The Trump Mythology & Roland Barthes' Semiotics
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2019
- A breakdown of Trump's MAGA myth using the semiology of Roland Barthes, first from Mythologies (amzn.to/33Ui0BL) and then from Image-Music-Text (amzn.to/2qnDJDo).
If you like the work there's more at spoti.fi/3f0OIXD and / plasticpills
I've never seen such a quality video with so few views
@@PlasticPills Keep up the great work. Some of the best videos on youtube and I hope we can help you break into the higher levels....maybe even become a youtube influencer ;) haha
Yes. This a jolly good pair of glasses a la Zizek.
yeah, I was like wow, this was the best video about the Trump phenomena I have ever seen. Then I looked down at the view count. How can this be real? I'm worried.
It's because he is clearly a shill that is payed to spin a narrative. Overproduced videos are a massive red flag, go look in to the data he percents. It is bad and he should know it is bad so he is intentionally using misinformation to spin the narrative he has been payed to push while at the same time criticizing the very same behavior in others.
There is a caveat to that, what looks like quality to one, might not to other.
Bro, thank you so much for taking your videos at a pace that a novice to western philosophy can follow. I really like how you take the time to DEFINE terms really well and reiterate what you said.
The transformation of the snake as a symbol of fertility and female power, to meaning chaos, trickery and deceit is also a fun one for tracing the development of patriarchal ideologies.
Man, I'm a huge fan of how you're putting all this effort to make online content that actually has interesting things to offer. Best channel!
You know, I never thought of fascism as a mythology. I had always thought of it as a totalization of aesthetics, to a point where it subsumes the political. To think of it in mythology terms, it is really a replacement to the total aesthetic of myth in the West of Christianity, a monolith that structures outward the rest of society.
Very thought provoking. Great video!
Interesting thought. The Italian futurists, Marinetti specifically would agree.
This is also Umberto Eco's and Robert Paxton's view
I think some of the more limited less critical leftist discourse csn kind of limit us in the vast sea of context. I think you’re description is PART of fascism but at its core it’s a. A product of capitalism snd festering toxicity/alienation, b. An escapist like snd illogical almost conspiracy or religious text kind of depiction of reality. C. It’s utilized in a similar manner that mythology and religion has been used in menu contexts to world oppression and enforce authority and control. It’s rooted in typical archetypes from mythology and has a very grand narrative. A gritty analysis would still tap into your point but I think people (not you) get too comfortable and safe keeping it mainstream and predictable and are afraid to stray away from more critical concepts
I studied Italian fascism for about a year, just to wrap my head around why Mussolini was still praised today, and the myth making is a great part of it. Fictionalized storytelling (D'Annunzio), references to the old Italy where the country would shape people into strong individuals through labour and exposure to the elements, alot of shouting and posturing during his speeches goes without saying.
Hitler loved him so much, he copied him, and of course Hitler would use the Roman Empire as an example of what Europe once was and could be under his leadership. The Germans believed they were fighting not only for a better Germany, but also "cleaning the entire continent", thereby being the sowers of Utopia.
People have to be either really desperate or simply equally deluded as their leader to follow such men into the grave. Love it or hate it, Italy is well-known for being quite literally bound to its past. Everywhere you go, something will remind you of ages long past. Rocks, an epitaph, perhaps even an entire city uncovered by archaeology, or the billions and billions and billions of towns that haven't changed in a few hundred years. The past sometimes even prevents Italy from becoming more modern, as is evident in Rome where the metro service is very limited because the city is so old and the ground is rife with ruins. Mussolini has become somewhat of a martyr who tried to defend Italy's past against modernization, and that message still finds ears to this day.
I will add that myths as propaganda were probably one of the reasons why Ancient Greece had so many myths. They loved war, they glorified bloodshed, they glorified all kinds of inhumane actions, paedophilia being one of them, yet their myths were often based on true events (think of the Illiad), real people (Perseus was an actual king), and the myth served to inspire young men to become heroes who would fight for their kings. If they died just as heroically, they might be remembered among the stars for eternity. It's the same how the Alt-Right inspires young impressionable men today.
Great content friend! Love the logo as well to ur brand.solid. encapsulates what every video stands for. Truly wonderful work here good sir.
you are doing a great job! I love the attention you are paying to all details, keep going bro!
I love your videos, and I love how fair and unbiased you are in your philosphical analyses. Keep up the great work :)
Nice video.
At 5:55 it is Plato talking through Sokrates as his fictional character. ☺️
Yes glad someone said.
