Crisis Thought Edwin Kent Morris Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought Francois Debrix, Chair Timothy W. Luke Scott G. Nelson Patricia M. Nickel September 12, 2016 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: crisis, crisis thought, politics, media, security Crisis Thought Edwin Kent Morris ABSTRACT Crisis thought is an idea that gives a name to and accounts for some of the problematics of the sign ‘crisis’ in political, social, cultural, and economic discourse. Specifically, crisis thought is a discursive formation, a concept used loosely here to refer to an assemblage of signs such as ‘anxiety’ or ‘fear’ that evoke or invoke similar, but inaccurate connotations as ‘crisis’ in political and everyday usage. The general question this study grapples with is why political, social, cultural, and economic ‘crises’ are often recognized and, yet, are seemingly unrecognized, unaddressed, or accepted as a basic part of political and ordinary life. This study focuses on the mobilization of crisis thought by the 24/7 news media and throughout politics in the United States. Working outside of economic and Marxist traditions of crisis studies, this study focuses on the effects of crisis thought by way of a critical, interpretive, and interdisciplinary approach. There are two goals of this project. The first is to offer some of the linkages between crisis thought, security, and liberalism. The second goal is to examine through various examples and vignettes how, where, and why crisis thought manifests itself in US politics and in ordinary life. Some topics addressed in this study include: news media, infrastructure, police militarization, mass shootings, US electoral politics, and the alleged US politics of crisis. In the final analysis, this study suggests that 24/7 news media and political mobilizations of crisis thought paradoxically help secure the ontological security of subjectivities as linked to securing security and the logos of liberalism. This study illuminates a peculiar aspect about liberal capitalist democracies: the (re)production of a myriad of crises and, thus, crisis thought, in order to perpetuate itself. Crisis Thought Edwin Kent Morris GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT This study focuses on the effects of crisis thought by way of a critical, interpretive, and interdisciplinary approach. There are two goals of this project. The first is to offer some of the linkages between crisis thought, security, and liberalism. The second goal is to examine through various examples and vignettes how, where, and why crisis thought manifests itself in US politics and in ordinary life. Some topics addressed in this study include: news media, infrastructure, police militarization, mass shootings, and the alleged US politics of crisis. In the final analysis, this study suggests that 24/7 news media and political mobilizations of crisis thought paradoxically help secure the ontological security of subjectivities as linked to securing security and the logos of liberalism. This study illuminates a peculiar aspect about liberal capitalist democracies: the (re)production of a myriad of crises and, thus, crisis thought, in order to perpetuate itself. For Tara and our two cats Hobbes and Locke. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Preliminary research for this project began in mid-2013. However, work on this project did not commence until April 2014. Elements of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 were published as “You Can’t Spell Crisis Without ISIS: Comments on The Return of Geopolitics,” in Spectra: The ASPECT Journal, vol. 4, no. 1 (2015). Drafts of Chapters 1 and 2 were also presented at the International Studies Association (ISA) North and South conferences in Baltimore, MD and Richmond, VA, respectively, in the fall of 2014. Drafts of Chapter 1 and 2 were also presented at the ASPECT conference in Blacksburg, VA in the spring of 2015. A draft of Chapter 5 was presented at the ASPECT conference in Blacksburg, VA in the spring of 2016. I would like to now, exhaustively, extend my thanks and gratitude to the following family members, friends, colleagues, associates, committee members, institutions, places, and things for their contributions to this study: My wife Tara and our cats Hobbes and Locke. My father Gus. My departed mother Kay. My 96-year old grandmother, Hilda. My departed grandmother Betty (thank you for the house, it certainly changed everything). My great-grandfather Robert Lee Kent (for inspiration). And the Brown family: Teresa, Randal, and Ashley. Most gracious thanks go to the members of the Dissertation Committee: Tim, Scott, and Patricia – thank you all for everything you have done during my time at Virginia Tech (VT). The collective impact of each of you on my life is inexplicable. My sincerest and deepest thanks goes to the chair of the Committee, Francois Debrix, and all the work, effort, and advice he provided throughout this difficult process. Thank you, Francois, for