NONE
OF THIS IS REAL
Ideology from a capitalist Hellscape
Tulloch argues that ‘objects perpetuate and disseminate social values’ that construct the human experience (Tulloch, 2016, p.156). The issue with this argument lies within the inference that there is a profound reality behind the social values that are invested within objects: that there are Real objects. I argue that rather than perpetuating and disseminating culture, objects are in and of themselves culture, and thus an ideological construct. ‘Objects’ do not ‘enable abstract ideas to be grasped’ (Tulloch, 2016, p.156), but denature the abstract, forcing it into the realm of culture, which within late capitalist systems, is ultimately destructive. To understand the depths of this cultural ideology, first, Lacan’s definition of the Real versus reality will be analysed. This will then be used to affirm Baudrillard’s concept of simulation, whilst maintaining the importance of material implications of ideology. Capitalist manipulation will then be discussed through analysis of systems of objects, namely systems of space, time, body, identity, desire, and production.
Scales and Perception
Before introducing ideological implications that affect our notions of ‘objects’, we must observe the physical and linguistic issue with defining objects. Our understanding of reality, and thus objects, is constructed through a human scale. Adorno suggests the beginning of this egocentric perception to be with the theorisation of psychology (through thinkers such as Protagoras, 490BC), which ‘elevated man by conceiving him as the scale of all things’ (Adorno, 1974, p.63). The perception of material through a human scale forges oversimplified, reductionist concepts of matter. Human perception is incredibly limited, firstly within scales of space and secondly within scales of time, thus a human understanding of objects occurs through creating edges of things in relation to body size and life span (Morton, 2013, p. 31, 60, 72, 89). If we remove these scales, we admit to the abstract nature of the infinitely small and infinitely large: each ‘object’ simultaneously becomes atoms and universe. Thus, obsessive categorisation of the abstract Real marks humanity’s first step away from objective truth and fall into ideologically constructed reality.
Lacan suggests the ultimate affirmation of subjective reality to occur through language (Lacan, 1953, p.17, 24). Language is the means through which reality is actualised: an object does not exist when undefined by language, and thus language is what makes us believe in objects, and object-constructed reality. Outside of language, matter is fluid, abstract, uncategorised, and thus unable to be dominated. This is what Lacan regards as the Real, which lacks comprehensive meaning to humans as it cannot be perceived – the perception of it forges reality which is subjective, and inherently absent of truth (Lacan, 1953, p.31).
The postmodernist would claim that there is no objective truth, only metaphor. Within reality, this holds true, however the Real (which may not be perceived, once it is perceived it is once again reality) is objective truth. Reality and the Real are also not opposing concepts, reality reflects the Real, though this reflection functions on a scale between profound truth and pure simulation (Baudrillard, 1994, p.6). Baudrillard explains this scale through stages of simulacra:
Figure I – Stages of Simulacra
All are reality, and none are Real. This scale proves that ‘some metaphors are better’, in their reflection of the Real, ‘than others,’ and thus simply claiming that everything is a metaphor is flattening, too reassuring, leading to peace with destructive cultural systems that mutilate all living creatures (persons, planets, ect.) (Morton, 2013, p.4).
Introduction to ‘systems’
Capitalism thrives on a blindness to the ideology that constructs it. Thus, it must naturalise itself, claim that subjective reflections of the Real are profound truth. It has successfully done so: integrated itself and its normalisation of oppression, exploitation, individualism, humiliation, and segregation into the corners of our psyche (Fisher, 2009, p.34). This is to keep its blood source – profit – pumping. Profit: the apex, and justification for the suffering of millions, is fundamentally nothing, but a nothing that has become a necessity for life to continue - we must work to afford food that keeps our bodies alive. This constructs a culture that must be obsessed with an arbitrary value (money), and which denounces the intrinsic needs of the human (such as community and solidarity) to acquire such (Marx, 1844, p.30).