Plato thought that myth could be secularized and rationalized. He used myth frequently in his writings, but always as an extension or sign of an underlying rational argument. He thought he could bring enlightenment to the masses through his myths, making education fantastic and appealing. He was wrong. Neo-Platonists and Christians embraced the myths of Plato but discarded the underlying rationality. People remember his myths but don't themselves seek enlightenment as Plato wanted.
This video is top quality, great breakdown and analysis combined with a smooth sense of sarcastic humor. One might call it intellectual entertainment. Thanks a lot, pill!
He did descend from the upper class heaven on that escalator for his announcement
hahahha true
Just saw this on reccomendation of a friend and subscribed. Fascinating stuff.
This series is phenomenal. You do such a great job of breaking down hard theory and presenting it in relevant contemporary ways. So interesting. I finally feel like I am starting to understand this stuff. Thank you!
I've been watching your videos with my son, you do a really good job of explaining a view without completely obfuscating it in theory. I can see his own views expanding via both literal understanding, and osmosis, and it's entertaining too! ;) cheers.
You’re welcome 😊
@@mjolninja9358 Who are you?
Yo. ACTUALLY the best video I’ve seen on CZcams. This content and explanation was 🔥
Excellent stuff! You fight myths with other myths. We’re all sold on emotion, after all. In my country, we have a similar myth about our country being shackled by Europe, and that we can recover lost glories/empire if only we could “take back control”.
poland?
@@JoostJGJ ooh yeah that makes sense, i didnt see the bit about empire
could be Russia, being a first gen immigrant ppl don’t realize that Putin’s russia does literally have these narratives and certain areas are borderline Orwellian hellscapes
@@sad-qy7jz Putin wants to re-install the KGB and kiss with some old comrades *coughcough* UKRAINE *coughcough* behind the red flag. Russians are aware of what he's trying to do, they're simply too scared to rebel against him because he's such an oppressive asshole. The fact that Trump loves and admires Putin should be a red flag to Americans what kind of America Trump truly desires to establish.
Absolutely brilliant. Thank you for your insight and amazing work.
I'm teaching semiotics in México. And your video was a really good example to explain what a cultural myth is. Great video!
11:55 what is the name of this piece of music? kicking myself
that dramatic choir music killed me xD
Where can I buy a shirt like that you are wearing?
Extremely good. Makes very hopeful that there are younger thinkers out there nailing it so hard. The last bit in particular.
I'm a lunatic but hear me out. Catholicism or something similarly complex, perhaps confuciusism, is a possible answer. I've been waking back up to politics in a more direct way lately, as my kids become older, and the rise of neo fascism has me worried. So I thought I wonder what the Church is up to since they (despite the American myth to say otherwise) fought the last fascists as hard as possible. Even though they didn't kamakazie.
I found Bannon is opening monestaries across Europe to train neo fascist Catholics and there is a growing schism between the American Chruch and the rest of the Church. Benedict didn't step down and get replaced by a Jesuit (literal warrior of God) for no reason. They're very concerned and aware of how serious things are.
So they're actually a potential "ally" and La Croix even wrote a recent article arguing Catholics need to choose between Bannon or the Church. (For the record I'm an agnostic and very lapsed Catholic).
Despite the America myth, which I swallowed, the Church is very sophisticated. Greek and Roman philosophy has been a big part of the church for a long time. It has far more depth than popular media or new atheist myth suggests. Interestingly Peterson used to do the new atheist circuit before his current gig.
So the result is you don't have people talking to each other or able to share their perspectives on why the problem is happening. Thus preventing anything from being done about it. You also make profane the word God and allow it to be owned by the fascists. You can only find faith through republican Jesus.
Anyways, like I said I'm a lunatic, and I'll just wrap it up by saying Bellah gives a very good argument that the Plato you just quoted was a religious figure. Exactly like Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Moses, Mencius, etc. When you're reading the Republic you're not reading a literal guide book for how to order a city. It's instructions on how to order your soul.
Damn--now that's a wall.
I'm well with you on the potency of myth in religion. 2000 years of syncretism is always gonna leave you with a full store, and that that store can be put to any number of ideological uses--Constantine's Jesus, Evangelical Jesus, or Hippie Jesus. Barthes' relevance in this context is probably how something like 'intentions' are not authoritative when it comes to text, and the meaning of the text is going to necessarily be formed by the context in which it's read, whether it's Jesus or Plato. I appreciate the reflection, it's strangely coherent for a lunatic!
Do you have any videos of Jordan Peterson in the New Atheist circuit? Maybe I have them if you do have them?
I've been really into in sort stuff and had no idea what "semiotics" is. I might take my future undergraduate research into this direction. I'm currently reading Marx then Baudrillard. Where should I go to start with semiotics?
