• Dessa [she/her]
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    edit-2
    5 months ago

    I, We, Kamala: a Post-Modern analysis of Kamala Harris by Franck Ribery

    Kamala Harris is the ultimate example of the individual shaped by the signifier. Harris is a woman seen only in mirror images; lost in a hall of mirrors she is a reflection of a reflection of a reflection. You start with Obama– the wholesome liberal president superman, you reflect him to create Biden – the same thing but slightly less. You invert Obama to create Trump – Obama turned septic and libertarian – then you reflect the inversion in the reflection: you create a being who can only exist in reference to others. Harris is the true nowhere woman, without the other presidents she reflects, inverts and parodies. She has no reason to exist. Harris' identity only comes from what and who she isn’t – without a wider frame of reference she is nothing. She is not her own woman. In a world where our identities are shaped by our warped relationships to brands and commerce we are all Kamala Harris.

    • peeonyou [he/him]
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      5 months ago

      she exists in the context of everything that came before her, what do you think she just fell out of a coconut tree?

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      edit-2
      5 months ago

      I don't understand how this is meaningful. It's not like you actually started with Obama, he was just a reflection and inversion of people who came before him. Bush was the same, Clinton was the same, and so on. They're all nowhere people, their identities come from who came before them either as reflection or inversion.

      Isn't this just history? Everyone only ever exists in reference to others. None of us were born from the Sun.