ginny t. Althusser

Hi, it's me again. This is my last blog for at least 4 days, I promise.

As soon as I got over the excitement that the reading assignments were relatively short, I was struck with the panicked thought "Holy crap, I have no idea what these guys are talking about!!"

So here I go, I'm picking a sentence and I'm just gonna go with it...

Althusser writes: "...every State Apparatus, whether Repressive or Ideological, 'functions' both by violence and by ideology..." (C 43)

When I was slogging through this essay, my mind kept referring back to a book I came across last semester, Benjamin Barber's Jihad Vs. McWorld. This terrifying little tome is all about the destruction of the traditional Nation (Repressive) State and the rise of the shadowy, elusive "Multinational Corporation." Barber warns that the power held by traditional, structured, centered Governments is being usurped by the insidious Global Corporations; they transform this political and ideological might into pure, good old fashioned consumer driven Capitalism.

In Barber's world, every State Apparatus functions neither by violence or ideology, but rather they are driven by the almighty Doll$r. Actually, to clarify, Barber posits that what we know as "The State" ceases to exist in this globalization world. This fracturing of countries and societies leaves the people vulnerable to ideologies that promise structure, guidance and meaning (enter Jihad.) These two forces (Multinational Capitalism and Fundamental Ideologies) ultimately work with, not against, one another. Ideologies cannot thrive without the existence of their oppositions, and the acquiescence of the people to their causes, of course.

Wow...Barber's ideas sound a lot like my old friends Jameson and (hopefully) like Althusser. Man, back in the Spring, I was PoMo and didn't even know...