…The End of Reality is On Repeat…
What if it’s not capitalism, or social order, or truth that’s dying? What if it’s reality itself?
In Mark Fisher’s later political writings, he remarked in regard to Trump and Brexit, “it isn’t capitalism that is being rejected in these inchoate revolts, but realism.” If, as there is evidence to argue is the case, we are now witnessing the breakdown of capitalist realism — the belief that there is no alternative to capitalism — Fisher’s observation reminds us of a blatantly obvious point: capitalist realism need not end with capitalism, only with reality.
By reality, it is easier to state what I do not mean. I do not mean the end of the world, or really the end of any class, cultural or political hierarchies. If anything, I would argue, the end of reality is proving to be extremely boring and extremely limited in its potential. A victim of the same hauntology which produced it.
Here is an example. Part of the American dream is the belief that anyone, of any background, can become president. While coming from wealth and privilege, Donald Trump is perhaps a most perverse sense of the apparent truth in this belief, having neither the intelligence nor the grace which have become such obvious pre-requisites for the office it was unnecessary to recount them previously. Yet it…
