GRGR(24): Tchitcherine, Wimpe, Marxism, and you

[one million billionth of a millisecond on a sunday morning]

Jeremy Osner writes:
>one million billionth of a millisecond on a sunday morning wrote:
>
>>         "I've been there. You haven't."
>>
>> Why doesn't the time between matter? And what are these points of
>> decision? Apparently the ones where a person must decide whether or
>> not to die for History. [Does the System really offer a choice?]
>
>This passage reminded me of some war books I have read (don't remember which
>ones) which put forward ideas along the lines of, you only experience true
>(for lack of a better term) manhood in the trenches. Tchitcherine, who has
>been in battle, has an insight into the nature of his existence not available
>to Wimpe, a civilian. Can't remember which specifically, but I think more
>than one story has that idea in it.

Compare to just about any experience, where there are claims of
authenticity or "trueness" bandied about.

Maybe this points to another System thing: the System, in general,
kills people slowly, not in the way that soldiers die. So the War
is used as a justification for death-for-History because its soldiers
have greater insight into the nature of death - which is supposed to
carry over to this slow death-by-System to which all, including non-
soldiers, are subjected.



Josh

-- 
josh blog: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~kortbein/blog/
      tdr: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~kortbein/tdr/