About the Gingerbread Tower of Babel.

Violence, suffering, commodification, consumption, and the hegemony of one language are various facets of the same phenomenon. The author of the essay evokes the myth of the Tower of Babel as the story of the collapse of the illusion of homogeneous communication, which was to lead to the appropriation of the position of God: the absolute, omnipotent and sole lawgiver. Rejecting fatal homogeneity, therefore, results in the regaining of genuine, individual modes of expression. These issues are linked not only to the history of great wars and totalitarianisms, but also to matters concerning art. In contemporary mass culture, the link between the work of art and the personal experience of its creator is severed. Consequently, it is only the technology of performance that counts, and the artist/subject is increasingly beginning to appear as someone who is unnecessary or even harmful. Mass culture thus excludes spirituality and individuality. On the one hand, it suggests the illusion of understanding; on the other, it cuts off the space of the "indescribable", not covered by the norm of the "linguistic community". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]