You'll want to look up Saussure, who kicked it off, but what's most interesting are the responses to the structuralist method. Then you get into post-structuralism, which includes later Barthes, Baudrillard, Derrida, and the other big bad "postmodernists."
Your videos are awesome. Keep it up.
Hey! I find your videos amazing! Just a small suggestion, it will be great if you may sometimes keep the background music off. At times, it creates a bit ot distraction esp when one wants to concentrate more on what you're explaining.
All the best!
We need new myth builders to bring down this dragon who is destroying the land with his blight
I love the epic music in the background.
Question: why do you consider socialism to be a myth? What do you mean by that? (Greatly enjoyed the video btw!)
Answer: not sure if this is mentioned in the video, but I don't use "myth" pejoratively. Myths--or mythic narratives more precisely--have a necessary cultural function of unifying large groups, particularly by representing a shared past and a vision for the future that marks everyone: friends, enemies, leaders, martyrs, sages, traitors.... etc. These are archetypes. Socialism includes these archetypes: the friends are the wage labourers, the enemies are the current owners of the means of production or the superrich, the leaders are politicians or public figures like Bernie or whomever and so on. The vision for the future is clear enough and everyone who calls themselves a socialist sees themselves as one or another character in the story. Myths are not right or wrong, and they are necessary for mobilization at large scales because they create definite goals, and define the standards for which events count as good/success/important or evil/failure/irrelevant. Glad this was worthwhile to you!
I liked it. I thought this info was essential.
Glad to hear it dude. All this has been said before, a lot, I'm just trying to give it a crittheory spin (with some tryhard animations for the attention deficient).
I'm gonna need a source on that car image
You’re about to blow up.
Trump is a marketing genius because he can predict trends and flush out ways of engaging in them.
He'll leave the semiotics to the art students and historians to ponder.
Another myth is established by “analyzing” the myth of Trump rather than say the “social justice” mythology of the DNC’ers thereby avoiding the “wrath” of the TDS’ers.
I'm in a McDonalds. Is McDonalds me now??
Love your stuff.
You say in a more recent video that you sometimes ask yourself if you should just make vlog-style stuff. I appreciate your visuals and effort, though sometimes I just listen to it in the background, while going for a walk or something. Then I only look if you reference something on the screen. Maybe some of your video could be vlogs if that feels good to you; I wouldn't mind.
seems like I've first watched this video months ago, but now I dare say this out loud: how are your eyes so blue and your teeth so perfect? it's hard to concentrate! (even though the content is, of course!, excellent!)
HELP
can someone break down the signifier(meaning) and the signified (concept) in the slogan MAGA according to Barthes?
Another good example of a mythical term is "tabernacle." A tabernacle, or _the_ tabernacle, was the earthly dwelling place of the one and only Hebrew god Yahweh fashioned by Moses and the Israelites during their flight from Egypt. This was essentially a portable temple partitioned into a meeting area for the congregation and the Holy of Holies which contained the Ark of the Covenant and four pillars. The tabernacle wasn't just a "dwelling place," as is what the original Hebrew term translates to; the sacredness of this place became a metaphor for one's innermost soul. So the Old Testament also makes references to the tabernacle as a synonym (or perhaps a euphemism) for one's "heart of hearts."
A place sheltered and separated from the world, yet infinity vague, filled with mystery, and somehow vulnerable; susceptible to being profaned by the wicked as one sees it in other people.
Look at the image in reverse and the tabernacle becomes like the body of God; the body is taken to be the dwelling place of the soul in the same way that the tabernacle is the dwelling place of the godhead.
In this we even seem to get a prefiguration of Christ, which is not unlike the idea that God could dwell within a literal human body.
God bless you boss, you're very good at this. I never know there's so many symbolism in politics.
This is top quality edutainment. Thank you for this!
5:37 minutes talking about Socrates banning poets reminds me of the song by the band Rush called “Hemispheres” ........it packs a lot of philosophy in 18 minutes
Brilliant. Thank you.
Excellent.
We chemists (and other scientists) use signifiers. But we most certainly use language to convey ideas in addition to the signifiers. Saving time as one talks with one who knows what the signifiers are makes sense. What DJT and its supporters did is forego human language and clear communication, and instead relied on signifiers that only they could decode easily, or ‘angrily chummily’, as I like to think of it. Chemists (and scientists) who are worth their potassium chloride (their salt…hehe…he..he.h….) will use language when communicating with those not clued in to the signifiers of their discipline. The failure of DJT and its supporters to do so, especially not in an emotional (“snowflakish”) way, is the summary of the past 14 years of American history.
