Cartoon incident meets Luhmann

My reading of the German theorist Niklas Luhmann has added a new perspective to my experience of the Mohammad drawing serial.

According to him communication is the basic unit of society. Implicating, if communication does not appear society will seize to exist. Misunderstanding and objection are two obstacles to communication and with the words of Luhmann: "it is possible to refrain from communication in face of these difficulties, and this is a rather common solution..." (Collected Papers, p. 184)

But in the case of society where communication is vital to existance: "it cannot simply capitulate in the face of these problems; it cannot stop all communications at once and decide to avoid any renewal." He continues: "... society has invented powerful mechanisms to guarantee its continuity in the face of lack of understanding or even open rejection" (Collected Papers, p. 185)

The solution is that the communication process starts communicating its own difficulties. Luhmann explains: "It uses a kind of (rather superficial) selfcontrol to become aware of serious misunderstandings, and it has the ability to communicate the rejection and restructure itself around this 'no'. In other words, the process is not obliged to follow the rules of logic... When faced with serious problems of understanding and appearant misunderstandings, social systems very often tend to avoid the burden of argumentation and reasoned discourse to reach consensus..." (here he even added: "very much to the dismay of Habermas", Collected Papers, p. 185)

To me, this portraits the problem of the on-going cartoon crisis: We have a potential communication breakdown due to a cultural cleavage and since the complex communication process of society cannot be stopped - the show must go on. The process begins to communicate its own difficulties, often without reasoning and with arguments based on emotions, and - tadaaaaa - a conflict appears.

Luhmann calls this the immune system of society.

The word vs. the image

"Unlike words and sentences, the photograph does not present to us an idea or concept about the world, except as we use language itself to convert the image to idea. By itself, a photograph cannot deal with the unseen, the remote, the internal, the abstract."

- In Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Without doubt I have found a bigger written word fascist than myself!

Not-so-funny cartoons

As a Dane I almost feel obliged to comment on the infamous Mohammad drawings. Some weeks ago I was suggested to do an article on them but at that point I was fed up with the discussion. The drawings were printed in Jyllands-Posten in September last year, then an intense debate raised and when it finally cooled down the cartoons were introduced on the international scene. It seems to be a never-ending story.

Without doubt it was respectless of Jyllands-Posten to bring the cartoons. But regardless of the priorities of a newspaper Denmark is a democratic society and Danish media should have the right to print whatever they find relevant. At one point, I was concerned that the Danish government would actually apologise on behalf of Jyllands-Posten. This would have been a drastic step back for freedom-of-speech and in conflict with the basic values of the society I grew up in. Fortunately they did not.

To begin with, Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons to adress the self-censorship of Danish media. Today many journalists - as well as ordinary people - are afraid to debate and question Islam in public. They worry that they might risk being persecuted by religious extremists. Sadly, the riots and threats of the past weeks prove that these concerns have not been without reason.

Today, one banner in a Pakistani demonstration summed up the agressions of the East and the fears of the West:

"Europe, your 9/11 is on the way"

Sad day

These are not easy days to be a Dane.

What a downer

I thought that student politicians were bad when it came to collaboration for the common good vs. own agendas.

But as always the grown-ups are much worse :-)

Terror, freedom fighting and fashion

When you walk down the street why not do a bit of advertising for a guerrilla group? Recently a Danish company started selling t-shirts printed with the logos of guerrilla movements that are included in terror lists of both the EU and the US. If you buy a shirt you will even support the organisations with 35 DKK.

Is buying and wearing such a shirt a statement of fashion or politics? And what about the producers - are they terrorists?

Last year a second Danish t-shirt company was in the spotlight because of a provocative design: a shirt printed with the image Pope John Paul stated "only good guys die young".

It is a very thin line between being provocative and making doubtful political statements. To me, the John Paul t-shirt is sophisticated and humourous while the new guerrilla shirts overstep the line.

The website of the guerrilla t-shirt company, Fighters+Lovers, states:

Fighters+Lovers is greatly in debt to the stylish classic coolness of Palestinian fighter Leyla Khaled and the funky outrageous style of Colombian guerrilla commander Jacobo Arenas. Our Collection 2006 is inspired by the style and principles of these legendary fighters. Let them bring it on. You rock!

And further down:

Look great & stand up for freedom!

Without doubt this is storytelling by the book. The story of freedom fighters & fashion icons. The story of a t-shirt that will bring you liberation, individuality, power and respect.

But while enjoying the smooth rethorics of the webpage it is also important to keep the story about doubtful political methods, abductions and hostage taking in mind. In the world of today freedom movements are a grey zone. Political consumerism isn't about making statements - it's about really knowing what you're buying!

Next-door neighboor

Last night I witnessed a break-up. I woke up around two to the sound of my flatmate next door and her boyfriend having an intense conversation. Suddenly they stoppeddiscussing and a few seconds later I heard the outside door slam. I guess that was a break-up.

It reminded me that it feels terrible - getting left or leaving someone in the middle of the night.

Forgotten favourite song

They say
he has two gods
They say
he has no fear
They say
he has no eyes
They say
he has no mouth

They say hey that's really something
They feel he should get some time
I say he should watch his ass
My friend don't listen to the crowd
They say 'Jump'

"Jump They Say" by David Bowie

Sunday afternoon. Listening to old CDs, drinking tea, checking my messages, reading blogs when I really should be working.  

