TW: This review mentions some of the forms of sexual violence and misanthropic ideas contained in the book.
Did you know that people in the early 2000s did not yet have the term ›edgelordery‹ at their disposal and therefore had to describe books such as »Macht und Rebel« by Matias Faldbakken as ›biting satire‹ or ›clever social criticism‹ or similar, when in fact they are nothing more than a poor excuse for writing a book by stringing together the cheapest taboo-breakings. Well, f**k that book – all the more so because I fell for its provocation and am now writing this article.
The idea behind the book might have been to offer a relentless critique of the capitalist corporate world on the one hand, and at the same time of the ›underground‹ (as it is constantly invoked in the book, presumably referring to countercultures, subcultures and the art scene), which in turn allowed itself to be co-opted by corporations or curries favour with them. Faldbakken apparently wanted to show how historical revisionism, anti-Semitism, sexism and other misanthropic ideologies flourish in both spheres, because they are both part of the capitalist world. And to this end he indulges in quoting Hitler, describing sexual intercourse with minors, employing anti-Semitic and racist stereotypes, etc. These calculated taboo breaks are all the more annoying because one gets the impression that Faldbakken is primarily indulging his desire for transgressive writing rather than pointing out actual problems. He could have written a book about how capitalism and discriminatory ideologies are connected, or how the latter necessarily arises from the former. Or about how the postmodern world has lost its sense of history and political action. One could give the book credit for attempting to do just that with its exaggerated and transgressive depictions (characters who have »World War II« tattooed on their arms, who enthusiastically read »Mein Kampf«, who propagate euthanasia, who beat up people, etc.). In reality, however, Faldbakken fails miserably, and what actually happens is that real misanthropic ideologies, anti-Semitism, class hatred, fat-shaming and everything else are simply trivialised by their comic-like treatment here.
Everything in this book is so cartoonish, exaggerated and presented with a wink that I am inclined to accuse the author of having no real connection to the actual problems and struggles. A guy who writes so satirically and jokingly about sexism, racism, violence and the like, I think, fails to recognise the seriousness of the subject. Slurs and discrimination against minorities are paraphrased, sexist thoughts are verbalised and the like, and all this with such joy in writing that one gets the impression the author lacks the ability to take the position of those affected by hate and discrimination even once, in even the shortest passage. Instead, he persists in his smug tone and sticks to his stupid, endlessly repeated, ›biting‹ puns (starting with the title of the book – a rhyme on a Nazi term) and failing to notice that he is actually trivialising the very things he is trying to address in his criticism.
What must be acknowledged about the author though, is that he correctly predicted how little aversion there would be to Nazi ideologies in the world of neoliberal politics and the free market economy 20 years later. After all, we now actually have corporate executives who openly use Nazi symbols and ideas, engage in sexual abuse of minors, make deals with dictatorship governments and so on. And the stupidity of the book perhaps also reflects the stupidity of these CEOs, millionaires, billionaires and people in power.