New piece by me on Alterati:
“Total chemical warfare against insects.â€
That’s one of many proposals from Otto Muehl’s nihilistic ZOCK Manifesto. It’s the sort of thing most environmentalists would, at best, scoff at (or, at worst, give you a several hour lecture on the importance of biodiversity in ecosystems). In college, I once knew a guy who decided to live in harmony with the lice that had made his head a home. But that didn’t last more than a week. Even the most militant conservationist will break out the high power chemicals when their home is infested with cockroaches or ants, or if their body is plagued with lice or scabies.
Ever since I saw the mockumentary The The Hellstrom Chronicle when I was a teenager, I’ve been unable to forget the notion that humans and insects are at perpetual war. A war that we are losing.
I don’t know if Simon Oliver was influenced at all by Hellstrom Chronicle, but his comic Exterminators sure seems to detail the front lines of this imaginary war.