#15

#15

A medium that is reproductive can take reality and reduplicate it meticulously, the way that virtual reality is pushing us deeper into hyperreality¹, a reality that collapses in on itself and brings the spectacle to an end. The tendency of reality to reproduce from one medium to another is the reproduction of the medium into the message. This tendency towards hyperreality was inaugrated by realism. “Realism seeks essential or scientific correspondence with physical reality.”² Reality and its representation is fundamentally linked to the imitation of the ideal. Appropriation, reproduction, simulacra, and simulation all comprise the 'new realism'.

Paul Harvey writes to us from 1976, to quote the then-Republican Party politician George Romney who described the American “economic system as neither capitalism nor socialism – but 'consumerism.'”³ Citizen Harvey goes on to say that the industrialist and former Interior Secretary Wally Hickel redefined the American political preference as “neither liberalism nor conservatism – but 'realism.'”⁴

Citizen Harvey cites Hickel as saying that down through the twentieth century the American political system has been swinging like a pendulum, from left to right and back again. Citizen Harvey demystifies any reality of there being a post-McCarthy era hidden Communist lurking underneath every American bed or that the U.S. Economy is somehow isolated from the rest of the world. Rather, for Citizen Harvey, the realism is in the enlightened selfishness of capitalism. And in this light, Citizen Harvey quotes Hickel as saying that “the wave of the future is realism.”⁵

Citizen Harvey stresses that this does not mean that the government should take care of everybody whilst nobody is left to take care of the government. “In trying to do everything for everyone,” writes Citizen Harvey, we almost destroy the system of capitalism.⁶ And nobody'll do that any day will they? Even so, as a caution Citizen Harvey warns that a minority can litigate and legislate away the citizen's own freedom, a freedom that is inherent within capitalism. So, it would appear that some amount of realism is needed to bridge the gap between capitalism and socialism and keep in check a rampant consumerism. Citizen Harvey's article also raises the question as to whether we should prioritize unemployment ahead of concerns about the environment.

From the epoch of Citizen Harvey, there might be something to be said about the myth of scarcity. “{An oil} driller dares not plan a $10 million investment when he doesn't know whether the price is going to be 52 cents or $2.”⁷ Prices have to have a high fixivity according to the myth of scarcity for any real capitalist to make any serious money. Meanwhile Citizen Harvey reports that economists protest the economy for its increasing complexity. Yet, “{i}n reality, economics is as simple as this,” Citizen Harvey tells us, that, “{t}here is no wealth without production. The way to stop inflation is to increase production.”⁸ The rubric of consumerism: once again exploiting the proletarian. It bears repeating: the proletarian must be abolished. Surplus-value can be proportionate to an increase in wages. Citizen Harvey tells us: “{t}he cost of electricity will go down when there is more than enough electricity. The prices of houses will go down when there are more houses than buyers. That is realism.”⁹

1See Chapter 2 for the definition of 'hyperreality'. Basically, it means the simulation of reality.

2Jones, B. (1989) “Computer Imagery: Imitation and Representation of Realities.” Leonardo. Supplemental Issue, Vol. 2; p.32.

3Harvey, P. (1976) “It's Time For Realism.” Ocala Star-Banner, Sep. 26.

4Ibid.

5Ibid.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.

8Ibid.

9Ibid.

©Elijah Nathaniel James