This system has eaten us. To see through it is to see that every object and structure of ‘reality’ aims to disguise the ideological nature of itself. It aims to silence questioning: What is the motive of the system? Or is this simply absurdity? - white noise to fill the craving that settles at the back of one’s throat once they become aware of themselves, realising that sentience is fundamentally purposeless. Through this lens, capitalism can be seen as a religious practice - its subjects defending its omnipotence in the fear of the abstractness that exists outside of it.
Ideology and Material
Though we exist in a reality that is purely ideological, we must not sever ideology from the material realm. Ideology imposes itself onto the material violently, creating Real suffering for all beings: people, biospheres, planets, etc. This imposition grows more violent as humanity defers more of its muscle power to automated mechanisms, deferring guilt for the action that stems from personal intention. To wield a sword (a technical object that requires muscular force to function) that cuts off someone’s head carries more guilt than pressing a button on a mechanism (a technological object that operates through mechanism initiated by human gesture) that carries out an identical action (Baudrillard, 1996, p.46, 58). The imposition onto the material grows more invisible, even guiltless, the smoother the form (external appearance) of the technological object becomes. Consider the same death-mechanism to be inside a concrete, soundproof box, which the button to function is placed on the outside. The perpetrator of the action is fully removed from their own brutality (Adorno, 1974, p.40). Objects as such, violent or no, are considered functional, and this is what a culture that craves effortlessness leans towards (Baudrillard,1996, p.64, 65, 66). Smooth form reduces mechanisms to a singularity that are taken at surface value. We consider them singular objects, ignorant to their mechanisms and thus material implications. Some may even be led to the box and told to press the button to receive something they want, without being told what is inside. Out of blind desire, they will press the button, and continue to live, unaware of the repercussions of their gesture. This is a metaphor for unresearched purchase of goods, in a system that dehumanises and murders factory workers so we can own meaningless garbage through which to perpetuate our own identity myth (see further in objects and pleasure) (The True Cost, 2015).
Systems of Space
Space is the first realm that frees objects (and therefore persons) from capitalism. And thus, capitalism mutilates space, forcing it into the role of the perpetuator of the system, as atmosphere (Baudrillard, 1996, p.40, 48, 49). Atmosphere for Baudrillard is the air between objects where culture truly lies: within the interplay of signifiers, interactions, connotations, unspoken habits, and rituals, etc. Within interior design for instance, the joy of owning an object comes from placing it amongst other objects that are owned, constructing comfort and identity myths. Within workplaces, atmosphere comforts division to encourage competition, production, and mandatory self-exploitation. Atmosphere, and by relation culture, is a tool that the system uses to comfort and naturalise its subjects within the system, pacifying curiosity as to why the system exists in the first place (Adorno,1974, p.43). Those who are blinded by the system are easier manipulated into compulsive producers, workers who return profit to the higher class. The higher class is of course also manipulated into the role of manipulators by this same system, high on capital and all its promises of fulfilling the intrinsic needs that capitalism denounces (Fisher, 2009, p.69). Capitalism does not consist of people, merely tales of purpose and structure in an abstract universe. Inhuman, it is intrinsically uncaring, exploitative, oppressive, and cruel. It tortures and humiliates its subjects without hesitation because it has no concept of pain: it is an ideological virus that feeds on destruction of both the body and soul (Adorno, 1974, p.27).
Possibly the largest and most influential construction of atmosphere (system) is atmosphere (material). The natural existentialism that occurs as one observes the naked night sky is an imperative realisation. Seeing the depth of the universe in which our planet is situated reminds us of our smallness and the ultimate irrationality of egocentricity. However, this Real has been hidden by light pollution. The unintentional side effect of streetlights is a denial of true scale. The literal atmosphere has become a second level simulacra – a structure that ‘masks and denatures a profound reality’ (Baudrillard, 1994, p.6). Light pollution comforts existential anxiety (though existentialism does not have to be inherently negative), reassures the delusion of ‘human scale’ and pacifies curiosity about what may lie outside an ideology that has grown so big we cannot see its edges. Though images that reflect the profound reality of the universe are presented to us, our observation of such images are through a position of safety. Like those who look out of an aeroplane window and see cities turn to Lego in their climbing altitude, they are situated in the position of God, removed from miniaturisation, looking down on smallness, rather than becoming smallness. Ego-death is near impossible without physical observation of the abyss.