Excellent video!!
I consider advertising as propaganda and like party politics a form of black magic, in that they beguile the reason for the purpose of deceit with the aim of exploitation. discuss..
Really well done stuff. Earned another sub
Pop deez pills! Tx Sawbones.
7:07 Solid Adidas commercial
1. Love your stuff, and your podcast! 2. In the midwest of America manufacturing is still 25% of jobs. Yes, automation impacted factory reduction, but NAFTA (thanks, Clinton) made a massive shift of industrial jobs first to Mexico then China. This really f'd up A LOT of small towns & urban neighborhoods in the Midwest. They went from nice working-middle class places, to relatively scary in 10 years. This isn't to say that you are wrong, but I think that: 1. A strong myth needs something tangible behind it. 2: The Myth does all the heavy lifting; Instead of a long political-economic discourse on Atari_dems, to Clinton reworking Bush's NAFTA, and to the Service Economy that was a disappointment, AND TO Oxycontin, Pain Killer, Fentanyl addictions... You can just say MAGA. The Myth distills disillusionment with both parties, the economy, etc. and resets to a simplistic (and jaded) solution: Trump.
This video is such a gem. All my frustrations at having to make my way through literary theory are gone seeing it can be applied in ways that will do so much social good.
I expected more introducing of Roland Barthes
And when people interact with snakes they don’t, they interact with the “snake”
Hahahah that Peterson bit 🤣
I find that, in my experience, it seems to me that most things undergo the trend and tendency to arbitrarization and over-specialization.
You pick and choose
To be fair the JBP clip in this one is fine, it is just talking about how people and environment are inseparable
Got a new sub comrade, great work
Awesome.
Damn dope pills bruv.
You've got to make yourself better first before you can help others
You know that we're fucked up, when a vedio like this have 3k views.
brilliant.
How do you pronounce Althusser so well and then Barthes so not-well? jknjk
Lol you're gonna be THAT guy eh
That man spent a lifetime selling himself. Does it become then a surprise to anyone?
I love your videos but this one is quite dettached from reality. The outsourcing of factories deeply hurt working class America, even if the production keeps going up this only benefits the bourgeousie so Trump it wasn't that mythological Trump was talking to yearning of unemployed that obviously can relate to what he's saying without disregarding the facts
Because the Chinese and other countries took over manufacturing......And we let it happen with unions, government and big companies working together for themselves and not America...
Basically everything that is in this sapiens book...
Can somebody please tell me where I can find the background music? I don't know why, but it's awesome.
Does Trump know he is a mythmaker or is he doing it unconsciously?
He knows
👍👍
Most neurophysicists would agree with Peterson on that [rare] one [he gets right].
I found myself having that queezy feeling of agreement with JP. I'm not a neurophysicist but I came to the conclusion as a result of meditation practice. I won't describe the whole chain of thought as it might be like me cornering you at a party and telling you about a dream I had.
We live under the Rule of Lying Liars for money. Should be great, no worries.
Gas dawg
Are rusted out factories a myth? Where do you live?
By the way, people on the left also have their own mythologies, just like people on the right.
This is fantastic. Ya bastard. Love it. But hey I can admire Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson too while at the same time being aware of the perils of myth.
check out his video on jordan petersons’, deleuze and guattaris’ ideas.
I like it best when you just talk like this
He doesn’t know he’s perfectly describing Marx’ writings. Probably wasn’t his intention.
Why do you say that because Marxism is a meta narrative?
Quality video. I don't think it's fair to put JBP out of context piece next to some televangelists though.
It didn't take him out of context though.
is he talking about himself when he talks about America. How about when he talks about someone else?
If you could please do an analysis of the new democratic nominees campaign message that will be great. Because every politician uses this mechanism, so what will the nature of Biden's myth be? Please do not tell me he will not be doing the same or that his myth will be true because that is nonsense. Trump won because his myth was more powerful and more effectively distributed.
I'm not all that interested in politics. But the myth of brown nose politicians will forever be: "everything's fine, we got this, dontcha worry folks!" Then they'll point away from any consideration of economic policy that would bother their donors. It's a boring "let's get back to normal." Of course, normal is a f*cked up situation to accept, but again, these vids take a lot of time to make and I'm not all that motivated to separate sour cream from mayo.
PlasticPills I enjoyed your video. However your choice of threads for each term’s connotation added a spin (itself a mythology) which distanced you from being confused as a sympathizer. I think of trump as a surrealist strategy more Dali than Breton. Id like to see a Barthean analysis of the democratic platform. You know the platform that used to claim all of those despicable believers as their base. There’s a Zizek video which asks if Hitler was a postmodernist. I’d like to hear your take on it. Thanks again...enjoyed your Lacan videos enormously. Job well done.
