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I used to have observations in my journal entries, the flora and fauna i saw while commuting mainly come to mind. George Orwell's observations today (http://syndicated.livejournal.com/orwell_diaries/131353.html or http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/10-9-40/) remind me of that practice.
We've freed ourselves from being driven by "news," which i think is a good thing. I remember when we watched TV news, had cable, and the trance of urgency that developed. Trance of Urgency, does that make sense? "Stay, watch, don't miss, horrible facts when we return." I've become much more critical about the content of news. For a long time i've subscribed to email updates of breaking news from the NYTimes. I used to have a work situation where i received them promptly, and i'd receive some and wonder, "Why this? What's actionable?" to use the jargon. I realized that what made many things urgent was business: were you going to go adjust your stock portfolio?
All in all, i don't miss the urgency, and it creates the space to be more aware of my local politics and certain regions that i feel need more attention (so i make time for news of Colombia). After this two months of not really keeping up with anything, i wouldn't pass much of a current event test, but i know the "activist judges" made a 1st amendment decision in favor of human rights yesterday. (Here i'd put snarky comments about recruiting standards over the past five years, Dominionists taking over the air force academies and rank and file -- but i believe that the current administration isn't *fostering* the Dominionist direction so....)
What do i do with the news? Right now, not enough (so in my current work trance and depression, i'm not going to go there), but i don't often journal about it. I think, all in all, that the Challenger accident and the Murrah Building will be the events that shape my sense of national tragedy, even though i watched the Colombia streak across the sky, ignorant of that tragedy unfolding. I know i resent something about the 9/11 attacks, and it may simply be how it displaced the Oklahoma City Bombing from discourse and awareness. Intellectually, i know there's a dramatic difference in scale, socially i know the Twin Towers and the Pentagon have more meanings and resonance than the Murrah Building. But the Murrah Building is the Everyman, common man, Willy Loman of terrorism, the rebuttal to, "It can't happen here." I suppose my resentment is partly political, although in the absence of 9/11 and the following wars in Afghanistan, would we have continued to pay attention to our internal disorder? How would the narrative thread of the Waco Siege, the Olympic Park Bomber been continued under George W Bush? How would the Joe Stack Plane crash and house explosion been received if the narrative thread about our internal terrorism had not been overwhelmed? (As a side note, i remain dissatisfied with the Amerithrax investigation outcome, but mainly because i haven't read enough about it.)
Why do i care so much about this narrative thread, the internal terrorism thread? Is it a recognition of the everyday quality of the threat that matches my everyday life? Is it because i think there's a chance i or people i know could do something, somehow, by affecting our civil discourse? I certainly believe that some inflammatory statements about patriotic motivations might be received differently if the association of the Patriot Movement to the Oklahoma City bombing.
Maybe this context is available in the general news and i'm missing it, with thoughtful analysis of tea party membership and patriot movement membership? Am i missing that by not watching the Sunday talk shows? It's possible, but it's more likely i'm being sarcastic here.
I'm trying to remember the Al-Qaeda target before 9/11: it was a US Navy ship stationed over seas -- i'd recognize the name if i heard it. The USS Cole in Yemen. Before that was an embassy -- no many embassies in East Africa. My recollection was that President Clinton had given the Taliban an ultimatum: if they didn't put a stop to Al-Qaeda, we were holding them responsible (not that we recognized them as the government of Afghanistan, but anyhow).
I ought to stop now. I guess this is my meditation on terrorism. 9/11 remains a day when the many people affected by that tragedy -- through death of a loved one or friend or through the trauma -- mourn and reflect. I respect that, but i was not affected in a personal way. Sometimes i feel defective, that i don't have an inclination to "observe" 9/11, but i can't help but feel, first, the general lead by the media is because so many in the media were personally affected. And the numbers are large: a traumatic experience for everyone in several population dense areas, and of long duration as uncertainty and confusion lasted. I do respect the effect this event had on so many.
But this brings me back to Orwell's blog. The first hand observation he offers of the bombing is nothing like what i have access to. (I am thankful for this.) First hand, i observe general disgust at Koran burning, Christine bringing our copy to read before sleep a few days ago, her discovery that there are lots of "Buy a Koran" movements. Our Meeting has a burble on the mailing list about observations in support of Muslim civil rights, people asking what could they attend or do to show solidarity with Muslims.
I think of my nephews, not yet old enough to observe Ramadan fast, thankful that they're in Beijing to observe Hari Raya, hopefully free of the fear that their celebration will be mistaken as a Muslim celebration of 9/11.
Greycie Loo was on my chest, blocking my reclined view of the keyboard. I pass Christine tea, and must pour myself into my intense workday.
