Discourse on the otter
April 12, 2013 1:19 PM   Subscribe

An event is not a decision, a treaty, a reign, or a battle, but the reversal of a relationship of forces, the usurpation of power, the appropriation of a vocabulary turned against those who had used it, a feeble domination that poisons itself as it goes lax, the entry of a masked otter.
posted by zippy (35 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I feel like I am being ottered by the language of this post.
posted by neroli at 1:31 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


One must read between the lines of the otter to understand their meaning.
posted by zippy at 1:33 PM on April 12, 2013


This is otter silliness.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:49 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hell is otter people.
posted by Diablevert at 1:50 PM on April 12, 2013 [6 favorites]


That one may not step into the same river twice is merely another of Capital's useful canards, a parable of reified consumption immersing itself in the ceaseless, protean Now. One need only contemplate the otter, coated with the prophylactic slime of his animal indifference, blank and eternal, to see through the lie.
(Here's my tumblr, call me maybe)
posted by Chrischris at 1:50 PM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


L'enfer, c'est les autres.
posted by drlith at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2013 [9 favorites]


"there is none to this erotic movement of an entire culture, none to such a fascination, to such an abyss of denial of the other, of denial of strangeness and negativity."

Plastic surgery for the otter
. Beaudrillard.
posted by zippy at 2:03 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


One characteristic of the sadist: in dreams, he is always the otter, never the otted.
posted by Chrischris at 2:13 PM on April 12, 2013 [4 favorites]


"There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what otters comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of otters; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless."

–Niccolo Machiavelli
posted by Kabanos at 2:35 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Confucius say: Man who fishes in an otter woman's well, often catches crab.
posted by Kabanos at 2:37 PM on April 12, 2013


It's amazing: people are talking about otters all over Twitter.
posted by lostburner at 2:39 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Where is the FireFox plug-in that turns every instance of "other" into "otter"?
posted by benito.strauss at 3:02 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think of myself more as an auteur than as autre, but as an outré loutre most of all.
posted by The otter lady at 3:04 PM on April 12, 2013 [8 favorites]


"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the otter."
-- William Shakespeare, "Mustelidbeth," Act I Scene VII
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:48 PM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


I just did a "Ctrl+F" search on my pdf copy of The Practice of Everyday Life and these are two early otters that popped up.
Page 38: The space of a tactic is the space of the otter.

Page 39: In sum, strategies are actions which, thanks to the establishment of a place of power (the property of a proper), elaborate theoretical places (systems and totalizing discourses) capable of articulating an ensemble of physical places in which forces are distributed. They combine these three types of places and seek to master each by means of the otters.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:58 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Puppycats everywhere!
posted by PuppyCat at 5:25 PM on April 12, 2013


epony.... too easy
posted by DoubleLune at 6:37 PM on April 12, 2013


This love means an affirmative desire towards the Otter - to respect the Otter, to pay attention to the Otter, not to destroy the otterness of the Otter - and this is the preliminary affirmation, even if afterwards because of this love, you ask questions.
posted by drlith at 6:47 PM on April 12, 2013


"Je est un otter."

- Arthur Rimbaud
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:02 PM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about otter people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful.

Nothing pertains to human beings except what defines us as human. No otter things can be demanded of us. They aren’t proper to human nature, nor is it incomplete without them.
Marcus Aurelius
posted by CrystalDave at 8:37 PM on April 12, 2013


Why I otter...

-- Moe Howard, existentialist
posted by nacho fries at 10:23 PM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


There otter be a law...
posted by salishsea at 10:46 PM on April 12, 2013


I'm surprised Lacan hasn't made an appearance here yet.
posted by LMGM at 4:39 AM on April 13, 2013


Ceci n'est-pas une loutre.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:59 AM on April 13, 2013


I get to post this again? SWEET.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:13 AM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


From "The Illustrated Foucault":

The History of Sexuality: Part 1: Chapter One:

We "Otter Victorians"

(link is safe for work and furries)
posted by nacho fries at 1:20 PM on April 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


'I am also essentially the otter's otter .. and the necessity of speaking of the otter as otter, or to the otter as otter, on the basis of its appearing-for-me-as-what-it-is: the otter (an appearance which dissimulates its essential dissimulation, takes it out of the light, stripping it, and hiding that which is hidden in the otter), as the necessity from which no discourse can escape, from its earliest origin -- these necessities are violence itself.' (Derrida)

'We recognize that there is a plurality of Otters and that I can imagine myself not only as the Otter's Otter, but as the Otter's Otter's Otter. This cries out for further clarification. Realizing that there are multiple Otters and that they all have an intentional life that is structured similarly to my own, I can imagine how I am not only the Otter's (let us call him 'Edmund') Otter, but also that another Otter (let us call him 'Martin') might see me as Edmund's Otter as well. That is, I realize that Martin takes Edmund as an Otter, and Martin realizes that Edmund takes me as an Otter, thus I am an Otter 'twice-removed': an Otter for Martin's Otter. Slowly, a network of Otter-taking develops.' (H. Peter Steeves)
posted by verstegan at 12:45 AM on April 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ceci n'est-pas une loutre.

This is the closest I could get to "Otter Wearing a Bowler While an Apple Floats in Front of His Cute Little Furry Face"
posted by zippy at 9:22 AM on April 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Zippy, I'm frankly impressed you got that far.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:49 AM on April 15, 2013


The internet contains multitudes of otters.
posted by zippy at 10:49 AM on April 15, 2013


...I just went looking for the collective-noun form of otters so I could see about making yet another pun, but this is too good and I need to share it all on its own:

The collective noun for otters is: a romp.

That is all.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:09 AM on April 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


Arthur Rimbaud

Did someone say Rimbaud?

from either Rimbaud: First Blood or this page
posted by zippy at 1:11 PM on April 15, 2013


If I had known how to use Photoshop, I would have made a Rimbaud: First Blood poster a long time ago.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 1:52 PM on April 15, 2013


If you can dream it, it exists.
posted by zippy at 3:17 PM on April 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


As I descended an impassive river,
I felt no longer guided by my sense.
Involuntary memory made me shiver:
Something reminded me of canvas tents.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:33 PM on April 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


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