Late capitalism pairs compulsory cynicism with managed sentimentality.

Evidence

Cynicism is just about the only rational response to the doublethink of the McDonalds and Coca Cola sponsorship (one of the most prominent things you see as you pass the Olympic site on the train line up from Liverpool Street is the McDonalds logo). As Paolo Virno argues, cynicism is now an attitude that is simply a requirement for late-capitalist subjectivity, a way of navigating a world governed by rules that are groundless and arbitrary. … Once the Games started, cynicism could be replaced by a managed sentimentality. The BBC has given itself over to propagating an hysterical PR delirium, as Mike Marqusee described after seeing the boxing at ExCel: Breathless BBC commentators reiterate the same round of superlatives - “unbelievable”, “incredible”, “amazing”, “brilliant”, “unbelievable” - telling us again and again how unique, how special, how extraordinary these Olympics are. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1611

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter 33 claim that denouncing elites reinforces the cynicism sustaining capitalist realism, and to the book’s broader treatment of cynicism as a structural requirement of late capitalism. — connects to: Cynicism is a requirement of late-capitalist subjectivity — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1611