INTRODUCTION TO DISPUTATIONS OF ART, ANARCHY & ASSHOLISM

Today only exaggeration can be the medium for truth. Adorno

It is a banality to state that success is far harder to deal with than failure. However, one would not expect the likes of John ‘Porno’ Roberts to have a practical understanding of this cliché. Although I have not sought fame, it has been an inevitable by-product of my achievements in the cultural field. Therefore, I am not surprised that I have become the subject of ridiculous speculation and innumerable rumours. While these calumnies may appear distressing to those unacquainted with the ways of this world, the content of such speculation is in fact irrelevant, its quantity is the quality that matters in measuring my importance as far as the ‘art world’ is concerned.

It should go without saying that my activities are intended to do far more than simply illustrate the ways in which the ‘spectacle’ functions. The truth of this statement is proved by the fact that I trouble myself with the likes of David Burrows. Although Burrows’ pathetic dribblings aren't worthy of a response, I can still productively use them to illustrate the ways in which pseudo-radical rhetoric serves the interests of those it is allegedly directed against. In other words, as I point out in Feuding Considered As Performance Art, negative responses to what I do furnish me with a means of furthering my career within the cultural field. However it should not be forgotten that ‘criticism’ also provides a means of developing positions through argument and debate. While puffs and ego massaging may increase the sales of my books, they do nothing to advance my understanding of the world.

Since the pieces I have gathered together here are contributions to debates about both culture and psychological warfare, it seemed useful to include a series of interactions with the circle of Frankfurt School groupies centred on ‘Porno’ Roberts, which began with an article commissioned by everything magazine. To supplement these arguments, I have also included a reply to a piece run by Anarchist Studies which the editor of that journal refused to print, some addenda to material collected in The Green Apocalypse (Unpopular Books, London 1995) and a previously unpublished response to smears circulated by Bill Brown of the Not Bored! fanzine. Since Brown is one of a number of ‘pro-situs’ whose criticisms of me are based upon a complete misunderstanding of what I am doing, the present collection concludes with an interview previously unpublished in English which will hopefully clarify my ‘methodological’ concerns. ‘Serious’ ‘researchers’ will also want to track down the leaflets In Defence Of Revolutionary Organisation and Green Parasite published by Unpopular Books, as well as my Another Green Anarchist Smear Bites The Dust, and delights such as The True Blue Confessions Of Larry O’Hara Spookbuster! Concerned readers can rest assured that more material of this type will be issued in the near future, making this collection definitively incomplete.

Stewart Home, London November 1996.

Next: The Art Of Chauvinism In Britain & France

Feuds