When the Signal Goes Off the Air: Paranoiac Fantasies in Mediated Realities

How does perceived illegality of communication affect constitutive fantasies about conspiratorial interruption of media flows? This can occur, for example, when we assume that a government is monitoring our communication: an assumption which is likely when widespread media reports inform us of authorized wiretapping by a National Security Agency of some sort. This information is unforgettable, regardless of the logical practices that would suggest these governmental observations are only made with regard to actual criminals, or those suspected of planning a crime. The omniscient ear still listens. Even when we can be relatively sure that no one is listening, we still limit our communications such that the third party, uninvited, may not be offended. Of course the obvious counterexample to this assertion would come from the free-thinking/speaking individual whose carefree transmissions bounce across media with the joviality of a Bugaloo. There is still a space in this person’s world where such activity is not permitted. Or their signal has never experienced interruption; but they should just wait. One day they will be force-fed LSD and be made to experience the trauma of non-communicative isolation. When the effects of that substance begin our innocent friend will call an acquaintance to relate the intense and strange feelings and thoughts that begin to take hold of her consciousness. And just when the qualities of this experience have been finally, adequately expressed, the line will go silent. Then she will know the horror of the lack-of-flow, the dead-end and birth of her blank subjectivity.