Over and done with

The front page of my recent exam paper. The last exam of this semester - yes! For those interested this is my conclusion:

In this assignment two major causes for the very limited coverage that Danish media did of the Bergen Summit have been pinpointed. Both of them reflect basic dilemmas for media and authorities in representative democracies. Firstly that Danish media did not monitor the arena of educational politics closely enough to spot summit stories that fit their criteria for European news. Secondly that Danish politicians and interest groups were insufficient in communicating the national relevance of the summit. As a consequence, the Bergen Summit turned out as a ‘solonolo story’: it failed to ‘circulate’ the Danish public sphere and did not facilitate any public debate.

One of these days

For the past few hours I've struggled to find to music that would suit my mood. I have been in desperate need for some sort of background music to kick-start the article that I, to be honest, should have begun (and completed) yesterday.

Finally, I found it! In desperation I listened to DR Barometer playing Wonderwall (by the way I strongly recommend DR desktop (a brilliant application if you want to listen to Danish internet radio!) and found out that the perfect soundtrack would be my old Oasis CD. So I dusted off (What's the Story) Morning Glory?.

This CD has not seen the inside of a CD-player since I was sixteen. Actually, I was convinced that I would never listen to it again. But right now it's just perfect - who would have known that day should come?

Some might say that sunshine follows thunder
Go and tell it to the man who cannot shine
Some might say that we should never ponder
On our thoughts today cos they hold sway over time

Some might say we will find a brighter day
Some might say we will find a brighter day

How technology is made

Thank you, LEGO. With you everything is so easy to understand. Just check out the process of developing websites.

The Exam before Christmas

So exam time. Again. The plan is to finish it before the 23th of December - meaning this week will be in nerd mode.

10 pages on the Danish media coverage of a European ministerial meeting concerned with the Bologna process. Sounds sexy, doesn't it?? Or maybe not!

Thank you, European Union. A nice plastic pen for christmas. Just what I wished for. 

I heart group exams

As a student who has learned a lot from doing group work I'm very disappointed that the Danish goverment wishes to abolish group exams in Danish universities. Especially in these days when the ability to co-operate seems to be vital in many work places.

The student organizations at the universities of Aalborg and Roskilde are collecting signatures to oppose this decision - if you wish to support the good cause you can easily sign at bevargruppeeksamen.dk.

Dahl revisited

Two more quotes from Henrik Dahl - I can't help it! This time he is giving academia a hard time:

"If you study to become a priest you have to learn how to put on a serious face and say things with authority so that people will listen when you stand in a pulpit one day. If you study the humanities you have to learn to talk a lot because you can't really prove anything within your field."

"If you put a high school student through a university lecture he will die of boredom. That is the most vital competence of the academic: he has the ability to resist any lack of entertainment."

By the way: i forgot to add Dahl to my list of "instant understandable" scholars. No doubt, he and his observant sarcasm belong there.

Ordinary people part II

Another remarkable quote regarding tv and ordinary people - this time roughly translated from Danish:

"The drama in reality shows often stems from the non-existent self-respect of the participants. You watch these poor people who just don't know how to love themselves and you observe their struggle for honour. The dialogue is concerned with the distribution of esteem. You watch people who both have respect and lack respect for each other and that's exiting!"

- Henrik Dahl (Danish sociologist) in Delfinen

Lost in theoretical space

Damn. It seems that I - in spite of many classes at the media department - have repressed how demanding it is to read the works of media scholars. You need a dictionary of foreign words every second minute and their sentences are long and - so at least it seems to me - unnecessary complicated. I simply forgot how paradoxical it is that communication experts often fail to communicate!

Cultural thickening, problems of the extrasocietal, imagined communities, global stratification processes, refeudalization, macroframe programming, technoscapes... and a lot more that I don't even dare to think about. All this stuff is suppose to be ubiquitous but right now it's too abstract to be present in my everyday life!

Maybe my brain has shrunk? Or maybe it's filled up with political science stuff from the first two courses of this semester?

From the top of my head I can only mention two scholars from this field that have the quality of "instant understandability", namely Lars Qvortrup and Anthony Giddens. Unfortunately they're not on my curriculum list - I guess I just have to get into the habit and start spending half an hour on each page. *Sigh*

Talkshows and home videos

"Ordinary people enjoy appearing on television enormously, even if they come across as mad, bad or sad. They video themselves with pride. Why? Because somehow appearing on television feels more real to them than their real lives. Rightly or wrongly, it is a vindication, a validation that they are somebody."

- Suzanne Moore (in Morley, 2000: Home Territories)

Still up for your fifteen minutes of fame?

They're back!

So starting today The Socialdemocrats are Denmark's biggest municipal party. I'm wondering what exactly "did it" here in Aarhus since both Nikolai Wammen and his fellow leading candidate share opinions about almost everything. Especially when it comes to student life in Aarhus: more study relevant jobs, better possibilities for internships, cheaper accomodation and so on. What will the difference be? Well - hopefully there will be less bla-bla and more action.

Another question is why the Socialdemocrats have had such a successful election nationally. Given the fact that they lost five mandates in the national election in February it is interesting to consider why they are more popular in municipal politics nine months later.