Episode 211: Back To Basics

December 7, 2022

Central Thesis

Ad-supported media inherently corrupts public discourse by prioritizing advertisers' interests over truth, limits genuine expression, and actively "desublimates" subversive or challenging content to maintain the status quo, necessitating a constant effort of "déterminement" to reclaim meaning.

Key Arguments

• Media is inherently biased toward advertisers. Jim asserts that corporate media is "100% fake" and designed to move product, not inform or engage in genuine discourse. Advertisers dictate acceptable content.
• Advertising dictates content. Shows that criticize consumption or brands are unlikely to be found on broadcast stations, because these stations depend on advertising revenue.
• Parody as a tool of "déterminement." Altering advertising or branded imagery ("déterminement") can break its subconscious hold, making consumers aware of manipulation. He quotes Ken Jennings, "in tuning it out, you've made it even more dangerous because now the agent has subconscious power over you".
• Sublimation, desublimation, and resublimation. Jim introduces these terms to describe the dynamic tension between subversive content and its co-option by corporate interests. "Sublimation" imbues the mundane with awe, while "desublimation" removes this awe by forcing conformity. "Resublimation" is the reclamation of the sublime through acts of "déterminement."
• Repressive Desublimation in popular media. He cites MASH as an example of a show that, while subversive, never questioned the underlying capitalist structure or the influence of advertising itself.
• Importance of independent media. Jim argues that low-cost mediums like podcasting are crucial for disseminating messages critical of advertising and the status quo, as exemplified by Omnibus's discussion of AdBusters.
• Continuous battle for meaning. The struggle between "déterminement" and "recuperation" is ongoing. The key is to keep questioning and resisting the co-option of subversive ideas.

Notable Passages

• "The official media, the old media, is 100% fake. It's basically whatever the advertisers want. It's whatever they think is going to move product. There is no reason to expect that the corporate media will be anything other than some kind of eye and ear candy that is used to sell advertising."
• "Once you know, for example, that it is almost impossible to see media content supported by ads that criticizes advertising, you start to see that news cannot report on what really is newsworthy if that newsworthy news involves advertisers."
• "What can be desublimated can later be returned to a sublime state, perhaps using acts of déterminement. In fact, if the déterminement comes in the form of creative vandalism or parody, I would call that, subversive resublimation."

Rhetorical Approach

Jim utilizes a meandering, conversational style peppered with personal anecdotes, historical references, and pop-culture examples. He uses self-deprecating humor, like acknowledging his tendency to forget things, to build rapport. He employs extended analogies (like the discussion of "sublimation" and its derivatives) to illustrate complex concepts. The episode hinges on an "ah-ha" moment realized through connections between disparate sources.

Connections

• Previous "Attack Ads!" episodes (102, 9, 5, 3, 14)
• Tim Wu's The Attention Merchants
• Herbert Marcuse's concept of "repressive desublimation"
• The Situationists' concept of "déterminement"
• Adbusters magazine
• The podcast Omnibus with John Roderick and Ken Jennings
• The documentary The Minimalists
• The TV show MASH
• The Dana Carvey show