Trip 46: Death

Of all the unseen forces that shape human society, could death be the most powerful? The ACFM crew take a leftwing look at mortality in this Trip, asking how capitalism has altered our approach to the inevitable.

Jem, Nadia and Keir think about how industrialised workers were taught to prepare for death, why powerful men are obsessed with their legacies, why we failed to ritualise or remember the Covid dead, and their fear of being desensitised to killing.

Music comes from Fontaines D.C. and Elvis Costello, and big ideas come from Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, the Egyptian pharaohs and the Buddha.

Follow our Spotify playlist of all the music discussed on ACFM and subscribe to the ACFM mailing list to get weirder and leftier.

Books: Sigmund Freud – Beyond the Pleasure Principle / Martin Heidegger – Being And Time

Music: Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door / Morbid Angel – Immortal Rites / The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out / Patriarchy – I Don’t Want To Die (Geneva Jacuzzi Remix)
Fontaines D.C. – Death Kink / Dead Can Dance – The Invocation / Elvis Costello – Tramp the Dirt Down