance, 113; on letter and destination, 46; on objet petit a, 99; on operation of the symbolic, 63-66, 127, 185n4o; on the other (Internet), 44; on overidentification, 61-62; on position of truth, 88; on psychosis, 151-52, 162, 166-69; on sex:uation, 192n6; on subject-supposed-to-know vs. subject-supposed-to-believe, 188n3. See also enjoyment (jouissance) ; hysteric discourse; master discourse; pervert discourse; university discourse

210

INDEX

Laclau, Ernesto, 44, 186n2, 186n64

language: ambiguities of, 169; of evil, 15- 16, 100-101, 189n16; particularities of, 45; social link established in, 63- 64, 185n4o; of victimization, 4-10.

See also communication; speech acts law: on hate speech, 125-26; as j oke, 119-20; political conflict over, 14; sovereignty produced in suspension of, 129-36; state power increased in, 132; violent irrational element in, 134

Lebowitz, Michael, 53, 55

Lefort, Claude, 85

left (political) : capitalism accepted by, 15- 16, 34-35, 77; collective action repudiated by, 33, 35-36, 53; communication as key category for, 32- 33; democratic rhetoric of, 10, 16-17, 75-78, 93-94; dreams of, 10, 13, 17- 18; failures of, 1 - 4, 33-38, 53, 76-77, 174-75; global neoliberal capitalism accepted by, 9, 15-16, 33 -35, 77; politicization by, 14- 16; as victims, 4-10. See also democracy; ethics; fantasies networked communications media

Lemke, Thomas, 183n7

Levi-Strauss, Claude, 42, 182n41

Levy, Dominique, 53

, Lewinsky, Monica, 3

liberalism vs. neoliberalism, 51-52

liberal parliamentarianism, 13

Lincoln, Bruce, 192n57

Locke, John, 52

Loose Change (film), 155-59

Many-2-Many (group blog), 40

Marcuse, lferber� 179n32

market: failures of, 56-57; neoliberal vs.

Keynesian views compared, 51 -55; as vehicle for enjoyment, 51, 58. See also free trade

marketing: of political decisions, 22; as system of distrust, 148; technological fix as creating opening for, 38; ubiquity vs. scarcity and, 179-8onu. See also advertising

market-porn motifs, 62

Marx, Karl, 132-33

Marxism and Marxism-Leninism: as evil, no-12; left's retreat from, 34; opposition to, 52. See also comunism

master discourse: change in, 127; concept of, 79-80; doubling of authority in, 117-18; fraud in, 84-85; protestors' demands as reinforcing, 83-84; truth in, 88

McCain, John, 153

media: on Bush's "resolve;' 116-17; consumer as producer in, 4; content as just opinon in, 21; on evil, 99-100; on excessive consumer, 69-70; facts suspected in, 146-47; failures of new media activists and, 9-10; fake news in, 7-8; on justifications for Iraq War, 19-20; on political divide, 75; preferred news sources in, 145-46; reality-based community in, 64-65, 88; role of alternative, 172-75; skepticism about, 163; televangelism and free trade in, 184n3o. See also film and movies; Internet; networked communications media

messages: circulation and use value of, 26-28; uncoupled from responses, 18om3; without responses, 22-24, 46-48. See also contributions

microchunking concept, 178ru6

Miller, Daniel, 69

Miller, Jacques-Alain, 185n40

Mink, Gwendolyn, 18o-8m231 181n24

INDEX

211

moral depletion diagnosis, 189ru6

morphings: of antiwar messages into content flow, 20; of content into opinion, 21; as enactments ofbecoming, 8; of imaginary identities, $6 6 - 6 7 ,$ 73; of message into contribution, 26- 28