I think i'm going to schedule time blocks the week i'm back from Ohio for quiet work.
We've freed ourselves from being driven by "news," which i think is a good thing. I remember when we watched TV news, had cable, and the trance of urgency that developed. Trance of Urgency, does that make sense? "Stay, watch, don't miss, horrible facts when we return." I've become much more critical about the content of news. For a long time i've subscribed to email updates of breaking news from the NYTimes. I used to have a work situation where i received them promptly, and i'd receive some and wonder, "Why this? What's actionable?" to use the jargon. I realized that what made many things urgent was business: were you going to go adjust your stock portfolio?
All in all, i don't miss the urgency, and it creates the space to be more aware of my local politics and certain regions that i feel need more attention (so i make time for news of Colombia). After this two months of not really keeping up with anything, i wouldn't pass much of a current event test, but i know the "activist judges" made a 1st amendment decision in favor of human rights yesterday. (Here i'd put snarky comments about recruiting standards over the past five years, Dominionists taking over the air force academies and rank and file -- but i believe that the current administration isn't *fostering* the Dominionist direction so....)
What do i do with the news? Right now, not enough (so in my current work trance and depression, i'm not going to go there), but i don't often journal about it. I think, all in all, that the Challenger accident and the Murrah Building will be the events that shape my sense of national tragedy, even though i watched the Colombia streak across the sky, ignorant of that tragedy unfolding. I know i resent something about the 9/11 attacks, and it may simply be how it displaced the Oklahoma City Bombing from discourse and awareness. Intellectually, i know there's a dramatic difference in scale, socially i know the Twin Towers and the Pentagon have more meanings and resonance than the Murrah Building. But the Murrah Building is the Everyman, common man, Willy Loman of terrorism, the rebuttal to, "It can't happen here." I suppose my resentment is partly political, although in the absence of 9/11 and the following wars in Afghanistan, would we have continued to pay attention to our internal disorder? How would the narrative thread of the Waco Siege, the Olympic Park Bomber been continued under George W Bush? How would the Joe Stack Plane crash and house explosion been received if the narrative thread about our internal terrorism had not been overwhelmed? (As a side note, i remain dissatisfied with the Amerithrax investigation outcome, but mainly because i haven't read enough about it.)
Why do i care so much about this narrative thread, the internal terrorism thread? Is it a recognition of the everyday quality of the threat that matches my everyday life? Is it because i think there's a chance i or people i know could do something, somehow, by affecting our civil discourse? I certainly believe that some inflammatory statements about patriotic motivations might be received differently if the association of the Patriot Movement to the Oklahoma City bombing.
Maybe this context is available in the general news and i'm missing it, with thoughtful analysis of tea party membership and patriot movement membership? Am i missing that by not watching the Sunday talk shows? It's possible, but it's more likely i'm being sarcastic here.
I'm trying to remember the Al-Qaeda target before 9/11: it was a US Navy ship stationed over seas -- i'd recognize the name if i heard it. The USS Cole in Yemen. Before that was an embassy -- no many embassies in East Africa. My recollection was that President Clinton had given the Taliban an ultimatum: if they didn't put a stop to Al-Qaeda, we were holding them responsible (not that we recognized them as the government of Afghanistan, but anyhow).
I ought to stop now. I guess this is my meditation on terrorism. 9/11 remains a day when the many people affected by that tragedy -- through death of a loved one or friend or through the trauma -- mourn and reflect. I respect that, but i was not affected in a personal way. Sometimes i feel defective, that i don't have an inclination to "observe" 9/11, but i can't help but feel, first, the general lead by the media is because so many in the media were personally affected. And the numbers are large: a traumatic experience for everyone in several population dense areas, and of long duration as uncertainty and confusion lasted. I do respect the effect this event had on so many.
But this brings me back to Orwell's blog. The first hand observation he offers of the bombing is nothing like what i have access to. (I am thankful for this.) First hand, i observe general disgust at Koran burning, Christine bringing our copy to read before sleep a few days ago, her discovery that there are lots of "Buy a Koran" movements. Our Meeting has a burble on the mailing list about observations in support of Muslim civil rights, people asking what could they attend or do to show solidarity with Muslims.
I think of my nephews, not yet old enough to observe Ramadan fast, thankful that they're in Beijing to observe Hari Raya, hopefully free of the fear that their celebration will be mistaken as a Muslim celebration of 9/11.
Greycie Loo was on my chest, blocking my reclined view of the keyboard. I pass Christine tea, and must pour myself into my intense workday.
I think i'm going to schedule time blocks the week i'm back from Ohio for quiet work.
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