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the AAAAARRRrgGgGGHH
...having had widescreen dreams of apocalypse all night long, after getting up at 7 to sort out the true dove mail-out once and for all - having made myself late for work in the process, apologising profusely and then ...eventually sent home from work with some kind of non-specific opportunistic virus.
having faded in and out of consciousness for 5 hours, as outside some royal fucko went thru the exact same saxophone scales over and over and over and over and over and over... spent 20 minutes posting a personal statement on barbelith and watched it crash on me, all words lost: unreadable communication. which makes me think of what Turgenev said: "Just try and disprove death. Death will disprove you, and that's an end to it."
...the world will tend to make you feel small, insignificant. in times of war, especially, the world will try and convince you of the futility of yr actions. will try to convince you that the Grand Narrative must play out. and the most we can do is not get in the way of these abstractions of power - of 'business', of 'politics', of 'war'. Chomsky answers it thus:
"States are not moral agents. They are systems of power, which respond to the internal distribution of power. Human beings, however, are moral agents, and can impose significant constraints on the violence of their own states, particularly in societies that are more free. They may fail to do so; the international behavior of classical Athens was hardly delightful, to mention one case, and we need not speak of the examples of modern history. But they can do so, and often do. Of course, virtually every system of power describes itself as deeply humane and pursuing the highest values, and a primary task of elite intellectuals is to lead the chorus of self-acclaim, as they commonly do. That is another story, which should be just as familiar, right up to the present moment."
our governments are accountable to us, whether they like it or not - though they'd prefer you not to dwell on the matter. we can and will make a difference. this is not the end of history, nor some post-modern vacuum wherein all actions, all values are somehow, mysteriously suddenly equivelant. because if, over here in the theoretically democraic countries of the first world, protest is one option among many...
the innocents in Afghanistan have no luxury of choice, no real voice to express their pain, their confusion, their anger - no power at all to stop the richest nation on earth dropping 'smart' bombs on the poorest in the name of 'self-defence'. their only hope may be that we intervene - in politics and culture - on their behalf.
we have to engage with those around us who have not had the advantage of reading widely or deeply about this crisis and its likely causes - to try and contextualize, to explain - to counter the disinformation that sometimes passes for 'fact' in the less reputable populist press - to question bias.
so, if you're reading this and haven't done so already - please, at least take a look through true dove. and if you agree with me - cut and paste this message into a letter - and send it to everyone in yr email address book.
"if you're not sure what you think about this war. if you feel uneasy but want to know more...
true dove is a non-profit making site that exists purely to act as an initial introduction to the arguments put forward by those opposed to the war currently unfolding in Afghanistan.
the civilians of Afghanistan, the poorest nation on earth, can do nothing to stop the sustained bombing of their war-weary country, except die in ever-increasing numbers.
but we, as citizens of a democracy, can. please copy this message and link to everyone in yr address book.
innocents are dying in yr name.
if you want to know what else we could be doing. if you want to know how to break the cycle of terror...
true dove - it's time for a second opinion.
http://truedove.blogspot.com/ "
it's maybe not such an amazing site, really - a half-sketched essay, some reheated articles, good links - but it's timely. god knows i'm no expert on politics - but it's a step in the right direction and maybe it might help, in some way. and that's enough for me.
if you've made it this far, thank you.
...and now i'm going back to bed. |
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