Saturday, August 05, 2006
(11:50 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Heroic Theoretical Labor: Blogging About It
My favorite blog lately has got to be k-punk, particularly his posts about The Talented Mr. Ripley and the TV show Columbo. More recently, he has said what I hoped one day to say about the War on Terror (occasioned by the Israeli offensive against Lebanon):The paradoxical War on Terror is based on a kind of willed stupidity; the willed stupidity of wishful thinking. Only the logic of dreamwork can suture 'War' with 'Terror' in this way, since terrorists were, by classical definition, those without 'legitimate authority' to wage war. However, it is horribly evident for some while that a new, frighteningly facile, definition of Terrorism has come into play. What makes Terrorists terrorists is not their supposed lack of legitimate authority but their inherent Evil. We are ontologically Good; Good by our very nature, no matter what we do. We belong to an 'alliance of moderation' against the Axis of Evil. So when 'we' 'accidentally' level an appartment block full of children with our moderate bombs, we do not cease to be moderate. The difference between They, the Evil and We, the Good is, of course, intent; the Terrorists deliberately target civilians. This is their only aim, because they are Evil. Although we kill vastly more civilians, we do not intend to it, so we remain Good.Broadly speaking, the style is similar to Zizek, insofar as he talks a lot about psychoanalysis and popular culture, but k-punk doesn't evince the kind of dogmatism and posturing that are often displayed in those who have "finally found the final authority on all matters" -- instead, it seems as though Zizek is among those who have incited k-punk to do his own thinking.
I'm also glad that Infinite Thought is being more frequently updated lately, apparently serving as of coping mechanism of some kind for the author as her dissertation nears completion. Charlotte Street went through a similar period of productivity (?) this summer, which I also enjoyed, though for different reasons. This is very "Web 1.0" of me (link via Scott McLemee), but I sometimes like to wait two weeks or a month to check blogs that I know are not daily affairs, because I enjoy reading multiple blog posts in a row -- with sequential posts that develop a theme, it can sometimes be more interesting to read them in reverse chronological order. Similarly, sometimes a week of wood s lot all at one time can be better than just a day.
Meanwhile, I'm just stalling for time as I stare down the barrell of Whitehead's Process and Reality. It's kind of a pride thing now -- after having breezily dismissed process theology as useless, now I have to understand it (or its reputed source). It is the most technical and difficult-to-follow book I have read in a while, and I'm worried that I'm just not going to make it through it. I did read Adventures in Ideas (whose extremely lame title I proposed should be replaced by Advanced Dorkology: A White Male Perspective), which is something akin to "Whitehead's Introduction to Whitehead," but I'm just not sure I'm quite ready for the commitment of prehending the concrescence of actual entities. (As a potential sign that I don't understand his thought at all and am just retreating into something that's more comfortable: I see some real similarities to Nancy's thought.)
I kind of want to learn Greek now. Maybe once I've taken the 20th Century Theology exam I can do that, or get started on it. By that point, I will have done a directed reading on medieval theology and presumably will have solidified the Latin a little more....
Alright, daydreaming about the things I will someday do is always a last-ditch effort to avoid doing something today. And so, I bid you farewell, and as I turn my eyes toward Whitehead, I ask for your prayers.
