Mutual entanglement of "capital" and "arsenal" in practice

Mysterious Complementarity between Capitalism and Arsenalism (Part #13)

[Parts: First | Prev | All] [Visuals] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

As the sections above have variously argued, it would appear that there is a strange degree of sharing of metaphors between the capitalist and arsenalist domains -- suggesting a curious degree of mutual reinforcement -- if not mirroring -- despite the degree to which one domain is primarily overt and the other covert. This could be summarized as follows.

Capital and arsenal in national planning of infrastructure: Capital as central with visible architecture, with arsenal as hidden/secretive and distributed, notably illustrated in the case of Israel with its focus on Jerusalem.

Capitalism and "arsenalism" as strategic policies: As illustrated by the military industrial complex with its focus on maintining and enhancing a nuclear arsenal. Whereas capitalism is upheld by its advocates as well-articulated (with "greed as good"), this is curiously complemented by a well-documented pattern of "arsing around" in the contract negotiation process -- and entertainment offered in the form of a "piece of ass" ("sex is good").

Assets: "being great again": Framed overtly in terms of a bigger capital city, a higher degree of capitalisation, a bigger arsenal of weaponry, or increasing intellectual capital (epitomised by accumulation of intellectal property). This is curiously complemented by widespread advertising for quality products and services, notably crafted with sexual connotations where possible.

Stakes and stakeholding: Reference is curiously made to "stake" in the language of capitalism. With respect to equity finance, stake is the part of a company or business owned by a shareholder. The related understanding of stakeholder is any organization or individual that affects or can be affected by an organization's actions (Addisu Lashitew, Stakeholder capitalism arrives at Davos, Brookings, 21 January 2020). Also related are the survey stakes, whereby the extent of a property is determined by surveyors. Further to the latter sense, stakes can be used to construct a defensive stakewall (or palisade) of traditional military significance. More problematic is reference to the use of stake for purposes of punishment or executions, as recently argued, for example (‘Burned At The Stake’: The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture demolishes the fake claims targeting Julian Assange, Media Lens, 13 February 2020). of potentially greater relevance to an arsenalist perspective, are the Freudian associations of stake and stakeholding, given the aspirations to "be great again".

Image: Appreciation and deprecation of image is of considerable importance to both capitalist enterprises and from a personal "arsenalist" perspective. This is epitomised by massive investment in public relations and advertising in the first case, and the role of Facebook in the second. Curiously, in its obvious association with the "likes" of "the head" (and "of the heart"), the well-documented role of the latter with respect to "the arse" is implicit rather than explicit. Whilst it may function, as with some other social media, as an Arsebook (to indicate "dislikes"), no such website is evident. The irony is all the greater given the degree of involvement in pornography -- both from a capitalist and from an arsenalist perspective.

Playful dynamics framed by sporting metaphors: From a capitalist perspective this ranges from speculative financial game-playing (variously playing the field and scoring) to analogous sexual dynamics -- in quest of ass (possibly framed as "balling"). Ironically this may be matched by arsenalists -- both in quest of capital and in playfully "balling".

Discourse: As noted above, the propensity of formal discourse in government and business to slide into use of profanity is curious -- especially when unconstrained by public criticism. Negotiation, especially of major contracts, may well be deliberately "facilitated" by arsenalist dynamics. It is also curious that capitalists may well be explicit in "not giving a shit" about preoccupations of alternativists -- or may be so perceived by the latter.

Shared preoccupation with a "hole": This may range from a perception of a "hole in thinking" and argumentation from a "head perspective", to pejorative assessments of others as "assholes". Is the deprecation of "losers" in part due to the implication that they are "assholes"? There is a curious sense in which the capitalist model may engender "financial black holes" -- potentially to be understood as the hidden "arsehole of capitalism" of whose existence it is dependent, and of which bankers might be held to be the guardians. A capital hole is a large amount of money that a country or organization needs for a particular purpose but does not have (Deutsche Bank: How Big Is The Capital Hole? Reuters, 22 January 2017; European Banks Face $153 Billion Capital Hole Under Basel Rules, Bloomberg, 2 Julu 2019).

Emissions: From a capitalist perspective, the role of emissions in the financial market is a prime focus of attention -- now extended to carbon emissions trading. Carefully neglected are those emissions associated with waste -- especially when this may involve costly recycling. It is of course the case that emissions figure to a remarkable degree in the implications of "fucking" and the excretion of "shit" and "crap" as bodily waste. Are those deprecated as "assholes" to be considered especially associted with such emissions? Stranger still is the sense in which "bullshit" may be emitted in discourse -- "from the other end", namely as a production of the head ((Sins of Hot Air Emission, Omission, Commission and Promission: the political challenge of responding to global crises, 2009).

