File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2002/lyotard.0201, message 46


Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 10:29:06 -0600
From: Mary Murphy&Salstrand <ericandmary-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Baudrillard


Judy/Lois:

The question of American isolation is an interesting one. The myth of
America is that it is a New Land, a vast virgin unpopulated (sic)
wilderness free of European history where the pilgrim could in a sense
be baptised and reborn, cleansed by the waters of the Atlantic. An Adam
in paradise, free from history, has always been an implicit image
sanctifying what might otherwise be seen as genocide and rape. In
America, history becomes transformed into eschatology. That is the
source of our isolationalist spirit.

Of course, there were also the so-called "isolationationist" movements
before the two great wars. Europe is corrupt; America is innocent.

Just before 911 there were incredible benefits that accrued from
America's position of dominance in the global economy, but at home there
was a fairy tale quality to America's identity; its sense of itself as a
nation set apart, a chosen people, and one that was blessed by God (the
theological myth of America still prevailing at some level in the minds
of many.)

At first, I thought this sense of isolation, this bubble had been
destroyed by 911.  Now I am not so sure.  

Instead in many ways, it seems that Americans have become even more
entrenched in their isolation than before and they have become less open
to questioning themselves or America's motives. The left is accused of
espousing a "blame America first" philosophy and the right merely
scrambles in an orgy of war profiteering; trying to get as many goodies
as possible while they can.

Like Judy, I don't have a sense of myself as a patriot of America.  In a
previous email I said that I thought of myself as a global citizen.  For
that, I was taken to task by Hugh and in a narrow legal sense he was
right. How does one become a citizen of country that has not yet been
born?

But that does seem like the real task that confronts us today. How do we
move towards a global society and begin to take responsibility for the
vast inequities that confront us while at the same time finding ways to
reduce terror in all its forms?

I don't have an answer to that question.  I don't even know if it is
possible to achieve such a thing under the current conditions.  However,
I am concerned with the emotionally defensive nature of the American
response and the clamping down on any discussion of what we are really
feeling in relation to this horrible event without resorting to simple
banal cliches.

For me the value of what Baudrillard said in his essay was that it
helped to break down a little this taboo of silence. To create a global
society, there needs to be a richer chorus of voices, especially those
that are seldom heard. Baudrillard was a lone voice who spoke for many,
perhaps.

eric


   

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