Proxy Blogging

That Will Rubbish he's a one! He sends me a link to some pomo guff on Laibach and Zizek's "over-identification" theory. Here's a taster:

"Are Laibach really fascists? Is their use of props serious?" Simply responding "no" and "yes" (respectively) misinterprets the radical nature of the question. For Laibach, it's all about involving oneself in fascism, which they see as representative of all types and ages of totalitarian regime, from "God's will to evil", as they sing. Instead of rejecting fascism from a socialist or moral standpoint, they identify with fascism to an extreme degree – Zizek defines this using the psychoanalytic term "over-identification". One could say that Laibach come across more fascist than fascism.

But Lillemose (the piece's author) goes on to argue

"In art, morality is nonsense and Laibach's only responsibility is to remain irresponsible,"

Swastikas -tick; jackboots - tick; It's a tick box Nazi dressing up kit and if there's some diagnostic spectrum in the DSM then Laibach are well up toward the raving Nazi end. As I said to Will

There was a split-second when punk adopted the swastika as a "fuck you" to the world in an instant of art-school adolescent rage and it made sense. It only had validity for the flash of a camera and then it was gone to be replaced by lazy identification with the fascist, nazi NF and thence the SWP's high point Rock Against Racism. Laibach have been "over-identifying" (to use Zizek's term) as Fascists for over twenty years. There may well be a layered meaning to their Fascist obsession or they may just be Fascists.

Where was I? Yes, that Will Rubbish he kindly takes over and blogs my comment on his home turf and DSTPFW. Some may call that "appropriation of labour" but I say he's doing my work for me!