EDT part two

This is a continuance of The Electronic Disturbance Theater.
On Nomadic Power and Cultural Resistance (chapter 2)
Foucault would have loved this chapter. The Sythians were the original nomadic superpower, they were able to create fear and compliance in those they conquered because they did not exist.

"I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Kaiser Sose."

The Sythian's constant movement allowed them to never have to take a defensive position and produced paranoia and fear in the non-Scythians that they were always susceptible to attack. Fast forward to today. Sound remotely familiar? Believe in conspiracy theories? Do you feel like you are being monitored? Are you your own self-surveilling panopticon?

Video and Resistance: Against Documentaries (chapter 3)
Subjective memory has always been a problem. The invention of photography was a temporary solution for a brief period because it represented a concrete visual record. This is no longer true; the photograph is no longer a scientific tool. Photoshop and even the Photo Op has ended the innocence of photography as visual truth. The documentary, however, has always lied at either 24 or 29.97 frames per second. If you consider yourself to be information literate then it is critical that you study the works of documentary filmmakers from D.W Griffith to Errol Morris to Michael Moore. "The quality documentary does not reveal itself." Keep the images flowing seamlessly. Do not give time for self-reflection. Use a tripod, keep the camera steady. Do not make the viewer aware of the camera and disrupt the suspension of disbelief.

"the documentary does not create an opportunity for free thought, but instills self-censorship in the viewer, who must absorb its images within the structure of a totalizing narrative."

I love documentaries, but I do realize they are fictional propaganda, and I try to ingest them as such. Some of my favorites are uncut amateur videos taken at protests, they are often aired on free speech tv. These rough, jerky shots are the farthest thing from professional filmmaking and this makes them feel closer to the original purpose of the photograph -a solid witness.