Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

POPULAR SECRECY AND OCCULTURAL STUDIES1

2006; Routledge; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09502380601046956

1466-4348

Jack Z. Bratich,

Rhetoric and Communication Studies

Abstract Is cultural studies becoming-strategic in accordance with its context? In this era where traditional conceptual tactics have not provided the desired results, perhaps we can experiment with new techniques. This essay explores one such tactic and commitment, namely the faith in publicity as a truth-telling strategy to expose, and ultimately neutralize, power's machinations. We are witnessing a regime-of-truth change, one that requires us to rethink our own notions and attachments to truth, insofar as it is tied to revealing and concealing, to secrecy and publicity. Recent events compel us to revise our conceptions of publicity, secrecy, and activist strategy. How can cultural studies recognize its own commitment to transparency and publicity, and make it alterable? By turning an eye towards secrecy, justly, cultural studies can become a strategic craft that enhances its capacities to remake its context. Keywords: secrecypublic sphereoccultstrategyactivismspectaclemasks Notes 1. Portions of this essay have been published in Bratich, J. (2006b). It can also be read as a part 2 to my recent article in this journal (Bratich 2006a). 2. As the White House Cabinet was going through a shake-up so activists rethought previous tactics and sought out new techniques of resistance. Previously taboo topics like secession were regularly discussed both humorously and as serious options (Flores-Williams 2005a, 2005b, Wilson 2005 Wilson , P.L. ( 2005 ) 'New New Holland?' [online] Available at: http.//www.thebrooklynrail.org/express/march05/newholland.html [Google Scholar]; for an analysis of this movement from an autonomist perspective see my 2005.) 3. Strategic criticism, as Giorgio Agamben defines Guy Debord's work, involves positioning one's view precisely in another actor's view (2000, p. 74) (much like the perspectives taken by counterinsurgents when they study and mimic guerrilla and network-centric warfare). 4. Perhaps the most blatant example of the secret becoming visible as strategy is the short career of the Information Awareness Office logo (DARPA, headed by Poindexter, goal of Total Information Awareness through integration of technologies, civilian and military think-tanks and citizen snoops). The logo was comprised of an eye-in-the-pyramid shining a diffuse spotlight on the globe, with the phrase 'scientia est potentia' (knowledge is power) So here we have the public face of the will-to-publicize, the face of desire for total openness and absolute observability. And in this visible face is one of the most well-known occult symbols around (the Freemasonic, Rosicrucian Eye-in-the-Pyramid). Regardless of the significance one wants to attach to it, it is an occult symbol for those who practice this form of symbology. The logo 'disappeared' from the office's website, and the agency shortly followed suit. Perhaps it was conjured away, perhaps it still haunts other departments. 5. We can cite here the TV shows dealing with occult or supernatural themes (Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Teen Witch Mad Mad House), and with secret services (Alias, 24, The Agency). In addition, a number of films have taken secrecy as their subject matter, from the secret agent (SpyGame, The Recruit, XXX, SpyKids, Mr. And Mrs. Smith) to the secret society (The Order, The Skulls, From Hell, National Treasure). Popular secrecy was even embedded in the reality TV/game doc format (the first challenges of Amazing Race: Family Edition and the series Treasure Hunters). 6. This enigmatic phrase, itself seemingly everywhere, was the title of a Spring 2004 special issue of the Massachusetts School of Law Journal. 7. We are reminded here of Donald Rumsfeld's announcement of the Office of Strategic Influence's appearance and subsequent quick withdrawal: months later Rumsfeld revealed that its disappearance was in name only, and that it would continue its operations under different departments. Also, public relations' value of 'getting ahead of the story' is an example. 8. This seemingly new problematization of secrecy and technology is bound up with the history of cryptography, whose link between revealing and concealing is embedded in a variety of codes and technologies (see Butler & Keeney 2001 Butler, W.S. and Keeney, L.D. 2001. Secret Messages. Concealment, Codes, and Other Types of Ingenious Communication, New York: Simon & Schuster. [Google Scholar]; Davis 1998 Davis, E. 1998. Techgnosis. Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information, New York: Three Rivers Press. [Google Scholar]; Singh 1999 Singh, S. 1999. The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Codebreaking, London: Fourth Estate Press. [Google Scholar]). In addition, one could note how early film was attributed with the power to break open a hidden world of the mundane (as in Benjamin's 'Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', 1968 Benjamin, W. 1968. "'Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'". In Illuminations. Essays and Reflections, Edited by: Arendt, H. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. [Google Scholar]). Perhaps what we are witnessing is how the link between secrecy and technology is moving from the shadows to becoming public (such as the popular fascination with codebreaking). 9. This repressive law was later challenged but not overturned in court. It is important to note that this legal action was carried out by the Klan, once again demonstrating that reactionary forces (with their cellular operational networks, leaderless resistance strategies, and insurgent manuals like Invisible Resistance to Tyranny, 2002) have been effectively and deliberately harnessing the strategic power of secrecy, much to the dismay and detriment of progressive forces. 10. State masking is cited as a reason to criticize black bloc, namely because the tactic is vulnerable to infiltration and provocation. This flaw is certainly there: enough is known about the events in Genoa 2001 to claim authoritatively that the State infiltration of black bloc was deliberate and provocative. However, black bloc has actually given more visibility to the issue of provocateurs in the activist community And let us not forget that the secret services have infiltrated plenty of non-anonymous groups and actions. The black bloc has brought to light Debord's assessment that in a society of the spectacle and secrecy, 'secret agents become revolutionaries, and revolutionaries become secret agents' (1998 p. 11). 11. The spring 2006 film release of V for Vendetta turns this masked antagonism into a spectacular epic. The lead character wears a Guy Fawkes mask, whose role in the Gunpowder Plot has created significant speculation about his identity (as agent, as instrument for a strategy of tension). From 'who is behind the mask' to 'who is behind the masking'. 12. At stake here for strategists is the element of surprise. As Luttwak, Karl Von Clausewitz, and other strategists have pointed out, secrecy is attached to the element of surprise. Eliminating surprise seems to be the new grand goal of State/counterinsurgency force. The Novel Intelligence Project provides one example. After 9/11, the key objective in the intelligence community is to prevent the 'strategic surprise'. The NIP, via massive data analysis and surveillance, is precisely geared towards predicting and controlling surprise. This model writ large would be a matter of rooting out and eliminating unpredictability as such.