Systems of Time
Time is the second realm that frees objects from ideological constraints. Time itself, like space, belongs to the Real, thus time does not exist within reality. Within reality instead, there exist systems of assigning arbitrary value to the ‘passing’ of time through the mechanism of the clock (and all of its miniaturizations, i.e watches) (Baudrillard, 1996, p.100-104). Until 1905, the passing of time was considered an absolute constant (Morton, 2013, p.12). This notion was shattered by Einstein’s theory of relativity (later adapted into the theory of spacetime by Minkowski), which put simply, proves that time is a malleable object fundamentally tied to space – the material world. Once an object reaches the speed of light, time stops for all except the object, which still experiences the illusion of time passing. Surpassing the speed of light will theoretically cause the object to travel back in time, whist again experiencing the passing of time to be constant within itself. It is speed (the measure of distance through time) which appears to then be the closest thing to a true constant, and measurable factor (Morton, 2013, p. 39-41, 64, 65). This also proves that space and time are two effects of the same substance. However, as an aspect of the Real, the speed of light evades human interaction: though humans have been able to make objects travel close to the speed of light, it appears unreachable, let alone able to be surpassed. And so, we are dragged back to reality.
The clock produces contradiction. Its measure of time both ‘produces anxiety when it serves to assign us to social tasks,’ whilst simultaneously creating comfort by, ‘substantialis[ing] time and cut[ting] it into slices like an object for consumption’ (Baudrillard, 1996, p.23, 101). To make time consumable gives the illusion of control over an abstract value, which is incredibly comforting within culture that crave simplicity. Yet, by doing so, it produces incredible anxiety: the clock ticking is a reminder of death’s slow but inevitable approach, passing seconds speak of lives we did not live. Fundamentally an active reminder not of what we have lost, but what we might have lost – a fear that is open to the imagination. In an effort to return to comfort, we have made the clock a bodily extension, a techno-limb. This transition may first be seen in watches, though this limb is detachable. Full integration, however, has occurred through lock screens (which are our skin, and thus non-detachable - those who don’t use screens within modernity are hardly considered ‘human’) (Preciado, 2019, p.204). Our concept of time is thus fully naturalised, not removing anxiety but rather fully integrating it and making it a ‘natural’ part of human experience. The move from analogue to digital time reading also marks this transition, as the clock turns from a technological to a functional object. To observe the clock’s inner workings (components) is a reminder that it, and time, is a human construction. Whereas digital clocks (whose form is what is observed) are given as absolute, and the time they tell dictated by an unquestionable, omnipotent God. The reading and setting of analogue time has become ‘untrustworthy’ in the shadow of digital time, gradually phasing out of education, the only analogue clocks left will be purely symbolic, decorative ornaments, signifying how humans explored (not constructed) the realm of time until they found supposed ‘truth’.
Figure 2 – First Clock Mechanism, 1270
The clock is purely mechanism.
Figure 4 – Traditional Clock, 1900
The clock hides it mechanism, what is read is its form, thoughthe clock still requires access tothe mechanism to be set, thereforeits workings will occasionally be observed.
Figure 6 – Lock Screen, Current
The digital clock is integrated into our skin via lock screens. It is impossible to exist in the digital realm without observing the clock. It becomes part of us.
Figure 3 – Iron Chamber Clock, 1500
The clock introduces face for ease of use.
Figure 5 – Computerised Digital Clock, 1980
The clock is digitalised, it functions throughcomputers rather than mechanism. Its form isfully naturalised, it no longer requires settingand thus, there is no essence of themechanism.