Morrow, Lance, 99-100, 189m9

Moufe, Chantal, 13-14, 186n64

Mount Pelerin Society, 52

MoveOn, 46-47

Munck, Ronalda, 68, 183n9

Muselmann figure, 135

music file sharing, 36-37

MySpace, 4, 17, 31

Nader, Ralph, 2

Napster, 36-37

nation: as zero institution, 43· See also state

Nation (magazine), 19, 123

National .Association ofEvangelicals, 109

National Information Infrastructure Act (1993), 36

National Welfare Rights Organization, 181n24

Negri, Antonio, 65-66

N�iman, Susan, 189ru7

Nelson, Ted, 36

neoliberalism: benefits of, 3-4; as constructivist project, 182n1; crhninal justice in, 71-72; democracies' protection of, 76; d_�velopment of, 51-53, 183n7; erasure of alternatives to, 49, 53, 55; ethics of generosity as response to, 123-24; fantasy of, 49-51, 55-62, 72; governmentality in, 63 -72; implementation of, 52-55; inequalities occluded in, 28, 57, 62; left's acceptance of, 9, 15-16, 33-35, 77; strengthened in communicative capitalism, 47-49, 119-20; symbolic norms

replaced by imaginary ideals in, 66- 67, 73; technological structure of, 23; universals argued in, 16. See also economic neoliberalization; free trade; global neoliberal capitalism

Netherlands: food safety debate in, 45 networked communications media: amplifcation and intensification of, 31-32, 93; denial and exclusion inherent in,, $\mathbf { 4 1 - 4 2 } ;$ fantasy of abundance and, 25-27; f�tasy of wholeness as animating, 42-45; growth and preferential attachment in, 29-30; implications of, 4, 17; inequalities of structure in, 28-30; navigational differences in, 43; neoliberalism strengthened in, 47-48; particular global as produced in, 45; political empowerment via, 36-42; political participation juxtaposed to, 23-24; political trauma covered over by, 35- 36; presumed left orientation of, 147; proliferation, expansion, and intensifcation of, 22-23; psychotic's need for recognition met by, 167-69; in repressive regimes, 93; resistance via, 24j revelation and openness touted for, 148; role of alternative, 17.2-75. See also communicative capitalism; contributions; democratic rhetoric; specifc media outlets

New York City: 1975 fiscal crisis in, 183n9; poll about 9 I 11 in, 145

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 72, 125

9 l 11 Commission, 170

9 I 11 Commission Report, 154

9 In truth movement: Bush's certainty compared with, 169-71; certainty and skepticism combined in, 150-51, 154- 55; conflict over, 146-48; decline of symbolic eficiency and, 165-66; diverse participants in, 158-6o; divisions in, 160- 62; facts asserted in,

212

INDEX

149- so; Internet circulation and, 155- 58; made-it-happen-on-purpose (MIHOP) and let-it-happen-onpurpose (LIH OP) segments o£ 146; power and passivity underlying, 171- 72; public opinion poll and, 145; stigmatization o£ 152-54, 159- 60; university discourse linked to, 151-52, 158 - 62, !68-69

Nixon, Richard M., 107, 190n37

No Child Left Behind, 71 57

North Korea: in Bush's axis of evil, 95, 971 118-19, 121, 188- 89n9

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963), 106

Obama, Barack, 9
obscenity: evil compared with, 121

O PEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), 53

Operation Northwoods, 157

Oxford Union Society, 111-12, 114

Palley, Thomas, 183n7

Pareto, Vilfredo, 29

Pariser, Eli, 46

Passavant, Paul A, 63, 67-68, 71, 131

peer-to-peer file sharing and networks, 36-37. See also networked communications media

People's Computer Company, 36

,Perelman, Michael, 34

performative contradiction concept, 100, 189-90021

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996), 35

pervert discourse: Bush as example o£ 84-87; Bush's vacuous resolve in, 114-20; concept o£ 79- 80; other's wil in, 187n21