Definably a plastic pill. Not A red one
Trump/Hillary Perseus/Medusa statue was great. Might of been more effective to start with the magazine cover Barthes made use of with the soldier from a colonized French African country and gone from there. Funny I actually listen to NPR just to see it from a bit of Barthes POV. You know the metered adult tone to all the voices meant to signify intellect? Content could almost be anything but as long as it’s spoken in such a way it’s taken as natural that this is smart. Then the commercial for Ira Plato’s Science Today comes on. Man we are smart now! Then back to tying every issue and story of the day to global warming and how an oppressed subculture has a more difficult time dealing with global warming. Meteor heading towards 🌍 will destroy entire planet..LGBTQ community hit harder than the rest. Vacillate between global warming and the oppressed. Lather rinse repeat. Smart. Great video tho.
Tell me exactly how Trump is excluding any Americans?
Hey, how about the border crisis? Build that wall...
beuh
@Gabe.
hello there
Dude automation is a small part of it. Your only giving out the facts or lies that suit your narrative
Pretty biased. I see why it doesn’t have many views. Do one on the Obama myth of “Hope” 😂
No, you perceive MAGA hat as a sign of hatred. They are a sign of loving the country you were born in. Me=America
How about the myth of transgenderism and global warming?
I've never seen someone try and stretch basic definitions sooo hard in order to completely warp the truth and spread hate. It's possible that "great" doesn't mean a solely nationalistic uncharitable thievery, rather just the normal perception of "great" as in rights, freedoms, wealth, success, improvements etc. Ultimately something the people would like more.
"Greatness for trump's America is solely nationalistic. Trump wants not only success but more success than other people and not giving anything up for free. No charity or anything like that, not making the world better, only America."
How many times has trump bragged about helping other countries, donating the largest amounts in charity, sending military aid to allies, and obviously creating peace in other countries (Kosovo-Serbia, Middle East etc) hence the Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
All in all the video was alright but the religious music wasn't mixed correctly and made it hard to hear some of the speech.
Another way of breaking the Trump myth: Complete failure to counteract the pandemic? Perhaps?
Prove with facts, not your own rhetoric that Trump's facts were wrong...
Yeah, come one why don't you give us some left wing mythology?
I found a serious error with your video. The graph at 12:58 smelled like total BS so I did some digging. It comes from this blog www.aei.org/carpe-diem/october-2-is-manufacturing-day-so-lets-recognize-americas-world-class-manufacturing-sector-and-factory-workers/ and it is very misleading as it does not account for inflation or growth of the economy as a whole, ofc the number will go up if you leave that out. What is even stranger is that his data supposedly goes back to 1947 but his listed source only gives me data from 1997.
When I adjusted for inflation the gross growth in manufacturing is only a few percent from 1997 to 2014 and not like 60% as the graph erroneously shows. Also, the numbers on the graph are wrong on his graph, they are wrong by almost a factor of 3 according to his own listed source. I would not touch that graph with a 10 foot pole as it is clear that it's intentionally designed to be misleading.
A much more honest evaluation would be to look at the data for "Industry Economic Account Data: GDP by Industry" from his listed source, in the period from 1997 to 2014 manufacturing went from 16.1% of total US GDP down to 11.7% of total US GDP. It dosen't seem so world class now does it when it has lost so much in just 17 years.
Just read Imperialism in the 21st Century. All economics graphs are pretty much lying
@@slm711 Thanks, but I already know. I'm Fash to the bone so I already know how this evil, demonic, globalist, materialist and capitalist liberal world order works.
We would have finished them off back in WW2 and broken our peoples free if the dam commies hadn't sided with their co-ethnics against our liberation movement.
@@vals4207 I'm not a schizo and I'm not on Reddit because I'm not a homosex who drinks soy.
I'm simply a humble denizen of the internet that spotted this snake spitting venom and wanted to help the people listening to him get a chance to avoid the venom.
@@skitidet4302 we're still here and all your worst fears will come true! gulags won't be easy on you!
@@yashbisht33 You are like 100 years off message, the Gulags for the G o y s plan died with Trotsky and all the chosen Trotskyists went on to become NeoCon as that was their plan B.
You've made this u out of your own ideological narrative. you have few facts and how you interpret them.... You believe your own ideological mythology
Conveniently avoiding Trump’s Realist foreign policy, perhaps the most important aspect of Trump’s 2016 campaign and his 4 years in office. Woefully misinterpreting National Populism.
This is painfully naive Liberal interpretation.