being my chair, and for your continued support throughout the ASPECT program. Thanks are also extended to several past and present faculty members of the Department of Political Science and ASPECT affiliated faculty at VT. Of special note, Professor Edward Weisband – thank you for believing in me all those years ago. My thanks also go out to the following: Hult. Walcott. Brians. Rich. Lavine. Thadani. Saffle. Satterwhite. Ryan. Torres. Special thanks to old and new faculty at the Department of Political Science at Radford University as well: M Hrezo. Waggaman. P Tan. My thanks also go to the staff of the aforementioned departments and programs at VT: Karen, Sybil, Kim, Phoebe, and Tamara – thank you all for your help with the red tape over the years. Finally, I would like to thank friends old and new who understood when it was time for me to be left alone: Sascha. Tyler. Ryan. Jennifer. Holly. Rikky. Stephanie. Christian. Issac. Katie. Francine. Alec. Mary. Will, Catherine, and Arya. Kristina. Catherine V. Katie and Adam. Abe. Jaeger. Davis and Lyndsey. Amanda and Cole. Nick and Ashley. Jared and Jessica. Cooper and Flo. Bill and Robin. Dave and Sharon. Daniel. And thank you to all the students at Virginia Tech and Radford University over the years for which I have had the privilege to teach and learn from. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 – POLITICS OF CRISIS 1 I. INTRODUCTION 1 Practical and Theoretical Aims 5 Exclusionary Principles 10 Crisis Thought and Tradition 13 II. CRISIS THOUGHT, SECURITY, AND LIBERALISM 16 III. EPISTEMOLOGY AND VISION 27 Chapter Outlines 30 CHAPTER 2 – CRISIS THOUGHT: From Crisis to Crises 32 I. CRISIS ETYMOLOGY: Ambiguities and Appropriations 32 II. GENESIS OF CRISIS THOUGHT 40 III. CRISIS THOUGHT: Language, Formations, and Mobilizations 55 IV. THE OPERATION OF CRISIS THOUGHT 65 CHAPTER 3 – 24/7 NEWS MEDIA: Mobilizations and Simulations 71 I. MEDIA IN THE USA: Codes, Contests, and Confrontations 73 Buckley vs. Vidal 76 CNN and the Virtualization of Politics 79 II. CRITIQUING THE MEDIA: Smartphones and Subjugation 83 CHAPTER 4 – INFRASTRUCTURE: Crisis and Catastrophe 105 I. INFRASTRUCTURE, SECURITY, SUBJECTIVITY 110 II. MOBILIZING THE CRISIS OF INFRASTRUCTURE 119 Cyber-Crises 119 Doomsdays and Disasters 124 Amtrak 2015: Crazy Train or Crisis Train? 128 III. DISCUSSION: CRISIS, COMFORT, AND MOBILITY 133 vi CHAPTER 5 – LOCKDOWN: Crisis Thought and the US Police State 141 I. CULTURAL MILITARISM AND MASS SHOOTINGS 143 II. MILITARIZATION AND THE PRESENT POLICE STATE 151 Foucault on the Concept of the Police 154 Policing the Colonies and Early-Republic 155 The Rise of Militarized Police and the War on Drugs 158 III. DISCUSSION: CRISIS THOUGHT AND FORGETTING 167 CHAPTER 6 – CONCLUSION: The Province of Crisis Thought 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 vii CHAPTER ONE – POLITICS OF CRISIS I. Introduction Crisis thought1 is an idea that gives a name to and accounts for some of the problematics of the sign ‘crisis’ in political, social, cultural, and economic discourse.2 Taken up in Chapter 2, the two problematics crisis thought accounts for are, first, the relative emptiness of crisis, and second, the paradox of crisis. The first suggests when a crisis claim is made it can be interpreted in multiple ways independent of the agents intentions. The second reflects the impetus of this study: to grapple with the question of why political, social, cultural, and economic ‘crises’ are often recognized and, yet, are seemingly unrecognized.3 At stake in this study is crisis thought’s relation to the conduct, security, and political experience of human subjectivities.4 This study seeks to offer a glimpse into, quoting Michel Foucault, how crisis thought fits into current modes “of relating to contemporary reality…a way of thinking and feeling…of acting and behaving…a relation of belonging,” as a kind of ontological security in politics and the ordinary life world.5 Reduced considerably, crisis thought can be understood as all crisis discourses in circulation at once. Specifically, crisis thought is a discursive formation (see Chapter 2), a concept used loosely here to refer to an assemblage of signs (or more plainly, ‘words) such as 1 John Schaar, Legitimacy in the Modern State (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2000), 334. The phrase (but not the idea) ‘crisis thought’ should be attributed to Schaar in which he 2 Timothy W. Luke, Screens of Power: Ideology, Domination, and Resistance in International Society (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1990), 5. Citing Eco, Luke states a sign means: “everything, that, on the grounds of a previously established social convention, can be taken as something standing for something else.” 3 In this study, ‘unrecognized’ is another way of saying that ‘crises’ often seem unaddressed, normalized, or more importantly, ‘crisis’ taken as an accepted part of political life, or denied altogether by politicians, the 24/7 news media, or subjects.