I was thinking of making this thread ages ago, but I couldn't find the right words. I'm still not sure if I'm saying everything I want to here, but I figured at the very least this can create some interesting discussion.
I think there's a convergence right now between the Sorelian conception of political "myths" and the prominence of GenAI slop, especially on The Right. I'm sure most of you have noticed by now that Generative AI has been almost endemic to Right-Wing political movements, even while Data Centers
in particular are still grossly unpopular. I don't believe this convergence is intentional, in fact I doubt that most on the political Right even know who Sorel was, but rather I believe the Right has intuited some of Sorel's work without actually reading it. Though entirely unintentional, the specter of Sorelianism has only become more relevant to modern political disputes.
To begin, let's first discuss what Sorel means by a "Myth". He asserts his thesis in his Magnum Opus, "Reflections on Violence" here:
>“In the course of these studies, I have established something so simple that I did not believe it had to be emphasized: men who participate in great social movements represent their immediate action in the form of images of battles assuring the triumph of their cause. I proposed calling these constructions myths, the knowledge of which is so important for the historian: the syndicalist general strike and Marx’s catastrophic revolution are myths. I have given as remarkable examples of myths those which were constructed by early Christianity, the Reformation, the French Revolution and by Mazzini’s followers. I wanted to show that it is not necessary to try to analyze such systems of images in the same way that one breaks down something into its elements; that they should be taken as a whole and as historical forces; that it is necessary above all to keep from comparing the accomplished facts with the images which men had adopted prior to action.”<Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence, Page 20, Cambridge Texts EditionThe emphasis on the word "images" is my own, as I feel that's directly relevant to the tidal wave of AI slop we see coming from The Right Wing today. Now I should mention that though Sorel uses the term "images" he d
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