the atomisation of interest

i think at one point in another thread we were talking about how now, instead of there being one or several widely accepted "maps" of an area of interest like electronic music, everyone makes their own. and how in a way that's exciting but it also makes each one harder to care about, because there's so many. so in a sense you have to almost fight for recognition of your map, and in another you have to accept how atomized things are (whether or not that's good or bad).

been thinking lately about how in the map i've developed, early electroacoustic and early hip hop / turntablism are hugely important (even though both happened long before i was alive lol), but to a lot of people around currently--the arcas and chal ravens and sosas of the world--they're a footnote at best, despite whatever connections i might want there to be.

but then as you mentioned in the forwards vs sideways thread, maybe some loyalty to the "irrelevant" can still be a good thing.

idk, that's sort of a tangent but whatever.

Fair play for apologising and good thread

This atomisation is something we all experience now and its a feeling that intersects across threads on here and all aspects of life, politics, music scenes ( allow me this zoom out waffle...)

We have a need for individuality and self determination and expression, contrasted with the need for belonging, connection, the communal. This tension and oscillation that drives culture. And these needs are suppressed or amplified in different cultures (individualistic west v collectivist east is a common trope), and across time. I think in this culture we’re seeing the emergence of certain collective desires again

Too much fragmentation on niche interest can isolate you, you become siloed. Too much communion and things stifle and stagnate, you’re drowned out. Music scenes and subcultures met both needs in the sense of a shared outsider identity, and birthed others in reactionary response.

On mental health stuff, a big factor in how common depression and loneliness seems to be is the atomisation you describe, blame thatcher not smart phones.

I’ve worked on projects to connect people dealing with mental health issues or bereaved by suicide around shared interests, running crews, art collectives etc, something to try and do some of the holding that social clubs and other community hubs provided before, something fun and non-clinical to give a sense of belonging with purpose and progression and the chance to learn from others. It’s so good when it works. It's hard tho

But to make it work things have to be framed in a helpful way, and people have to approach it with an open-minded goodwill and collectivist orientation, so what am i in this for? Is it to win or is it to lift up the group? Is it competition or conversation? Those things aren’t mutually exclusive but it’s sometimes worth asking the question.

This raises the question about what dissensus is for again. I think it’s a consciousness raising group now. Conscious dissensus.. A place to try and get the best from each other and raise everyone’s level of understanding through debate. Kpunk was swinging back towards this psychedelic collectivity stuff before he died. It’s what barty was trying to do with the jazz and blog threads, i think it’s it’s what you’re trying to do with this one and I think it’s what Luka means by the compound.

Who disagrees? Cmon tae fuck.

I love you third it's just you drive me absolutely around the bend! It's useful to be challenged intellectually and have my premises questioned. There's things I take for granted which are probably not as universal as I take them to be.

I'm proud of dissensus and I'm proud when people say they like it and are getting something out of it and I get upset when I feel the prerequisites for its relative success are being threatened or undermined. There has to be a little bit of love mixed in with the pisstaking and the rough and tumble.

Sorry for saying we should throw you in a hedge.

I knew it was all love cos of the farcical nature of all the insults

Obviously I agree with Shiels as to the role of dissensus. That is what the compound is and that's why I feel protective of the space and the project.

Cheers third.

Luke’s renounced his membership of the edl. Chopped up the members card and posted on Twitter like an outraged Blairite protesting antisenintism.