Attractive opportunity: Both from the capitalist and arsenalist perspectives there is an overriding preoccupation with investment in attractive opportunities -- namely with the acquisition of assets or "ass". A "great opportunity" for the former is comparable with perception of a "great ass" in the latter case. The temptation is to grasp the opportunity whenever it is presented. Far less evident is how the attraction functions as a "strange attractor" in cognitive terms. With its association to a hole of some kind -- possibly a loophole inviting exploration -- it would seem to function as a form of gateway to experience of a higher order, a magical garden or a Holy Grail of the highest value.

"Bloodiness"? Slang makes extensive use of "bloody". From an arsenalist perspective this implies both a reference to violence and to the menstrual blood with which so many taboos are associated. The former implication is borrowed in various critiques of capitalism, which is otherwise presented as a largely bloodless, blameless engine of human prosperity as noted by Owen Jones (Condemn communists’ cruelties, but capitalism has its own terrible record, The Guardian, 26 July 2018). Examples include: Trevor Rayne (The Bloody Origins of Capitalism, Revolutionary Communist Group, 11 November 2016; Mark O'Brian, The Bloody Birth of Capitalism, International Socialism, 70, 1996; Camilla Rostvik, Bloody capitalism and the cash flow of the menstrual cycle, Wellcome Collection, 11 December 2019). Strangely, the compassionate nature of caring, associated with "the heart", calls upon reference to blood -- most notably in the main eucharistic liturgical service of Christianity in which reference is made to sacrificial significance of body and blood.

Punishment: There is a curious relation between notions of "capital punishment" and those forms applied to the "backside" through besting (Om P Murty, Physical beating on buttocks in adults, Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology January 2010). From an arsenalist perspective, most notable (and least discussed) are the various forms of rape, including male rape, use of animals, and the insertion of objects into the various orifices.

Inequality: The capitalist and arsenalist domains share an overriding preoccupation with "being great again" by comparison with others. Greatness in the capitalist worldview is frequently indicated by rankings on lists, most notably the Forbes Lists (Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the United States; The World's Billionaires). The focus may be on corporations (Dana Hanson, Here Are The 20 Richest Companies and Corporations In The World Today, MoneyInc, 2019), on the military and their arsenals, or on patent registration. with respect to architcture, the focus may be on the tallest buildings. In academia it may focus on articles published. In the case of arsenalists, emphasis may be placed on the number of women "fucked" or the size of a harem. Particular emphasis may be placed on the size of the penis -- a preoccupation with "size matters" curiously echoing that of skyscrapers and rockets.

Productivity: Potentially the most convoluted form of entanglement is that associated with the "production" which is both so fundamental to the economic profitability of capitalism and to the instincts characteristics of arsenalism -- namely "reproduction". Curiously the first is framed metaphorically by many references to the "heart" (John W. Snow, The Heart of the Economy, The Wall Street Journal, 15 February 2006; Philippe de Woot, Innovation at the heart of the economy, Responsible Innovation, 2016; Fabian Wehnert, The heart of the German economy, BDI, 2016).

Ths second is however especially enabled by reference to the compassionate "affairs of the heart", even though "reproduction" is intimately associated with the genitalia (the "reproductive organs") central to the arsenalist domain. The first is severely constrained on a long-term basis by the production of waste (via the arsenalist domain). Claims to the unrestrained capacity to reproduce engender analogous constraints, as may be variously argued (Local Reality of Overcrowding -- Global Unreality of Overpopulation: comprehensible reframing of engagement with global issues via metaphors of proximity, 2019). Capitalist production is complicit in the unchallenging interpretation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The negligence of both extremes suggests the need for a more radical understanding, as argued separately (Universal Declaration of Fucking Rights: a fundamental extension of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for a civilization blinded by euphemism? 2016).

Toilet roll hoarding: Widespread astonishment has been expressed at the competitive quest for toilet rolls as a citizen response to the coronavirus pandemic in many countries (Rationing and Robbery: Coronavirus outbreak sparks toilet roll panic, Reuters, 6 March 2020). Images of empty supermarket shelves have been circulated; their sale has been rationed on a per customer basis (Violinists Play Sinking Titanic Hymn In Empty Toilet Paper Aisle, Unilad, 19 March 2020). Explanations of the focus on this consumer product have been inadequate -- the phenomenon has been held to be mysterious.

Arguably the process reflects the nature of the unexplored entanglement between "capitalism" (and its promotion of dependence on consumerism) and "arsenalism" (with its preoccupation with another locus of priority concern to many). The entanglement has been appropriately celebrated through poetic humour on a national news channel in Australia -- a country traditionally free from prudish constraint (The Ballad of Dunny Roll, ABC Comedy , March 2020).

[Parts: First | Prev | All] [Visuals] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]