Saturday, November 8, 2014

Violence in the World

In Baudrillard's piece from The Spirit of Terrorism, he makes one point that especially sticks out to me. He says on page 4024, of the towers falling, how they seemed to be "committing suicide in a blaze of glory. For it is that superpower which, by its unbearable power, has formented all this violence which is endemic throughout the world, and hence that (unwittingly) terroristic imagination which dwells in all of us." The imagery of the towers committing suicide leaves such an appalling image, one of a nation that has lost faith in the system. In a world that is so obsessed with violent, we can't help but imagining these terroristic events. He progresses, noting that we cannot avoid "dreaming of the destruction of any power that has become hegemonic to this degree" (4024) [hegemonic - meaning to be dominant in a political sense]. This makes sense, as everyone at some point refuses, in some way, the government. So to say everyone has imagined this great fall of the system is fair. Yet it was terrifying, it visualized a rejection of our government. I found his ideas great, and this was by far my favorite piece over 9/11 I've read.

No comments:

Post a Comment