Figure 7 – Decorative Clocks, Current
The essence of the traditional clock remains, butpurely in decoration as its function is notrequired. These clocks have never been setTheir ‘vintage’ aesthetic is a call back to whenthey would have been required, this, the ‘image’ of history is their function
Objects and Body
Skin can hardly be seen as the edges to the human ‘body’ (Russel, 2020, p.36). This is made prominent through a de-scaled perspective: we are compiled of microbes, cells, atoms. The DNA that is intrinsic to our ‘humanity’ is in fact conjoined with viruses – smaller bodies (Tsing, 2015, p.143). The physical observation of bodies is firstly the observation of possession (clothing) and assemblage (styling). We assemble our bodies through the curation of objects, creating atmospheres that we feel express our ‘personalities’ (Kaiser, 2013, p.265). These atmospheres, which are us, may be as close to the skin as a tattoo, or further in interior design of private property, or completely non-physical in our digital avatar design. This body assemblage may appear utopian, but is largely devoid of agency, rather dictated by advertisers that reinforce trend cycles, creating a sense of incomplete assemblage and insatiable desire for more product through which to complete this assemblage. Through consumption we are promised curation of the ‘perfect’ body that truly encapsulates ‘identity’. This is fundamentally impossible as behind the objects, there is no real identity, merely isolation, confusion, and fear – the intrinsic self, pleading for understanding from community.
Figures 8 and 9 – Instagram Sponsored Advertisements
The language used to advertise such as ‘made with you in mind’ promises that this product
will effectively create atmosphere corresponding with personal identity. The phrase ‘on
repeat FOREVER’ suggests longevity in this atmosphere construction, though this is a
blatant lie, to conceal the true intention of the advertisers – always making one feel out of the
loop, both within culture and themselves. Unfortunately, the sponsored advertising is
incredibly effective, both products correspond with what I would consider my ‘personal’ style,
which is of course dictated by advertisers and algorithms. I wish I didn’t want these, but I do.
Objects and Pleasure
The magic of objects stems from the imposition of relationships that are not possible under the constrains of capitalism onto objects, as individualism encourages narcissistic projection onto the other. However, a human other is not as well receiving to this imposition, hence the object becomes the sight of identity projection free from anxiety (Baudrillard, 1996, p.94-96). This material relationship removes ‘pleasure proper,’ that is pleasure from pleasure (Baudrillard, 1996, p.112). Rather, pleasure stems from consumption satisfaction which is designed to be insatiable – pleasure from the pursuit of pleasure is the unrelenting misery of craving (Fisher, 2009, p.22). The satisfaction of object consumption is short lived, and must always be followed by further consumption. The prized object of the collector is that which they lack, it is the idea of the fulfilment that is sought after, not the object itself (Baudrillard, 1996, p.92, 99).
In the objects one possesses, one sees a reflection of themselves as an absolute singular, an ‘identity’, which comforts a mind that struggles to interpret multiplicity (Baudrillard, 1996, p.97). Dynamics of the object possession-relationship reflect within interpersonal dynamics and their becoming possession-relationships i.e., marriage (Adorno, 1974, p. 31). Modern relationships seek mirrors, like objects, through which we might receive ourselves as an absolute singular, though relationships are collaborative processes of becoming where no single party has full control as they do in dynamics of possession. Further, possession creates ‘a mirror not faithful to real images but to images that are desired’ (Baudrillard, 1996, p.95). Thus, through idealised objects (those invested with personal value), one not only sees self, but an idealised version of self, which is also not subject to disagreement. Possession directly links to individualism, partially filling the isolating void that is created by capitalistic, uncaring, competition-based selfhood. This filling is never complete however, and thus we must consume more.
