Thanks for this. Alot of what I have read about this on substack has been disappointing. Perhaps me seeking out 'takes' on this on substack is also part of the hyperobject. The word that comes to mind is defense mechanism.
That's an essential insight I hadn't really thought through, but I think you're right, that we all become part of the hyperobject. I hesitated to add my own thoughts on this basis, but felt that they were sufficiently different from the other added layers that I'd chance it. While I expected to lose subscribers the opposite has happened, which is pleasing because it suggests that my thoughts aren't so outlandish. Thanks for being here and saying that.
Thanks for this courageous 'non-stand'. Reading this piece, I wept. These tears are more painful than tears of grief. These tears spring from a sense of helplessness about what’s happening - not just in the Middle East, but pretty much all over the world.
Righteous indignation is often the favored “dissonance management strategy”, but it is like licking honey from a knife. Rather than taking up the battle cry of any particular position, true courage may rest here, with facing - unflinchingly – the recognition that carnage is the inevitable outcome of a politics of outrage and the instrumental logic of those in power.
I really *felt* the wisdom of these words. That knife metaphor is resonating too. It's humbling as well as gratifying to find that thoughtful people find something of - I don't know quite how to frame it - 'comfort' or 'value' in a confessional piece like this. But I'm certainly grateful for your endorsement and encouragement.
I've had a lot of thoughts adjacent to the ones you've written here.
1) I'm not competent to have an opinion on this. I have read articles over the past 20 years, heard radio programs, and that's about the extent of my knowledge. Not much and not deep.
2) I don't have power to change it even if I was competent. The ones with the power to change it are the ones who are living there and the ones with influence on those who live there.
3) I don't have standing to have an opinion about this. It's not my country and it's not my people. They are all humans, but I don't have standing to interfere in the goings-on in other human cultures without either some significant stake, or some power (and knowledge) with which I can effect change, and even then, I should proceed ever so carefully.
As for the rationality of the actions: evil actions are not necessarily irrational. I hesitate to use the word evil, but by my lights, what Hamas has done is evil, even if rational (and were I to look into it, I suspect I'd feel the same about Israeli settlers). Of course, so were many of the things Sherman did in his march across Georgia in the US Civil War.
Many times people undertake evil actions for good reasons. That doesn't make the actions less evil, nor do the evil actions make the motivations less good. We can hold both in our mind and heart at the same time. And ultimately, we'll end up judging both by what happens over the long term.
Yes, I wish I'd made that important point; that evil is often rational. We tend to think 'rational' means OK in some sense and I risked readers thinking I might be branding what is done by either side in this conflict as OK, when I'm not. Of course you clearly get this already, for which I'm glad.
Major kudos to you, Mike, for deciding to NOT have an opinion vis a vis Hamas and Israel. Like you, I've chosen to steer clear of the majority of reporting and commentary, as the issue is so beyond my individual grasp that it seems mostly-pointless to add to the torrent of discourse swirling around us.
Thanks for this. Alot of what I have read about this on substack has been disappointing. Perhaps me seeking out 'takes' on this on substack is also part of the hyperobject. The word that comes to mind is defense mechanism.
"Busy, busy, busy" -Cat's Cradle
That's an essential insight I hadn't really thought through, but I think you're right, that we all become part of the hyperobject. I hesitated to add my own thoughts on this basis, but felt that they were sufficiently different from the other added layers that I'd chance it. While I expected to lose subscribers the opposite has happened, which is pleasing because it suggests that my thoughts aren't so outlandish. Thanks for being here and saying that.
Thanks for this courageous 'non-stand'. Reading this piece, I wept. These tears are more painful than tears of grief. These tears spring from a sense of helplessness about what’s happening - not just in the Middle East, but pretty much all over the world.
Righteous indignation is often the favored “dissonance management strategy”, but it is like licking honey from a knife. Rather than taking up the battle cry of any particular position, true courage may rest here, with facing - unflinchingly – the recognition that carnage is the inevitable outcome of a politics of outrage and the instrumental logic of those in power.
I really *felt* the wisdom of these words. That knife metaphor is resonating too. It's humbling as well as gratifying to find that thoughtful people find something of - I don't know quite how to frame it - 'comfort' or 'value' in a confessional piece like this. But I'm certainly grateful for your endorsement and encouragement.
I've had a lot of thoughts adjacent to the ones you've written here.
1) I'm not competent to have an opinion on this. I have read articles over the past 20 years, heard radio programs, and that's about the extent of my knowledge. Not much and not deep.
2) I don't have power to change it even if I was competent. The ones with the power to change it are the ones who are living there and the ones with influence on those who live there.
3) I don't have standing to have an opinion about this. It's not my country and it's not my people. They are all humans, but I don't have standing to interfere in the goings-on in other human cultures without either some significant stake, or some power (and knowledge) with which I can effect change, and even then, I should proceed ever so carefully.
As for the rationality of the actions: evil actions are not necessarily irrational. I hesitate to use the word evil, but by my lights, what Hamas has done is evil, even if rational (and were I to look into it, I suspect I'd feel the same about Israeli settlers). Of course, so were many of the things Sherman did in his march across Georgia in the US Civil War.
Many times people undertake evil actions for good reasons. That doesn't make the actions less evil, nor do the evil actions make the motivations less good. We can hold both in our mind and heart at the same time. And ultimately, we'll end up judging both by what happens over the long term.
Yes, I wish I'd made that important point; that evil is often rational. We tend to think 'rational' means OK in some sense and I risked readers thinking I might be branding what is done by either side in this conflict as OK, when I'm not. Of course you clearly get this already, for which I'm glad.
Major kudos to you, Mike, for deciding to NOT have an opinion vis a vis Hamas and Israel. Like you, I've chosen to steer clear of the majority of reporting and commentary, as the issue is so beyond my individual grasp that it seems mostly-pointless to add to the torrent of discourse swirling around us.
Thanks, I appreciate that