Dead Vote Casting

In a recent book review (Art beyond Itself: Anthropology for a Society without a Story Line by Nestor Garcia Canclini) Robin Adele Greeley writes “Yet it is precisely in contemporary art’s ability to capture this state of incoherence that Garcia Canclini situates its capacity to address our present condition.” Analysis finds this to be most applicable to the present condition of political discord today. To say “discourse” rather than “discord” would imply some form of coherence. After the weekend distortions of Wiki leaks, x rated audio releases and an ostensible “town hall” debate, contemporary art must find itself with a treasure trove of work. Indeed, to wish or long for a story line, one that America could look for to return to its past “glory days,” would be to desire a monolithic, totalitarian mindset; one that didn’t have to take diversity into account or deal with its consequences. Coherence would entail an all encompassing mindset immune to the plethora of difference found not only materially in people, wealth distribution and quality of lives, but also the even greater galaxy of information, data, facts, and descriptions given the “huge” array of media sources. Analysis believes any artwork would look and sound a lot like Sunday evening’s “town hall” debate where people were asking questions that weren’t being answered, giving answers to questions they weren’t being asked, ignoring the moderators, or not wishing to deal with any format at all. What may have appeared as discord and incoherence to contemporary aesthetic sensibility was actually a variety of individual all encompassing mindsets immune to diversity, unable to include what is not within their own single monolithic voice (no surprise anarchy never gets any good press!). Analysis finds it isn’t any wonder given the enormous amount of continuous imagery, descriptions, information, advertising, narratives, etc. coming from an equally dizzying array of sources. If I don’t stick to the script, bring attention to myself, then my brand identity will be lost. Analysis finds that maintaining brand identity requires continuous 24-7-365 attention. The jumble of incoherence known as contemporary politics creates an almost deafening Motown Wall of Sound, akin to white noise – present everywhere, eventually accepted as natural background, an unnatural form of silence. Closer to home, there is an almost deafening roar of silence regarding the upcoming Newark increase in income tax appearing on the ballot. The strategy, as presented by Newark Advocate reporting months ago, is for a campaign specifically targeting business and social organizations. At some point this campaign will need to come out of the closet and address those who actually vote, the residents of Newark. Though more convenient to address businesses entities and corporations, Citizens United still maintains that elections are determined by flesh and blood “persons” casting ballots (in person!). Analysis finds the dearth of campaigning for a “yes vote” within 30 days of voting, be it lawn signs, billboards, media ads, etc., to suggest that maybe those in city government not up for reelection may have already plotted a future course for the city. Business loathes the uncertainty of incoherence. The monolithic mindset is so much more convenient! Newark’s income tax increase has been relegated DOA, resulting in a kind of dead vote casting.

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Tags: 2016 Presidential Election, 2nd Presidential Debate 2016, Newark Income Tax Increase