Phillips, Kevin, 153

Pink Bloc, 181n27

Plame, Valerie, 15

political action and participation: computer use figured as, 36- 42; consumer choices as, 6, 34-35; Internet vs. local settings o£ 31-33, 49; media proliferation juxtaposed to, 23 ·- 24; possibility for resistance in, 24; voter turnout, 1, 17, 179n34

political demonology concept, 188n5
political trauma concept, 35-36

politicization: approach to project o£ .16; raising individual to universal in, 14-16. See also depoliticization diagnosis; left (political); right (political)

politics: circulation of content vs. oficial policy, 20- 21; communicative acts as, 32-33; consensus of reality presumed in, 14 7; demonization in, 188ns; denial o£ 123-24; of disclosure, 38-39; displaced onto everyday, 39-40; divisions necessary for, 75-76; failures of, 11-12; frustrations with electoral, 2; language of evil in, 100-101, 189m6; party identification in, 1, 17702; religious invocations in, 97-99; social construction in, 7-8; structure of address and condemnation in, 136-42; tinknowingness as conditioning, 142-43. See also elections ( 2ooo-2008); left (political); post-politics; right (political)

Pollin, Robert, 54-55

p opularity: circular claims o£ 22; subjectivization o£ 177n8

Popular Mechanics (magazine), 154

postdemocracy concept, 10-11

Poster, Mark, 179-8onu, 182n33

postideology claim, 4 7

postmodernism: in corporate capitalism, 8-9; evil linked to, 188n8; as ideological, 97; political triumph o£ 7- 8. See also relativism

post-politics: concept o£ 10-12; as exclusion of political, 13 - 16; as ideal of inclusion and consensus, 13-14 poverty. See inequalities

INDEX

213

Powell, Colin, 118

power: communicative capitalism as protecting and immunizing, 119–20; evil, secret ty pe of, 117–18; failure to take responsibility for, 181n27; governmentality and dispersion of, 125– 28; governmentality and extension of, 130-31; self-production and excess of, 171–72; of technology fetishism, 41– 42; victims of, vs. claims of, s–6

power-law degree distributions, 29-30

private property ideas, 36–37

privatization: communicative deluge linked to, 23; governments' adoption of, 54-55; realities of, 56–57

psychosis: belief displaced by, 171–72; crisis of symbolic investiture linked to, 162, 164–65; Jacques Lacan on, 151–52, 162, 166–69; need for recognition in, 167–69; normal actions compared with, 166-68; role of media and, 172-75

psychotic discourse: emergence of, 168– 69. See also 9/11 truth movement

Radio B92 (Serbia), 24

Ranciere, Jacques, 13–14, 178n24

Rawls, John, 13, 82

Reagan, Ronald: on evil, 15–16, 95–96, 108–14, 191nn43-45; movie career of, 191n48; neoliberalism of, 52-54; political demonology of, 188ns; realism of, 111−13

reality: of Bush, 64–65, 88, 90; change in status of, 64–65; in communicative capitalism, 56–57, 147–48; imaginary in alliance with, 113-14; media based in, 64–65, 88; presumed in politics, 147; psychotic rejection of, 166–67; of Reagan, 111–13

registration effect, 31

relativism: absolutist conviction combined with, 95–96, 120–21; evil and, 100; as ideological, 97. See also postmodernism

religious discourse: Bush's vacuous resolve and, 116–20; freedom in, 105; neoliberalism supplemented by, 60, 184n29; pluralism of, 98–99; prominence in United States, 97–98; public/private and, 104, 113; Puritan jeremiad in, 101; Reagan's approach to evil and, 109–12, 191n44

religious right: Coulter's view of, 189nı1; disagreements among, 98–99; prominence in United States, 97–98. See also evangelical Christianity

resignification and reappropriation: potential of, 127; sovereignty and, 128-36

resistance: of Bush to exchange of reasons, 85–87; lost when enemies accept one's terms, 9–10; via networked communications media, 24

