postmodern approaches [Was: More on substituting]

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 7:18 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I believe his point is that the events of, leading up to, following, and
> comprehensively connected with the September 11 attacks are, when you get
> right down to it, of practically infinite diversity and complexity. Â In
> fact, no two people would or could give you the same summary, because the
> topic is, on the one hand, Â unknowable in its factual totality and, on the
> other, utterly subjective in its meaning (Bush says bad, Bin Laden says
> good. Who knows for sure? And why should I believe you if you try to answer
> the question?)
>
> Thus, when you refer to the entire _gestalt_, or even part of it, as "Nine-
> Eleven" or some other short hand that makes communication possible, you
> don't know what you're talking about because you don't know all the details,
> and you couldn't make final sense out of them if you did.
>
> So it all boils down to (yawn) just another game (or perhaps "narrative") in
> the endless play of signs.
>
> I believe that D would say that *any* reaction or response is pathetically
> irrational because none of us has the knowledge or ability to know the
> "truth," assuming that there even is a "truth" to be known.
>
> There could be, but maybe not; and if there is, we can't establish it
> anyway; and if "we" could - depending on who you mean by "we," kimosabe -
> there's really no reason for the non-we "Other" - say at the Bin Laden
> Compound or somewhere on Mars in the 39th century - to believe a word we
> say. How can they trust "our" judgment?)
>
> So admit your ignorance and, assuming that any action at all can have a
> truly rational basis, you can't really can't do any better than buying
> more books by Derrida.)
>
> J.-F. Baudrillard observed something similar about what was absurdly called
> the "1991 Gulf War." Â Something presumably happened, but its totality had
> only a minimal resemblance to the reporting and thinking about it. So,
> strictly speaking, "the Gulf War (or 'Gulf War' if you're picky) did not
> take place."
>
> What took place, if anything, was unknowable. Â What's more, anything you
> believe about it has been filtered and mediated repeatedly by those in or
> with power, along with their lackeys and proxies. Â So wise up and don't
> believe a word of it. Â Buy books by Baudrillard instead.
>
> I believe that similar postmodern solutions may be profitably applied to
> issues of national security, defense policy, military strategy, nuclear
> proliferation, and the like.
>
> They might work on the crummy economy too. Â But whether they do or not may
> have more to do with the inevitable consequences of the (alleged) Big Bang
> than with anything anybody actually thinks up on their own.
>
> So let the good times roll!
>

Indeed.:-)

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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