No visas, no nations
We know, of course, that globalisation is rendering the nation-state increasingly unsustainable. It’s nice, then, that this sometimes functions in the ideological sphere, too, rendering the idea of the nation-state ludicrous. With the difficulty of travel reduced (or, perhaps, transformed into the general capitalist difficulty of obtaining money), to the extent that you can buy a plane ticket on the internet in five minutes, isn’t it just silly that you also need a visa, so you have to wait a month for an appointment, _go down to the fucking embassy in London_, wait for four hours to hand in some papers, and then wait another week till they send your passport back?
That being said, the US visa does look quite pretty, with a big picture of Abraham Lincoln impersonating the Statue of Liberty (well, actually, I assume it’s the Lincoln Memorial — interesting they choose a representation of a representation, rather than a simple picture of Lincoln himself), as well as some text in the kind of monumental typeface (very much not a Swiss sans-serif) that reminds you how European the UK is. The same thing happens with money: the clean lines and bright colours make Sterling notes and Euros almost indisitinguishable next to the 19th century stylings of the Dollar.
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As you would expect, the Vietnam Visa rocks bells. It’s way communist. I’m just gutted it’s in my old passport.
Comment by Marty @ 8/10/2005 1:41 pm
Might be a question of taste but I prefer the representation of a representation. It doesn’t hide the mediation there.
Comment by Classless Kulla @ 8/14/2005 12:53 am