Sunday, October 07, 2007
Happy Birthday to some body!!
Between girlfriends, we have this ongoing conversation about Eros versus Romantic Love. Yesterday, this comment: yeah, the notion of romantic love is really a capitalist construct. If the sole province of legitimate and sacred love is monogamy within marriage , then it is in the interest of capitalism to manage and control that institution and conversely, to punish and discipline all those who dare to express love outside of this romantic notion. And as couples find themselves imprisoned inside the institution, how much better for capitalists to find profitable ways of prescribing products for coping with marital misery: couples therapy, expensive divorce proceedings, sleeping pills and other addictions, self-help books, cosmetic surgeries, etc. And then there are the escape mechanisms available mostly to men: illegitimate dalliances in airport restrooms, at the White House, at pink brothels in the desert, etc, etc. The more numbed and distracted, because most folks no longer have access to or have forgotten how to construct their own History, the better it is for capitalists. The keyword is: History. This history that defines Love has been defined by western philosophers of subjectivity where women have always found themselves defined only in patriarchal terms. This is violence to men and to women alike.
Between girlfriends, we have this ongoing conversation about Eros versus Romantic Love. Yesterday, this comment: yeah, the notion of romantic love is really a capitalist construct. If the sole province of legitimate and sacred love is monogamy within marriage , then it is in the interest of capitalism to manage and control that institution and conversely, to punish and discipline all those who dare to express love outside of this romantic notion. And as couples find themselves imprisoned inside the institution, how much better for capitalists to find profitable ways of prescribing products for coping with marital misery: couples therapy, expensive divorce proceedings, sleeping pills and other addictions, self-help books, cosmetic surgeries, etc. And then there are the escape mechanisms available mostly to men: illegitimate dalliances in airport restrooms, at the White House, at pink brothels in the desert, etc, etc. The more numbed and distracted, because most folks no longer have access to or have forgotten how to construct their own History, the better it is for capitalists. The keyword is: History. This history that defines Love has been defined by western philosophers of subjectivity where women have always found themselves defined only in patriarchal terms. This is violence to men and to women alike.
(I know. A writing mentor once told me that my brain is rushing with too many things to say and my pen can't keep up. So if the above sounds cryptic, my brain is on overdrive. Ask me again later when I have slowed down to explain better.)
Later that evening, as I was listening to Van Jones (you can buy and download files from Bioneers) talk about California's gulag/prison economy, I couldn't help but think about my previous blogmeditations about war as porn, about prison and education, about the repression of Eros... it all somehow connects and makes sense.
to be continued...this body needs to go for a long walk...
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