Europe having its own 9/11 right now. Turn on the news.
David Kilroy
thesaintgodard at gmail.com
Sat Nov 14 12:24:18 CST 2015
I'm an asshole. My sincerest apologies.
Just soulsick of hearing the 9/11 brand applied as a referent for
everything terrible that happens in the world is all. Wasn't intended as
personal.
-David
On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 12:38 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Oh I dunno. I mean it kind of seems to me like interpreting the suffering
> of others via our own closer experience of it is probably foundational to
> the phenomenon of empathy. Right? I mean isn't that one of the nobler
> applications of our fundamental tendency toward self-centeredness? Yes, I
> can see how doing so via labelling an act of terror a different (and
> therefore maybe by definition lesser) version of some original (in this
> case 9/11) might seem not the absolute most sensitive/aware of all possible
> avenues for talking about this.
>
> But, like, as a follower but infrequent participant of this list, I was
> very moved by the instinctive collectivization of grief and love for Dave
> Monroe yesterday.
>
> When I read about the Paris shit, I instantly thought of this list.
> Because one can see, instantly, the horrible potential long-term ripples
> (like, military ripples, international ripples, historical ripples) of
> something like this. Which made me feel kind of worried about the way the
> French and the world would respond/change. And made me feel inadequate to
> really understand the situation. But then it made me feel good to think of
> this community. Made me feel like there was a transnational space in which
> love permeated such membranes as country et al. And in which there were
> people who could communicate in any variety of ways about extremely
> difficult shit, all toward some better end (or none at all, unlike[...]).
>
> Being sensitive/empathetic in the wrong way is maybe not the most
> deserving (or productive) victim of our scorn today. [My humble opining.]
>
> I would like to express a lot of sadness for The Paris Shit. I visited
> there for the first time in the fall and while that shouldn't increase
> one's personal grief for something like this, especially in light of all
> the other countries experiencing their own version of The Shit, it does,
> and did for me. But then also I do not mean to imply that I am more
> impacted than anyone else; I'm not. I would like anyone who is impacted to
> know that they have my sympathy and love and, if they want it, my
> attention--and in doing so I might think it wise to express that I was sort
> of witness to a massive and unjustifiable and horrifying act of terror in
> my own country (but don't mean to diminish what's going on in theirs, or to
> them). Etc. Suddenly I'm more focused on qualifying my love and support and
> grief than feeling it. Or, Jesus, enacting it.
>
> On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 11:03 AM, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> To parse the tragedy at Bataclan as It Happened To America First is
>> crass. We know what you meant, but the american branding of crisis
>> isn't applicable, particularly in re: Europe, which has suffered
>> zealotry far harder than americans have any emotional metric for. I'm
>> sure a couple of Londoners thought 7-7 but even a Hackney crackhead
>> has more class than to say Ich Bin Ein Berliner about this madness.
>> Sept 11th is a measure for naval gazing, not catastrophe.
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>
>
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