This past week was Climate marches and summits and speeches and the theory of anthropocene, calls us to change our behaviors to minimize our destruction of the commons.
Energy: “How Many Zombies Does It Take to Change an Energy Efficient Light Bulb?” by Denis Du Bois:
The EPA wants us to see zombies in a better light … this edgy social-media marketing play came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
asked whether the zombie theme is a tongue-in-cheek metaphor for unthinking consumers grabbing the first LED bulb they see, but [Jill Vohr, the Energy Star marketing director whose team developed the videos] insists not.
But at Paris Fashion Week, the NYTimes: “Outside the Spectrum at Chalayan” by Alexandra Jacobs:
What to wear to the Climate March? A friend emailed a description of the demonstration last Sunday in New York, after which she took her young son to the bathroom in Rockefeller Center. “Dozens of zombie-eyed shoppers wandering around with multiple little satiny-cord handled, thick paper, branded shopping bags,” she wrote with some despair.
Which sort of explains why some say Climate Changers are Communists, because (at least in it’s current consumerist driven brand economy version) Capitalism is environmentally unsustainable. Deviation amplification and the exploitation of the value of differences leads eventually to nihilistic self-destruction and escalations of schizophrenic hysteria.
Zombie at PJ Media writes: “Climate Movement Drops Mask, Admits Communist Agenda“:
At the New York event, many people noticed that gee, there sure are a lot of communists at this march.
At imgur, zombie money (also george washington)
Forbes: “Has Capitalism Reached A Turning Point?” by Steve Denning cites others using “zombie”.
And InterOccupy agrees: “Brought to You by Capitalism: Climate Change”
So how can we change the world?
PageSix: “De Blasio says Broadway musical ‘Fela!’ ‘changed the world’ ” by Emily Smith:
De Blasio said he loves to listen to the music of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti when he’s in his car and that the Broadway musical “changed the world.”
What world did it change? And is it Fela Kuti who changed the world or those who retold his story to different audience? What is the impact of “Fela”? Note his song “zombie” and the connection to protests, war, africa, police states.
Speaking of Broadway- Deadline Hollywood: “‘Zombie Broadway’ Heading To Screen From Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart” by Jen Yamato.
Speaking of Africa: ” Boko Haram Caliphate: We Have An Army That Is More Physical Than Mental – Aliyu “:
“We tend to look at the physical soldier, what about the psychological soldier?” Aliyu asked. “The zombies Fela sang about is long extinct, today’s soldiers are people of these times, not Fela’s times when he sang Zombie.
Alex Gibney’s new film, “Finding Fela”
Paste: “Finding Fela” by Monica Castillo:
Too much information is crammed between the behind-the-curtain look at the Fela! musical and the colorful life of the man behind the music of Zombie and Confusion
Castillo concludes:
What it does show about Fela Kuti is fascinating, and I wish we saw more of that or even more of Bill T. Jones’ creative process in bringing the towering figure to the Great White Way. Perhaps it’s just as well I give Zombie one more spin. Sometimes it’s better to just listen to the music.
Edge: “Finding Fela!” by Louise Adams:
His railings against the military made it into his songs, saying, “Music is not for enjoyment, but for revolution,” including in his 1974 hit “Zombie,” which attacked soldiers as “unthinking stooges,” sung in Pidgin English to reach more listeners. Enraged, the police tear-gassed and burned his housing complex on February 18, 1977, and threw his inspiration, his activist mother, out of a window. She eventually died from her injuries, and her martyrdom fueled Fela’s further protests and music.
Last month in Washington Post: “A playlist in honor of this week’s Africa summit in D.C.” by Helena Andrews. So the movie press was timed to the Africa Summit last month and Africa is topical again this week with U.N. speeches and renewed commitment to fighting the plague of Africa’s ebola virus (and if we fight a little terrorism while we’re there no one will notice, right?). And, this is right on time for Tuesday’s release of the box set, see TinyMixTapes: “New Fela Kuti compilation to be curated by Brian Eno, England’s official ambassador of Afrobeat” By Nobodaddy:
The box set is out September 30 and can be pre-ordered here, and peep Eno’s thoughts on Fela’s influence down below.
Meanwhile, in the Chicago Tribune: “Don’t think, just do, says Rob Zombie” by Allison Stewart:
I never really think ahead. The way I do anything is, you have to just do it.
Because thinking is absurd:
After a while, you just turn into the Man of La Mancha. You dream impossible dreams all day long.
There is no way to adequately think about climate change because our whole economy is structured to avoid thinking about those kind of system costs. One solution offered by Bruno Latour is the concept of Gaia, not as a spiritual being but as a mundane being of the present world. This being of Gaia needs our help.
We need to learn a new vocabulary to remember that we are here in the now and that our actions alter the future. It’s incredibly hard to experience that. Thinking too often leads to overthinking and the deadlocking of ethical zombie robots. On this issue, the Rob Zombie headline becomes most true. As with the old Facebook motto: “done is better than perfect.” Sometimes any action is better than indecision.
