Outsider Theory

Biz Sherbert, a theorist and writer focused on online fashion and Gen Z subcultures, joins Outsider Theory to discuss the current landscape of digital fashion, the shifting nature of subcultures, and the persistence of hauntological nostalgia of contemporary culture. We consider the acceleration of the trend cycle in online spaces and how it dramatizes the evolving relationship between present and past, explore the strange fusion of counterculture with the norms it once rejected in trad, normie, and basic aesthetics, and reflect on the political correlates of this development. Biz's new podcast is Nymphet Alumni: https://nymphetalumni.transistor.fm/1 Links: https://sherbert.biz/ https://www.instagram.com/markfisherquotes/?hl=en https://www.tiktok.com/@bimbotheory

Chris Gabriel, creator of the MemeAnalysis Youtube channel, joins Outsider Theory to discuss why memes are now the royal road to the collective unconscious. We also discuss how the internet traps Dionysian energies in an Apollinian dreamworld; why Burroughs's word virus is a better model than Dawkinsian memetics for understanding the meme form; what the most revealing memetic formations of the present are; and why we need mythmaking more than therapy. MemeAnalysis: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb4pvsyqNrmBIGJFQxEukUA Effluvia: https://goddisk.substack.com/ Meme Intelligence Agency: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GPyOdF5f4Ja02lIq407zl?si=D6ticZDvSdS4Ennv95pNFg Aeonic Comics: https://www.instagram.com/aeoniccomics/

Adam Lehrer is a critic and artist, the co-host of System of Systems podcast. His new substack is Safety Propaganda. He joins Outsider Theory to discuss how we got Marxpilled, how Marx got mainstreamed among the professional class in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and why the "ruthless criticism of all that exists" especially means criticism of your own class. We then examine why Marx and Engels loved the reactionary monarchist Balzac, and what comparable value some writers on the right might offer to the critique of contemporary capitalism. From there, we discuss the propagandistic functions served by art today and the prospects for meaningful dissent in the arts and literature. Adam's work: System of Systems: https://www.patreon.com/systemofsystems?fan_landing=true Safety Propaganda: https://safetypropaganda.substack.com/ "A Marxist Defends the Great Reactionaries": https://amgreatness.com/2021/01/01/a-marxist-defends-the-great-reactionaries/ "Art's Moral Fetish": https://caesuramag.org/posts/arts-moral-fetish

Outsider art historian and hypnotist collector Mónica Belevan joins Outsider Theory to discuss her various attempts to track the structures of feeling of the present. We explore the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Baroque and their relevance for grasping the topoi of the Covid era – in particular, the image of the labyinth, the theme of the madness of the world, and the figure of the clown (embodied lately in Joaquin Phoenix's Joker). Finally, we reflect on the awakening of the sacrificial unconscious by the Dionysian onslaught of the plague and the still unfulfilled need for symbolic resolution. https://covidianaesthetics.substack.com/ https://www.lapsuslima.com/

In recent years, memes have risen to prominence as a medium for witty, irreverent, surreal engagement with the canon of High Theory. At the speed of the internet, memes now circulate the ideas of thinkers from Deleuze to Dugin, from Land to DeLanda, in humorous and fragmentary forms, instantiating in their mode of dissemination the sorts of positive feedback loops, rhizomatic growth, and strata hopping that some such thinkers have theorized. Beyond Woke and Problematic, a premier poster in the "theorygram" space, joins Outsider Theory to survey the dramatic ascent of the theory meme in the new millennium and explore the relationship of this popular form to the ideas it purveys. With reference to François Cusset's "French Theory," we also compare the meme to earlier vehicles of pop theory. Follow Beyond Woke and Problematic: https://linktr.ee/beyond_woke_and_problematic François Cusset, French Theory: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/french-theory

The Hungarian countess Erzsébet Báthory (1560-1610), allegedly one of the most prolific mass murderers ever, occupies the border zone between history and legend. She has become a part of the vampire mythology associated with Southeast Europe as well as a subject of fascination for avant-garde writers and artists and a frequent pop culture reference. Báthory emerges out of the shadowy depths of archaic magic, but also stands as a proto-modern female Faust whose commitment to her own all-consuming violent passions anticipated the visions of the Marquis de Sade. In an age of attenuated taboos, her extreme acts retain the capacity to shock us; she still hovers on the Outside of civilized life. My guest Alex Kaschuta and I use Báthory as a starting point for discussing the paroxysms of the modern ideal of individual freedom, with some help from Sade, Camille Paglia, and the surrealist writers Valentine Penrose and Alejandra Pizarnik. We also address the tendency of recent pop culture to domesticate the terrors of Báthory's crimes, and the way that her type of Sadeian sexual depravity, often denied or downplayed, resurfaces in discussions of porn and sex robots. Alex's writing and podcast: https://linktr.ee/alexkaschuta Alejandra Pizarnik, "The Bloody Countess" Valentine Penrose, The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsébet Báthory_ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory_in_popular_culture

The "contrarian" is an outsider on the edge of the inside: attached to a particular group but defiant of its pieties and orthodoxies. Contrarians often seem to be one of the most despised figures in online spaces – yet strategic contrarianism can also be a career-building strategy. Hence, accused contrarians are often accused of "grifting" and similar sins. But are they any worse than more orthodox-minded hustlers? Oliver Bateman, writer for the Ringer, Mel, Splice Today, and many other publications and co-host of What's Left? podcast, joins Outsider Theory to try to make sense of the role of this spectral figure in reinforcing ideological orthodoxies and (para)social formations online. Preliminary Theory of the In-Group Contrarian: https://outsidertheory.com/preliminary-theory-of-the-in-group-contrarian/ Oliver Bateman, The Cooties Theory of Criticism: https://www.splicetoday.com/writing/the-cooties-theory-of-criticism Oliver Bateman, The Grifters: https://www.splicetoday.com/writing/the-grifters

Francis E. Dec (1926-1996) was a disbarred lawyer who wrote and circulated a series of pamphlets detailing the world's subjugation by the Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God. He was largely ignored for much of his life, but his writings eventually gathered a cult following because of their unique depiction of a theme common both to late twentieth century science fiction and critical theory: the ubiquitous and subtle operation of technological control systems. Artist writer, and gonzo philsopher Gio Pennachietti joins Outsider Theory for a wide-ranging discussion of Dec's work and its connections to an array of other cultural phenomena from Dec's era and our own. We conclude with a brief and only tangentially related discussion of the art of the late Thomas Kinkade, another shared interest of ours. Follow Gio and read his writing: Twitter: https://twitter.com/giantgio Instragram: https://t.co/WNZfDA10zQ?amp=1 YouTube: https://t.co/2vsKCsvFVO?amp=1 https://gioscontentcorner.wordpress.com/ https://terrorhousepress.com/product/ending-bigly/ Also related: The Collected Rants of Francis E Dec Jeffrey Sconce, The Technical Delusion Geoff Shullenberger, We All Wear Tinfoil Hats Now

For the inaugural episode of the Outsider Theory podcast, I speak to Angela Nagle, author of Kill All Normies, about the Capitol riot and what it reveals about the right-wing embrace of transgression and subversion; the shift in the liberal consensus from celebratory views of technology to more censorious attitudes; and the ongoing weaponization of the left's countercultural energies by the neoliberal center. Links: Angela Nagle, Kill All Normies Geoff Shullenberger, "Theorycels in Trumpworld" Geoff Shullenberger, "Goodbye Trump, our carnival king"