Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 14:21:02 -0500 (CDT) From: viren viven murthy <vvmurthy-AT-midway.uchicago.edu> Subject: Re: BHA: Stop the rush to war Of course in some sense, "the murder of thousands of innocent people 'justifies' the reaction we have seen so far." However, given that this is a list about critical realism, I think that it is important for us to reflect on the way in which the media's coverage of the event has been superficial, totally overlooking the structural problems that give rise to terrorism. The various articles that Jan sent made this point well.( I think I finally am beginning to understand Zizek.) Anyway there is another sense in which we can easily say that the reaction has been disproportionate, that is when compared to the millions of murders committed by the U.S government. We rarely hear much about the people who die in Iraq, but the people who died in the Twin Towers are given names, faces and a narrative. While I am not against this, I believe that similar consideration should be given to those that are killed in other parts of the world. Clearly, we now hit upon the question of nationalism, and I am not quite sure what critical realism has to contribute the study of nationalism, but I am interested in hearing responses. I think that CR theorists can develop Zizek's analysis of the ideological construction of the terrorists as pure evil, cowards who are not afraid to die, primitive and extremely deceptive. I think a CR approach to this event would be to link symbolic production to the material relations that sustain it. The terrorists ruptured a symbol of capitalism, and as the plight of the airline companies shows, their actions will have serious economic repercussions. Viren On Sun, 16 Sep 2001, Erik Weissengruber wrote: > > > >The reaction to the terror action against USA has been totally out of > > >proportion. > > I think the murder of thousands of innocent people justifies the reaction > we have seen so far > > > > The media hardly report on anything else and there are mourning > > >ceremonies all over Europe and no doubt elsewhere. I have never seen > such > >strong worldwide emotional reaction to any conflict, war or disaster > anywhere. > > > >Anti-islamic sentiments are rising and it seems like the clash between > >christians and muslims is reaching dangerous heights. > > > > > > --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- > > ________________________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- > --- from list bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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