[lit-ideas] Re: 21. century European anti-Semitism
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:43:20 +0900
On 2004/04/20, at 14:56, Scribe1865@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Maybe that's why John's question is so interesting -- that the self in
> violence is not the self at all. And we can only speculate about it.
> Or perhaps this
> is all an egocentric ramble beside the point.
It is interesting that at least one way to say in English that someone
is angry is to say that he is "beside himself," disassociated from the
normal self. The extent to which this is true in fact is a critical
legal issue when ever innocence is claimed by reason of insanity.
Events like the massacre at My Lai will be judged quite differently,
depending on whether the observer believes that the circumstances
excuse what would otherwise certainly be seen as abnormal behavior.
Which raises another interesting question so far evaded in our
discussion: What do we make of heroic violence? Why is a Sergeant York
or any other Medal of Honor winner seen as doing something profoundly
part of his or her basic character instead of temporarily becoming
someone else, e.g., possessed by a god, an explanation available in
other cultural contexts?
And what are we to make of what we might call, in one or another
specific context, normal or predictable violence? For example, a Dayak
taking a head as part of his initiation into adult manhood?
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
