"Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be." — Ambrose Bierce (The Devil's Dictionary)There is so much superfluous pain and suffering that I struggle every day to keep from falling into the abyss of cynicism and nihilism. Cynicism breeds compartmentalization and apathy via our need to cope with the stress of this dark world. I can only distract myself by working both within and on the fringes of the dominant systems to catalyze a shift, but is such work making a difference at a systemic level? I’m not convinced it ever has.
So why not just give-in and give-up? Because I can’t. I’m but one tiny shard of impulse in a much greater process of life. Every part of me – every constituent particle and complex – is a riotous life-affirming force that refuses to be snuffed. For me resistance is therfore inevitable.
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6 comments:
I will only say that I have my reservations about "resistance." In recent years, "resistance" has become fetishized as a sort of end-unto-itself when it's placed within systems of oppression. What this misses, I contend, is not only how wholly ineffective this resistance can be, but how such ineffectual resistance can even come to be considered complicit with the structures of domination it purports to resist.
Resistance for its own sake is an empty and often narcissistic moral gesture. The notion that simply resisting authority, even if this resistance produces no effect, is somehow sufficient on its own, results in the most impoverished politics imaginable. For networks of authority and domination will quite comfortably endure such empty shows of protest, and flatter those who "resist" as brave young activists voicing their discontent.
By granting the illusion that such useless resistance is a viable means of challenging the current state of affairs, the agents of domination gladly let the resisters rejoice in their actual non-agency, in their superficial displays of non-conformity. This in turn robs the public of its initiative to institute substantive social change.
By the way, Michael, my satire piece, "The Manifesto of Speculative Realist/Object-Oriented Ontological Blogging," is now up on my site. I hope you enjoy it, and think it not too mean-spirited.
Yeah Levi doesn't seem to get that my post was all in good fun. He hasn't been posting any of my comments for the last couple hours.
Good lord of the dance Ross, you go straight for the jugular in that piece! You might want to preface it by saying “just joking” or something cause it’s going to piss a lot of quasi-influential academics off, which might be undesirable considering you seem to want to become one of those types of beasts in the near future.
Truth be told, I only scanned it thus far because I’m running double speed to balance blogging with other commitments right now, but I’ll come back to it tonight.
I also owe you some detailed responses (especially re: “resistance”) here on previous comments that are indeed forthcoming…
Yeah, maybe I should have a disclaimer of some sort. The SR/OOO development in continental philosophy is certainly an improvement over Derridean deconstruction, Ricouerian hermeneutics, and the endless post-Husserlian strains of phenomenology. As long as they have a sense of humor about it, though, they should be able to take it in stride.
Also, I of course look forward to your responses on these matters. I think that the discussion you've been having with Levi over at Larval Subjects is one of the most fascinating ones I've seen. Good work.
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