Objects and Identity
Identity, and thus the notion of the individual, do not exist out of the cycle of consumption and production. Unique perceptions of the world simply are memory of the objects we have interacted with (Merleau-Ponty, 1945, p.19). Agency supposedly exists, through ‘choice’ of what objects/media we consume, though these choices are more often than not the decision of culture, rather than individual. Our online consumption for example, is dictated by AI bots that design our feeds, in hope of giving us what we want so we may consume more. It creates a feedback loop of affirmation of opinion, the root of which, either person or bot, is indistinguishable. Our production of objects and media is a compilation of our previous consumptions, original thought does not exist, only collage. We have been taught to find discomfort in the universality of thought, constantly grappling to turn idea into object that may be owned through patents, copyright law, etc. The myth of the individual is perpetuated over collective thinking and collaboration because it is beneficial to capitalist motives. Individuals must exist because they must separate themselves from others in order to exploit them. Class must exist, and those in the same class must be in competition with one another to try to reach a higher class, and lead a ‘happier’ life as they step on those they consider non-people. Culture must exist to segregate people and dehumanise and oppress the other, much like the notion of sentience must exist to oppress non-human entities (animals, planets, etc.) There is no progress in division, though dividing oneself from mass culture and claiming independence is the only way one may observe its motivations. Without identity, people are susceptible to greater manipulation and oppression, thus in all its contradictions, ‘personality is a lie needed for living,’ a protective action (Adorno, 1974, p.64).
Desire and Production
In Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, Marx presents four stages through which capitalism estranges people from their intrinsic nature. That is alienation from self, from community, from the product of labour and from the process of labour (Marx, 1844, p.29-31). Objects of production – expressions of oneself – are mutilated by capitalism into objects of work to exchange for money, which is then exchanged for living needs: shelter, food, etc (Marx, 1844, p.29, 30). Compulsive production is also capitalist mutilation of desire for purpose, in a life that is abstract and intention-less. This is action of distraction against existentialism that is taught, and thus felt, as purely negative.
Marx’s discussion of ‘Alienation from self,’ however, is oxymoronic, as the division of self from others is the root of alienation. This is perpetuated by capitalism which encourages individualism, however the true estrangement from intrinsic nature is a removal of person from community. Our physical ‘selves’ are not truly separate from one another, they are elevations of flesh from dirt, born from the decay of other bodies: structures of interconnectivity within the Earth hyperobject (Morton, 2013, p.31). The singular nature of the mind does not align with this physical multiplicity, causing a deep-rooted discomfort and isolation from the moment the umbilical cord is cut. Capitalism tries to find purpose within this isolation, by giving power to ‘individuals’ whist simultaneously naturalising a separation from community. But no true pleasure can be reached through isolated life, and thus it gifts the individual a false pleasure through consumption, distraction, and power. These outlets do not fulfil intrinsic desire and therefore the individual forever craves more of them, they are addictive ‘quick fixes’ to a desire that is currently impossible to fulfil. Community, selflessness and collaboration are the closest actions to true fulfilment, but in our lack of telepathy, it is still intrinsic to humanity to feel undirected, insatiable desire. Lacan suggests that this desire is in fact for desire, that people do not want anything, they simply want to keep wanting (Lacan, 1960, p.56). I believe that this holds true in ‘humanity’ which is deeply infected by capitalism, and fulfillment may only be reached in full deconstruction, as we step away from being people and return to essence of mind and body of dirt (Morton, 2013, p.13).
In conclusion, objects are a fully naturalised human construction. The object cannot be seen as separate to media, nor bodies, nor language. Defining objects is a function of creating stackable singularities, which humanity craves in its misunderstanding of multiplicity. Capitalism hides the fact that reality is no more than ideology to keep itself alive. As it lives, cycles of exploitation will continue in all its cruelty, killing people, animals and planets. ‘It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism’, but if we manage to do such, true connection may prevail in a post-human utopia built out of capitalist ruins (Fisher, 2009, p.2). From these ruins, education must be of abstractness and interconnectivity: forging connection between ‘living’ and ‘non-living’ entities. Thus, our notions of humanity must be fully deconstructed, eradicating individualism, language, and culture that encourages human superiority.
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