Defeat as Method
cabinetmagazine.org
Defeat as Method
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Re: Defeat as Method
#2I hate theocracies. I hate that Iranian-made drones are killing people in Ukraine. Still, the tragedy and suffering of the Iranian people makes me deeply sad
Re: Defeat as Method
#3it is a good thought. hits deep as well. though, i found it a bit troubling the rejection of one's roots because exalting the past could put less emphasis on the present or the future. i don't think that is universal; partly an erasure mindset. but i understand it in context of the article.
Re: Defeat as Method
#4A problem with mythologizing past defeat is it can lead to sacrificing the present and future. Some people have the need to live in a grand mythic narrative. Others just want decent lives for themselves and their children with security and a future.
Re: Defeat as Method
#5it is a good thought. hits deep as well. though, i found it a bit troubling the rejection of one's roots because exalting the past could put less emphasis on the present or the future. i don't think that is universal; partly an erasure mindset. but i understand it in context of the article.
I find that it makes sense as a warning not mythologize your roots. It could even be defended that looking for one's root is indistinguishable from mythologizing. It can be a powerful political tool but ultimately it belongs to those most skilled into making it say what they want.
Re: Defeat as Method
#6A problem with mythologizing past defeat is it can lead to sacrificing the present and future. Some people have the need to live in a grand mythic narrative. Others just want decent lives for themselves and their children with security and a future.
To quote the article: «The defeated of the world theorize what they endure. In truth, the only critical thinking possible today is thinking from the standpoint of the defeated. This standpoint is not one of passivity, nor of victimhood. On the contrary, it asks: How can one think from within brokenness, from within the ruins, and still produce meaning, and even possibility?»
And further: “I do not want to exalt the past at the expense of my present and of my future.”
Re: Defeat as Method
#7Baggage, whether it is from our life or lives before us will always be just that - baggage. If we don't choose how much to carry with us then someone else will happily choose for us.
To me, facing defeat with an open face means to not remain defeated forever.
Some of our best entrepreneurs and scientists lost many times before they won.
Re: Defeat as Method
#8I hate theocracies. I hate that Iranian-made drones are killing people in Ukraine. Still, the tragedy and suffering of the Iranian people makes me deeply sad
I'm going to ask a potentially offensive question, but an earnest one.
I often see people make these kinds of proclamations about world events - 'It saddens me, I want world peace' etc. But my question is always, 'How much of that is genuine concern, and how much is just performative? And performative to the level that it's partly performative for themselves, to maintain some kind of image about their own identity?'.
I ask because here's the place I've come to: I don't care. I never did. And I first admitted that on the topic of meat eating actually - I was vegetarian for a year due to the ethics of it, but eventually I caved and went back to meat. And from that I admitted to myself: I value my own comfort and pleasure more than the suffering of the animals I eat.
And I realised that truth applied to all other such issues as well.
Sometimes I suspect that if 'we the people' really cared about these things as much as we claim we do, it would actually be very simple to change the world.
But we don't.
Re: Defeat as Method
#9I hate theocracies. I hate that Iranian-made drones are killing people in Ukraine. Still, the tragedy and suffering of the Iranian people makes me deeply sad
I'm going to ask a potentially offensive question, but an earnest one. I often see people make these kinds of proclamations about world events - 'It saddens me, I want world peace' etc. But my question is always, 'How much of that is genuine concern, and how much is just performative? And performative to the level that it's partly performative for themselves, to maintain some kind of image about their own identity?'.…
I suspect we are all at the mercy of our own feelings of agency.
Re: Defeat as Method
#10I hate theocracies. I hate that Iranian-made drones are killing people in Ukraine. Still, the tragedy and suffering of the Iranian people makes me deeply sad
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