"In fact, we remain childish, reveling in violence as if it had no consequence." ... not to sound like one of those creepy genocidal deep ecologists, but maybe violence doesn't have much consequence for us, at least not in the big cultural picture. I suspect mass prolonged adolescence has something to do with the fact that adding to the human population (in rich countries) is fairly meaningless and even arguably destructive. How to maintain a society full of redundant bodies? Keep ourselves focussed on self-expression and the satisfaction of desires. That way we can at least exchange commodities to pass the time. I love the politic in your 5th paragraph. "I fear that our culture teaches a narrative in which death itself is a solution, in the form of the death of “the other”. Kill the “bad guys” and everything will be OK. This leads to the triumphal violence of our action movies and our wars." ...that's damn interesting.
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- sally mckay 4-23-2004 1:08 am