I on the other hand agree with Gregory Flaxman.
The loss of even a single life in any form of violence is reprehensible.
This is what Jean-Paul Sartre had said in defence of Tarkovsky's "Ivan's
Childhood" when articles attacking Andrei's individualism had started
appearing in the Italian l'Unita after the film won the Golden Lion at the
Venice Film Festival...
Apparently tens of thousands are reported to have been wiped out in a coldly
calculated televisual move in the recent t-aero-drives. The act is indeed
saddening - it hits at the very basis of celebrative, creative idea of
coexistence. Coexistence not as a form of civilized tolerance but as a
necessary mode of embeddings. That is, a part of me exists in you just as a
part of you exists in me. Quite selfishly, as per Hindu tenets, what is
saddening for me in the act of death is that I have seen myself dying. In
witnessing the death of a part of me, I have died. I mourn my own loss, my
own disappearance...
But since the visual has got stuck - I have been forced into a single image
memory - I have been desensitized and I see myself waking up into a stream
of different rhetoric - equally intolerant, jingoistic, no longer respectful
of the absolute inviolability of the other. That is indeed frightening. We
are into a confrontation where one 'single-image memory' is out to
annihilate another 'single-image memory'. I look at turbans, long beards,
guttural sounds with suspicion. The exigencies and the magnitude of the
situation is such, I postpone all attempts at self-criticism. The 'reality
principle' so completely overwhelms me that it becomes indistinguishable
from the 'pleasure principle' where the filters of 'repressed' no longer
seem to function nor are considered desirable for the moment.
People have been subjected to unending chain of terrorist attacks - both
group and state-sponsored ones (and the US, to put it ever so mildly, has
consistently turned a blind eye). For decades together they have suffered.
May a 2-year old (or ever younger than that) has been put to death. And yet
there hasn't been a whisper. And today, we witness a ghastly carnage of a
multi-lingual, multi-cultural people (going by a rough estimate put up by
news channels in India, nearly 20% of the people inside the twin towers were
Indians - all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. There were, I am sure,
Chinese, Jews, Arabs - people of all cultural persuasions.)What was there
fault - is a valid emotional question and should never ever be forgotten.
But equally valid is the question - Who is/are at fault? Even if we wish to
forget it, the question will not go away.
Sukhbir Garewal
>From: Magda Jean-Louis <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Film-Philosophy Salon <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: A Terrible Act of Evil (SIC)
>Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 21:28:41 -0600
>
>I agree with Robert. What happened yesterday was a cowardly, sick act. It
>was a sneaky undeclared war against civilians. I've read several posts on
>other sites today criticizing the US and finding ways to blame past
>transgressions for the tragedy. That's way out of line and out of respect
>for the victims, I wish people would keep their opinions to themselves.
>The
>country needs to be united right now to be able to withstand this.
>
>Magda
>BTW, I vow to never support movies with similar destruction scenes.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Robert Koehler <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 4:58 PM
>Subject: Re: A Terrible Act of Evil (SIC)
>
>
> > Gary--
> > Sorry, Gary, but your analysis is pretty close to obscene. If you can't
>look
> > at the events yesterday, and not identify them as falling under the
>rubric
> > of ``evil,'' then I'm sorry for you, because your moral compass is out
>of
> > whack. I'm not defending some knee-jerk all-American position, and won't
>be
> > prodded into playing that useless game. When American soldiers torch
> > Vietnamese villages, that is evil. When ethnic minorities in Central
>Africa
> > or the Balkans are rounded up and mass-murdered, that is evil. When
> > individuals or governments enact slaughter against innocents, that is
>evil.
> > Why do some in the intelligentsia have difficulty with this concept,
> > especially when it is presented with such a clear face? We are not
>seeing
>a
> > media image, santized for our consumption; to the contrary, we are
>seeing
> > the image of the act as it actually happened. To repeat from my previous
> > email, it would be no different than black and white film footage of the
> > Nazi blitz on London: It is a pure visual recording of the act. It is
>only
> > when the image is juxtaposed against another does its meaning become
>altered
> > to suit one or another ideological position. But, you see, Gary, such
> > juxtaposition--and thus, altering--isn't possible with the attack
>yesterday.
> > Home video captured it; the democratized spread of media framed evil
>within
> > an easily affordable viewfinder. This is no time for moral relativism,
>nor
> > is it a time to opine about the bad deeds of this or that nation-state.
>This
> > is a time that demands clear thinking--as clear as the images framed and
> > captured yesterday on cameras owned and operated by everyday people.
>This,
> > in other words, is no Tonkin Gulf episode; this is genuine.
> > Robert Koehler
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "holden caulfield" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 3:06 PM
> > Subject: Re: A Terrible Act of Evil (SIC)
> >
> >
> > > >If not, then the horror of the televised images must surely make it
> > >clear.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > robert,
> > >
> > > Unfortunately those images muck it all up and evoke purely emotive
> > > responses, which is something our gov't appreciates. It allows the
>masses
> > > to be rallied behind a singular ideology.
> > >
> > > I certainly don't think that the events of yesterday become any more
> > > shocking or real because a two year old died.
> > >
> > > And I am probably among many others who would appreciate not turning
>any
> > > possible comforting conversation about a tragic event (conversation
>should
> > > be encouraged) into a mythic discussion concerning good and evil. It
> > assumes
> > > that the US is good and some others are evil (definition through
> > > opposition.) President Bush referred to this when he said that the US
>is
> > a
> > > "shining beacon" for freedom to the rest of the world. WHO IS HE
>KIDDING!
> > >
> > > It just isn't cut and dry like that. Even if, for example, the
>Taliban
> > had
> > > some in/direct connection to the attack...The US created the Taliban
>long
> > > ago in support of Afghanistan against the USSR.
> > >
> > > The chickens always come home to roost.
> > >
> > > The US has no ground to stand on when it comes to moral discussions
> > > concerning horrific violence aimed at innocent civilians. We grant
> > billions
> > > to countries such as Turkey and Israeal each year so that they can
>afford
> > to
> > > buy arms from our weapons manufacturers in order to kill innocent
>Kurds
>(a
> > > genocide-in-progress, we should note) and Palestinians...we dropped
>two
> > > bombs on Japan more in an effort to scare Stalin than for any
>necessity
>to
> > > "punish" Japan...and then there's internment...and some recent
>decades-old
> > > stereotyping of the Arab people and the Islamic faith.
> > >
> > > Thousands of our friends and families didn't deserve to die...Luckily
>my
> > NYC
> > > cousin and friends are all OK...no one deserves to be the victim of
> > > terrorist acts. However, we should avoid reducing discussions to who
>is
> > > right and who is wrong.
> > >
> > > The fact that many more may die before we can put this behind us and
>begin
> > > to heal is AWFUL. Colin Powell spoke of returning to normalcy...maybe
>we
> > > should be discussing just how we are supposed to act normal.
> > >
> > >
> > > gary norris
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
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