But wait! First: -- who is "The Enemy"? It's all very well to mutter about conspiracies of the Establishment. Discussion of abstract enemies such as "the state" will get us nowhere. I am not oppressed (or alienated) directly by any concrete entity called the state, but by specific groups such as teachers, police, bosses, etc.

Capitalism creates separation. Ideally, Capital would like to discorporate entirely and retreat into the cyberspace of electronic wealth (and electronics as wealth) -- of pure speed, pure representation. The infinite "growth" which is Capital's concept of immortality will indeed exceed all limits once economics becomes a matter of digitalized data, or spiritualized knowledge, or "gnosis".

I don't see Capitalism vanishing overnight like Communism -- it's too organic, too closely linked up with "what's really going on". Marxism fell because it had entered a state of abstraction and denial -- failed to embrace the Spectacle as the true site of power -- but Capital didn't make this mistake. Capital will disintegrate rather than undergo sudden implosion. The signs of disintegration will become more and more obvious to experience. The murky clouds in the crystal are starting to drift and clear.

Capitalism only supports certain kinds of groups, the nuclear family for example, or ``the people I know at my job,'' because such groups are already self-alienated & hooked into the Work/Consume/Die structure. Other kinds of groups may be allowed, but will lack all support from the societal structure, & thus find themselves facing grotesque challenges & difficulties which appear under the guise of `` bad luck.''

(``Well, I can't live without a job!'').

Yes, perhaps it's true we can't ``live'' without a job--although I hope we're grown-up enough to know the difference between life & the accumulation of a bunch of fucking gadgets. Still, we must constantly remind ourselves (since our culture won't do it for us) that this monster called WORK remains the precise & exact target of our rebellious wrath, the one single most oppressive reality we face (& we must learn also to recognize Work when it's disguised as ``leisure'').

The rat-bastard Capitalist scum who are telling you to ``reach out and touch someone'' with a telephone or `` be there!'' (where? alone in front of a goddam television??)--these lovecrafty suckers are trying to turn you into a scrunched-up blood-drained pathetic crippled little cog in the death-machine of the human soul (& let' s not have any theological quibbles about what we mean by ``soul''!). Fight them--by meeting with friends, not to consume or produce, but to enjoy friendship-- & you will have triumphed (at least for a moment) over the most pernicious conspiracy in EuroAmerican society today--the conspiracy to turn you into a living corpse galvanized by prosthesis & the terror of scarcity-- to turn you into a spook haunting your own brain. This is not a petty matter! This is a question of failure or triumph!

On inward,
Derek