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ALIENATION: CRITIQUE AND ALTERNATIVE FUTURES 17

personal qualities. Rather, adulation of the be taken into consideration just as efforts are
authority figure surfaces because he/she is a made to understand the rhetoric by means of
personification, a representation of larger which masses are recruited by the political
economic forces. Further, deference to differ- right. Further, the nature of alienation today
ent variants of authority is facilitated by the can be seen in various conspiracy theories
tendency of individuals to idealize and of the left as well: consider the many ‘expla-
submit to those above them in order to gain nations’ of 9/11 as the work of Mossad or the
their love and powerful protection. The CIA. Similarly, the operations of global cap-
masochism is ‘balanced’ by their denigration ital are often explained by some leftists as
of, sadism toward, and demands for dispro- based on conspiracies of elites such as the
portionate obedience from those below them Bilderberg, an elite, but somewhat secretive
in status. Tending to displace aggression, group that ‘controls’ global capitalism. (The
projecting it onto ‘enemies,’ such people paranoid right considers Bilderberg a Zionist
embrace a Manichaean outlook on the world, cabal.)
seeing it as consisting of good friends, Political rhetoric is not the only tool for
‘people like us,’ and vile enemies, ‘those that expressing alienation and furthering it. Alienation
are different.’ feeds into and is fostered by various forms of
These understandings are not merely popular and popularized culture. Consider for
implicit. Right-wing movements among pop- example the varied expression of transgres-
ulations that have been alienated by neo- sion evident in popular culture and the uses
liberal globalization often develop similar of human suffering on television. Weinstein
conspiracy theories that become part of a (2000), looking at the tradition of ‘heavy
reactionary ideology (Berlet, 2005). Berlet metal,’ has argued that its seemingly ‘anti-
describes a range of perspectives (moderate, establishment’ head-banging culture which
reactionary, radical, and extreme right) that celebrates masculinity is indeed a response to
accord with variations in group member- the political-economic alienation of global-
ships, tactics, and agendas. Embedded narra- ization; many men feel that they are power-
tives describing conspiracies and openly less and that their lives are meaningless in the
embracing scapegoating and demonization face of these larger forces. The concerts and
are designed to show the alienated how history music provide transgressive erotic and/or
has led to the oppression that members of aggressive action, expressions of rage and
such groups are currently experiencing. anger at the submerged political economic
Elements of this kind are evident in some arrangements, structural constraints, and
fundamentalist versions of Islam that have rationalized culture, but that anger is located
developed in the last two decades – especially within the concert where it is contained and
those that might be considered forms of cler- controlled – and neutralized.
ical fascism in which only the restoration of Another means for turning alienation into
the caliphate, and traditional theologies, can profit is the ‘trash-talking’ genre of television
purge Islamic societies of the evil influences shows, with their claim to bestowing distinc-
of the Western world. Facing economic stag- tiveness on participants. Focusing on humili-
nation, repressive governments, cultural ating and degrading telecasts where ‘freaks
assaults, and powerlessness in face of the speak out’ (Gamson, 1998), Prosono (2005)
Israeli military, the strategies and appeals of shows that contemporary capitalism has the
such Islamisms are based on conspiracy nar- capacity to turn the suffering of human beings
ratives. The tragedy, of course, is that they into wares for entertainment. For Grindstaff
have brought hardship, misery, and poverty (2002), the goal of the program is to capture
to Muslims who accept their interpretation. the moment of intense emotion, typically the
Berlet warns that the plight of the alienated, anger, shame, or humiliation that constitutes
the marginalized, and the downtrodden must the ‘money shot,’ a term originally used in