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Like everyone here, I've been laid low by the unexpected turn in US
politics. I'm grateful for some of the raw confessionalism of the recent
posts on this cerebral-tending list, and am still trying to figure out
if and how best I can make a contribution here. So far clarity eludes
me. I'm doing my best to survive, but paradoxically I feel a bit guilty
about doing the things I know would be best for me: seeking solace in
nature, "getting away for a few days," seeking spiritual clarity, etc.
Like, how dare I try to feel good when others are being seized and
deported, losing their health care, losing what little enfranchisement
they've been able to maintain after decades (centuries) of struggle, and
so forth. And yet I know this is the kind of toxic thinking that lets
the administration win. It's the vortex of paralytic depression that
they count on making it hard for us to resist from a source of strength
and optimism. I hate my own defeatism, but it has a seductive quality as
"realism" and "solidarity." Ugh ugh ugh.
On 3/9/17 8:43 PM, simon wrote:
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Dear <<empyreans>>,
As for the T-Effect, I wonder about the -ism accompanying it, which
has been globally bruited: Populism.
Brexit, said a friend: overnight GB became Little England; he left NZ
30 years ago, only to find himself, 30 years later, on another small
parochial island.
What I wonder about Populism is what the Left can do with it. It
really wants to do without it. But, without it, it plays to a niche
market, plays its tune of Moral Truisms (not to be confused with
T-isms), while trying to avoid giving off superior airs.
Zizek has of course commented on this. (hear:
http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/zero-squared-95-zizek-and-the-double-blackmail/)
How strange are these reversals: the Reactionary and Moral Left! So
much is hateful, should one reserve any for the de-politicisation of
the Left that goes with Populism? The Left, can we afford to call the
trinkets of its moralising kitsch? given the monolithic absurdity,
surpassing miraculous (forget AI!), of an elected President with the
emotional maturity of a six year-old?
Best,
Simon Taylor
http://squarewhiteworld.com/
PS:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/20/roy-cohn-donald-trump-joseph-mccarthy-rosenberg-trial
On 09/03/17 09:06, Alan Sondheim wrote:
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Apologies for late entrance, under the weather; apologies for a
poorly- worded post as well -
Like everyone, I've been following politics closely, and have been
involved in resisting. What I want to focus on here, however, is the
overall effect the election and events leading up to the election,
has had. I protested Vietnam here in Providence, and recently several
times again, I've stood on the same spot on the capitol steps, taking
roughly the same photograph. In the late 60s/early 70s, there was a
sense that 'we' had accomplished something; soon it was clear that
business as usual was returning with a vengeance. But we thought
things like the voter's rights act were here to stay. When T ran in
the primaries, I was sure from the beginning he would win - I've
lived in Luzerne County, PA, and West Virginia; I feel I understood
his racism and brutality from the beginning - his sarcasm was both
typical and unnerving, and his constant slurs meant that the 'older'
news - which requires a lag for analysis - would be off- guard
constantly. T used both the oldest - insulting, bullying - and newest
- Virilian timing - means to keep himself and his rhetoric in the
news; at the same time, there was no (and still is no) coherency in
the rebuttals. I don't think he planned this as a strategy; I think
this is T to a T, but that's irrelevant. The result, however, has
been as brutal as he is - the center and left (so to speak) suddenly
involved in the appearance of a new world where racism, not
tolerance, has become the norm for many. Not only have racists come
out of the closet (to the extent they were in one), but fledgling
racists have been encouraged to come forward. As a Jew for example, I
watch, now, verbal/phone/email attacks on Jewish institutions
escalate as more people join in the 'fun.' The worst of it is that so
many groups and classes have been written out of the republican
discourse, except for condemnation and tarnishing; this is clearly a
white and fundamental-christian world that not only dominates, but
basically refuses compromise, unless one or another 'ethical
violation' forces the issue.
People I know are distraught; I heard from someone at CNN that
everyone there was crying election night; a psychologist I go to said
her patients have increased enormously as a result of the T-effect.
There are internal and external domains; we participate in actions of
all sorts on one hand, and try to handle our own and others' miseries
(as they do us) on the other. The external is clear: RESIST!; the
internal is more problematic, since many people's anger goes all the
way down, and eats them alive - as does the depression, anxiety,
etc., all brought on by what appears to be the suddenness of the
change of direction of what I keep calling Amerikkka - for lack of a
better word to describe a new landscape, what appears to be a new
landscape. And even in writing this initial email, I find myself
holding back, correcting, not wanting to offend, wanting to be
politically correct, unsure of myself. The result for many is a kind
of inextricable knot/not; even though we have the usual 100%
hindsight, we were unprepared. So the questions might be - how do we
proceed, from here, as human beings, as _persons,_ internally as well
as externally? How do we learn to sleep at nights, to remain calm, to
continue what might be considered a project of forbearance and
empathy? I keep thinking of other examples of resistance (Sartre's
writings for example, however his stance is read), going over
Arendt's Totalitarianism, Frantz Fanon, trying to make sense of a
typical mashup of daily headlines: GOP health care plan: Ryan
downplays backlash as doctors express opposition; Afghanistan: IS
gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul military hospital; THE
MEMO: Presidential code smashed under Trump; Girl statue faces Wall
Street bull to fight gender inequality; International Women's Day:
Strikes and protests around the world; Fire at Guatemala Children's
Shelter Kills Nearly 20; To fund border wall, Trump administration
weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security; Why Hawaii says Trump's
new travel ban is still unconstitutional; FBI Director Says Encrypted
Messaging "Shatters The Bargain" Of American Liberty; Sen. Tim
Kaine's son among several arrested after protesters disrupt Trump
rally in Minnesota; 21 times Donald Trump has assured us he respects
women; Senators ask FBI for evidence of Trump wiretap claim; The
Statue of Liberty went dark overnight; Steaks, wine and stacks (and
stacks) of paper: The Trump White House loves its props; Why Trump's
$1 trillion promise to deliver infrastructure jobs may not happen
this year; and Secret Marines group is still sharing nude photos amid
scandal.
This is fast-forward news; our 'internal time consciousness' and our
minds literally can't keep up; if Facebook creates depression on a
'normal' day of widely successful posting content - what is the
result of a constant bombardment of brutality - a bombardment which
is also necessary on a fundamental level? What is to be done?
- Alan
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empyre forum
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http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
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empyre forum
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