Seven Theses on Play!

[anarchist of love]

By Paul Z. Simons, AJODA #23
(note: AJODA= "Anarchy, A Journal of Desire Armed")

1) Play is desire realized, it is the negation of domination. Play is unmediated activity that does not attempt to produce a specific emotion, indeed, any emotion at all. The result of play may be alternatively orgasm, terror, delight, even death. Play is ambivalent; any one of these conclusions or any multitude of others are possible (there may even be no conclusive result). Yet, each eventuality in its own context is correct because none are specifically elicited except in the content of the play-activity that produces it.

2) In pre-agricultural societies play was common denominator of all activity, in much the same way that the gift was the characteristic mode of exchange. For the primitive, play was the activity that not only defined tribal and familial relationships, it also provided food, clothing and shelter. In the pre-agriculture era of abundance, the outcome of any given hunt was irrelevant. Necessity (and surplus) meant nothing in such societies, consequently food-generating activites were not driven by the alternative of starvation, rather they existed simply as diversion, play. Further, play was essential to the stability of pre-agricultural societies because of its tendency to exclude coercion, language, even time. The death of play was the triumph of civilization, of domination.

3) Capital has sought to abolish play and replace it with leisure-time; a void that must be filled as opposed to fullfillment that negates the void. Leisure-time is capital’s valorization of play, another mediation in the infinite maelstorm of mediations. In capital’s dual role of pimp and prostitute it not only creates leisure-time, it produces commodities and spectacles with which to fill it. Such valorization demands passive, stupefied participation (the negation of play) and seeks to elicit a single response, enjoyment. Which is, of course, the pay-off for time/money invested in a specific commodity/spectacle. As a result, play (like language) reverts to its magic form and becomes something dangerous, unmanageable, ultimately lethal; and capital in order to disvourage play portrays it as such.


For the other four portions, see:
Seven Theses on PLAY

[Puerto Lobos]

I needed this essay so much today. I have numerous hobbies that directly involve creative play with my community, but it often feels like a distraction from real action. And yet, when I dedicate myself entirely to work and direct action I find that my free time dies. Not that I don't have free time, but rather that my free time is devoid of any regenerative qualities. I become too tired to conjure original thought or genuine desire, instead simply absorbing the creation of others without a feedback loop into my own art. This essay serves as an important reminder to me of the value creation and play have to my quest to cultivate myself and my community into something more resilient. I'll try to strike a better balance between work and play going forward.

Thank you for sharing!