The above is one of Coates' videos, a near-unwatchable mashup right? Kinda masterfully dense collaboration of her own ideas of celebrity with her music and with pop images. I'm not discussing her videos for this post though, I'm discussing the writing on her blog at thehighwayoftears.blogspot.ca. I just have the above for color. Also if anyone knows more about Coates' current figuring in Canadian culture please email me at peterbowensewebb@gmail.com
Why is Andrea Coates good? She’s a radical, willing to see multiple sides of one issue, including the otherwise “insane” ones. I use the word "insane" not because I believe in insanity as a legit social identifier but because I think people will connect with what I'm talking about when I say it. Is that implicit-ly supporting the label "insane"? Andrea Coates would probably empathize with my use of it.
Coates understands that empathizing with all human beings is the project, and that a general sympathy for all humans isn't just a moral necessity, it's a pathway into interesting ideas:
"Nowhere in modern politics, in Canada or elsewhere - besides here, this blog - will you find an individual or association campaigning for the societal and economic rights of Organized Criminals as such. Which means, to my mind, the “Gangster Human-Rights Advocate” is a political niche waiting to be filled, and, considering I am the first person I know of to point to the absence of an Organized Criminal perspective in the public debate around recreational drug-policies, I think I ought to doodle it in. Not because I personally sell recreationals (rather I hang out with people who do and listen to their stories and give them advice), but because I am willing to take on the difficult task of empathizing with and articulating the position of the professional Organized Criminal in a hypocritical legal culture."- http://thehighwayoftears.blogspot.ca/p/marijuana-legalization-in-canada-where.html
With the above, the "insane" perspective is a way to examine drug politics. But I also label Andrea as "insane" because you'd identify the celebrity-identification that she does as a common pattern of "insane" people: claiming that celebrities stole ideas from her, calling the owner of VICE her future he-doesn't-know-it-yet-but-he-will-be-my boyfriend; we've all seen enough examples of this practice to dismiss it out of hand. But Andrea uses the practice (self-consciously) to display the rather particular lines of power which draw out from celebrity to individual, and to conjecture the bounds of our current, and possibly future society:
"Shane Smith is letting Tao Lin, Specifically, as the Literary Writer of Highest Rank in the VICE Cotterie, get away with suggesting his Wife / GFs / Crushes for Employment @ VICE over Women of Notable Literary Talent because Shane Smith himSelf harbours a Fantasy of forcing a Literary Woman into the Position of having to Sxually please him for his Attention as an Artist, but SS cannot act on this Fantasy with the Ease Tao can as a Mere Peon of his, because what with Technology xposing People as it does, EveryOne would know about the Affair and it would reflect Poorly on SS as a Boss: so he lives the Fantasy out Vicariously, through Tao Lin, and in doing so attracts the Attention of the Woman he wants to force into this Position, who is me, the First Person to pick up on the Trend @ VICE and get Angry about it, who will subvert the Fantasy and make it reflect Well on Shane Smith and I as opposed to Poorly, by coming up with the Apology Idea: if SS apologizes for VICE’s Misogyny Generally, the Public will forgive him for taking a Mistress, and he can go on accumulating Power in CEOland with Moral Impunity. Coming to an Understanding of how Hierarchy works has been Vital to my figuring out how to subvert Feminine Xploitation : Once Hierarchal Power Relationships are made Visible, it is amazing how Much More Human Activity makes Sense, and how Much Clearer where to apply Pressure to promote Change becomes."from: http://htmlgiant.com/interviews-2/an-artic-fox-interviews-andrea-coates/
What Andrea does here: proposes a conspiracy between Tao Lin (former prince-king of Alt Lit) and Shane Smith (founder of VICE) wherein the gender power dynamics of the Alt Lit scene and their respective publication through VICE are semi-credibly analyzed. She then proposes, and in fact, predicts herself to be the solution: her own brand of gender-politics and her physical self will caulk Shaun Smith's anxiety and allow for a less misogynistic publication.
This is, again, a move of empathy, twofold: first, she finds an empathetic solution to VICE's misogyny, and second, she legitimizes her own nonentity/celebrity relationship. Empathy for the self is a powerful thing and by drawing a larger obfuscated politics through her own person, Andrea manages to conceive both a potential understanding of VICE as well as a more workable future. I don't think it matters that this plan is unlikely to work; it's sorta like speculative lit.
~poetryburgh
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