I was reading Nietzsche, _Beyong good and evil_, I think it was, when
Bush said what he said. Uncanny as it seemed at the time, Bush's words
echoed what N wrote to describe reactive forces and from this,
ressentiment. And then from here to bad conscious. To quote Deleuze
_Nietszche and philosophy_ : "The man of ressentiment in himself is a
being full of pain: the sclerosis or hardening of his consciousness, the
rapidity with which every excitation sets and freezes within him, the
weight of the traces that invade him are so many cruel sufferings. And,
more deeply, the memory of traces is full of hatred in itself and by
itself. It is venomous and depreciative because it blames the object in
order to compensate for its own inability to escape from the traces of
the corresponding excitation. This is why ressentiment's revenge, even
when it is realised, remains "spiritual", imaginary and symbolic in
principle. This essential link between revenge and memory resembles the
Freudian anal-sadistic complex." (p116)
Not referring to George Bush as an individual person, but the George
Bush of media discourse and hence George Bush the man or figure of this
discursive formation, there is a possible media critique which can be
further linked to fictions like the James Bond films, other writing and
even poetry, in various ways. To say Bush is cliche, in this context,
seems not enough. More needs to be said, but I'll leave off here since I
have much to get done this week.
best wishes
Chris Jones
Árni Ibsen wrote:
>I just happened to catch on tv the first moments of the James Bond entitled
>'The World is Not Enough' and heard Judy Dench as the incorrigible M say
>(more or less): "We will find those responsible for those atrocities. We
>will hunt them to the ends of the earth if necessary". The M-line was
>actually longer (my memory fades) but all of it struck me as something
>chillingly and adverbatim familiar as George Bush's response to 9/11. He's
>obviously learned something from Reagan.
>
>Best
>
>Árni
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