responses. See êssages

revolution: use of term, 32, 101

Revolution Church (Manitou Spring), 60, 185n32

Reynolds, Morgan, 161

rhizome metaphor, 30

Rice, Condoleezza, 151, 157, 188–89n9

Rich, Frank, 8

right (political): critical account of, 153; democratic rhetoric of, 75; elections read as triumph of, 2–5; ethics of generosity as response to, 123-24; left's views of, 1–2, 5; politicization by 14–16; postmodernism and, 8, 97; Reagan's realism praised by, 112-13; revolution claimed by, 32, 101; on taking human life, 135. See also religious right

rights discourse, 5

Rogers, Richard, 44–45

Rogin, Michael, 108, 188n5, 191n48

214

INDEX

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 101 -3, 105, 114

Rove, Karl, 7-8

Rubenstein, Diane, 187m7, 192nss

Rmnsfeld, Donald, 85, 157

Sass en, Saskia, 23, 131-32

scale-free network concept, 29-30

Schmitt, Carl, 13, 148, 187n29

Scholars for 9 In Truth: critique against, 161\_62; diverse participants in, 158- 60; divisions in, 160 - 61; facts asserted by, 149-so

Schor, Juliet B., 68

Schreber, Daniel Paul, 164-65, 167-68

September n, 2001: breaking deadlock surrounding, 172- 75; Bush's confused response to, 19, 116-17; condemnation of, 140; discourse of fear and terror after, 96\_99; independent investigation of, 193 -94m6; language of victimization after, 6-7; losses of, 150, 166; neoliberal perspective on, 56; oficial account of, 169-70, 174-75; opinion polls concerning, 145-46; overlap and gap of oficial and conspiracy theories about, 171-72; resignifcations after, 128-30. See also 9 I 1 truth movement; war on terror

Serbia: political resistance in, 24

sexual diference: as zero institution, 43

Shapiro, Michael ]., 100 -101, 188-89n9, 189n16

Shirley, Clay; 40

Shldar, Judith, 192n8

Silverstein, Larry, 157

Simon, Jonathan, 72

singularities (term), 65. See also individual/ singular I personal mindset

Smith, Adam, 183n7

socialism, 93

social movements: antiwar, 19-20; civil rights, 15, 106; identities mobilized in, 6s-66; rights discourse of, 5

social networking technology. See networked communications media

social order: discipline vs. control in, 65\_66; fantasy of wholeness covering, 38

social solidarity: left's retreat from, 7, 33-35

Somalia: excesses (evil) in, 112

space: consensual, 193n4; symbolic, 64- 65

spectacle: filg desire for, 173- 75; politics of disclosure and, 39· See also September 11, 2001

speech acts: extralegal status of oficial, 130; idealized as sovereign acts, 125- 26; structure or scene of, 136-42. See also contributions; language; messages; resignification and reappropriation; symbolic eficiency, decline of

spirituality: neoliberal perspective on, 59\_60. See also religious discourse Spotrunner, 178n16

INDEX

215

state: collusion in neoliberalism, 49-50; fundamental role of, 35; left's retreat from, 33, 35-36; nation as zero institution, 43; regulatory function of, 52, 58-59. See also security

Stone, Oliver, 61

Storms, Sam, 6o

subjects and subjectivization: address and self�accounts of, 136-42; celeb� rity and conspiracy modes of, 177n8; as enjoined to enjoy, 66-67, 731 128, 132-34; inconsistencies and respon� sibilities of, 142-43; passivity of, 169- 70; psychotic vs. normal, 166-68; registration efect and, 31; speech acts and, 126-27; symbolic investiture of, 162, 164-65

Sudan: excesses (evil) in, 112

Sumers, Lawrence, 129

Sunstein, Cass R, 181-82n31

Suskind, Ron, 64-65

symbolic eficiency, decline of: anxieties and domination in, 132-33; certainty, skepticism, and, 162-64; concept of, 63-67, 127-28; cdsis of investiture in context of, 1621 164-65; evil vs. good and, 113-14; paranoid psychosis in context of, 162, 166-69; unkowi:D.gness and, i42-43

technology fetishism: failures ofleft and, 33-38; MoveOn as exemplar of, 46-47; operational modes of, 38-42; political energies located in, 31- 33· See also media;' networked communications media

