Plague Journal, Minutes Till Midnight
Theory
is a primary,
primordial decision,
which determines what counts and what does not –
what is or should be,
and what does not matter.
As a highly selective narration,
it cuts a clearing of differentiation
through untrodden terrain.
— The Agony of Eros by Byung-Chul Han
Ahh, theory is the crux of the matter is it not !?
The prime metaphor, which we have chosen to describe ourselves, will rule what we become, and what comes of us. This is our description of our role in society into which each of us is born, nurtured, matured into agency. What is our chosen metaphor, the story which rules us? Is it the narrative that we Americans are uniquely chosen, the exceptional nation, the light-on-a-hill to the the world’s peoples? We the fortunate, the “happy,” living in the “land of the free”…
Pay no attention to the indigenous communities which we hunted down, the survivors exiled because we wanted their land. Never mind the slave economy, the engine of wealth of our Founders generation. That lasted until the Proclamation Emancipation January 2st 1863. Make no mistake slavery did not end there. A proclamation and a war is not enough to extinguish the desire of one class of citizen to exploit, to unfairly extract the life-force from their fellow citizens of color. The states of the old Confederacy are home to many who are fiercely racist, anti-vaccination, feeling revulsion at the idea of any authority restricting their “freedom” for any reason. Do not worry yourself about the wars we have fought (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) at great cost of blood and treasure, — all on credit !
Our theory, our primordial decision: to become capitalist agents, extracting value to aggrandize ourselves by any means possible, to create a society “by,” “for,” and “of” the one-percent who formulate rules for all the rest… What counts and what does not in this society? What does not matter? What “clearing of differentiation” have we chosen?
Indeed this is a highly selective narration, a story chosen with eyes wide open…
From this mornings New York Times:
The federal government will shut down at midnight unless Congress passes a funding bill.
