Neoliberalism appropriated dancefloor freedom while the left ceded it

Evidence

Yet Rose understandably failed to anticipate the extent to which the new energies, infrastructures and forms of desire she identified would be appropriated by a neoliberal culture which would lay claim to freedom and pleasure, while associating the left with a grey puritan statism. Once again, the left missed an opportunity, failing to successfully align itself with the collective euphoria of dancefloor culture. Thus the “good times” on the dancefloor became fleeting escapes from a capitalism that was increasingly dominating all areas of life, culture and the psyche. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1386

Categorization

• XREF: This is quintessential Fisher — the left’s failed alignment with collective euphoria parallels his capitalist-realism arguments that surface across K-Punk and later in The Weird and the Eerie context. — connects to: Neoliberalism won by absorbing sixties desires the left failed to address — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1716; Neoliberalism captured the anti-boredom critique that defeated the organised left, replacing it with anxiety. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1759; British dance music’s political energy turned apolitical or libertarian rather than leftist — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1366 (+2 more)
• SEED: Interesting essay angle: why left politics repeatedly treats popular pleasure as suspect and cedes its energy to capital — a point with contemporary relevance to club culture politics.
• DEEPTHINKING: Dense diagnosis of how dancefloor energies of ‘good times’ were converted into neoliberal escapes rather than critique — Fisher’s signature move of connecting cultural pleasure to political capture.
• ADDENDUM: The trajectory of dancefloor euphoria becoming ‘fleeting escape’ relates to the trees-as-infrastructure piece’s broader narrative of subjugated labor and organic energy being co-opted.

Broader Connections

• The left’s abandonment of freedom caused its political decline. #corroborates (0.85)
• The left lost by framing freedom and fairness as a forced choice #expands (0.78) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 104