Telecommunications Act (1996), 36

television: advertising on, 179-8onu; ratings system of, 18om3

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, 3s

Thatcher, Margaret: anti-welfare state policy under, 7, ss; competition

precept of, 57; neoliberalism of, 52- 54

third-way thesis, n, 13

Thompson, Dennis: Bush's war justifed b}lj 93; on deliberative democracy, 81- 83, 91-92; on questioning and argument, 84-85; in university discourse context, 87-90, 151

Time (magazine), 158

torture, 72, wo, .134

totalitarianism: as evil, no-141 191nn43- 45

Transportation Security Administration, 7-8

Treanor, Paul, 183n7

Trinity Broadcasting Company, 184n3o

Truman, Harry s., 102-S, 114

Turkey: post-World War II assistance for, 103

Turner, Fred, 181n29

United Nations, 112, 114

United States: economi� crisis in 1970s, 53-54; legacy of evil in, 108-1o; as sovereign over international norms, 130

universality and universalization: concept of, 78, 186m; democracy as obstacle to, 77; as terrain of political claims, 22

university discourse: certainty and skepticism combined in, 151; concept of, 8o; deliberative democracy in terms of, 87-92; democracy as radical ideal in, Bo-83; everyday compared with, 77i 9 I 11 movement linked to, 151-52, 158-62, 168-69; on status ofhumanities, 136

unknowingness and unkowability: attunement to, 142-43; in human relations, 136-38

USA Patriot Act (2o01), 131

U.S. Congress, 25, 69, 83

U.S. Constitution, 126

216

INDEX

INDEX

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 7--8

U.S. Department of State, 8, 154

USS Abraham Lincoln, 118-19

U.S. Supreme Court, 131

Vanity Fair (magazine), 156

victims: language o£ 4-10

victim-security matrix, 6-7

Vietnam War, 107

voter turnout, 1, 17, 179n34

Wall Street (film), 61

Wark1 McKenzie, 182n4 7

war on teror: axis-of-evil speech in context o£ u8-19; Bush's ontology of evil in, 119-20; Bush's vacuous resolve in, 116 -17; opposition to, 174- 75; resignifications in1 128-30

·washington Consensus, 54, 57

wealth concentration1 23-25, 76. See also inequalities; neoliberalism

weapons of mass destruction ( WMD s), 19-20, 188-89n9

Web 2.0, 4· See also networked communications media

welfare state: competition as rationale against, 57; feminism's failure to fight for, 18o-81n23; left's role in collapse o£ 7, 33-351 101, 181n24; neoliberal dismantling o£ 71 55· See also Keynesianism
wholeness: fantasy o£ 381 4·2-45

Wilams1 Armstrong, 7

Wilson, Joseph, 15

Wilson, Kenneth1 29

Wood, JudYi 161

workers and the poor: left's retreat from1 7, 33- 35. See also inequalities; labor unions

World Bank1 54

World Trade Center, 157. See also 9 I 11
truth movement; September n, 2001

World Wide Web1 43. See also Internet; networked communications media

YouTube, 4, 17, 31, 148

Zelikow, Philip1 151

zero institution, 42-45

Zinn, Howard, 159

^Zizek1 Slavoj: on capitalism, 8, 186n6s; on democracy, 76-77; on enjoyment1 so} 132-33J 182n3; on fantasy in ideol-Og}lj 55-58; on four discourses, 79- 8o; on Hegel1 861 188n2; on ideological identifcation, 61--62; on the inhuman, 135; on interpassivit}lj 31; on law, 134; on loss as object, 150; on modes of dreaming, 10; on post-politics1 13- 16; on surplus value, 132-33; on symbolic eficiency decline, 63-67, 127- 28, 162-64, 192n6; on two figures of the master, 117-18; on university discourse, 88; on victory in defeat, 7; on zero institution, 42-43

217