Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 14:06:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Zachary Polsky <zspolsky-AT-ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Apocalypse - here now, yet to come, or has been?


Hello listmembers,

It was once (and perhaps still should be / is) a common apocalyptic
prediction that sooner or later, "everyone" would have the bomb, from the
largest nation to the most private individual.

On the global scale, this is of course far from true, prompting a post- or
quasi-colonial analysis of the power structure. On the other hand, the
argument over who "should" have the bomb and who "shouldn't," even on this
list, is remaining very much on the surface (=national) level. Do certain
volatile communities not fret every day that they will fall victim to a
bombing? Are we not being a bit shortsighted in not considering smaller
versions of "the bomb," even pipe-bombs, in our equation? After all, it
seems that small-scale bombs have done much more damage over the years
(as, for example, in the middle east, the balkans, and central america)
than most nuclear attacks ever have.

It is undoubtedly true that things still look awfully colonial on the
national and global scales. But things look pretty post-colonial, and by
that I mean something closer to *beyond* colonialism than in protest to
it, on the community scale.

No one (except maybe Truman) has ever pressed "the button," yet it feels
nonetheless as if we are living in some kind of aftermath.

Zachary Polsky
Department of French and Italian
University of California, Davis



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