I really appreciate your emphasis here on the conversation that was never had, which I think was because the events were immediately (as intended) made the central radioactive core of the cultural and actual wars that have engulfed us ever since. I suspect I’m not alone in struggling still to articulate my thoughts and feelings about what happened that day. It stands as a line in the sand in my life between before and after, even though I was thousands of miles away in London and had yet to visit the States, let alone New York itself. For a long time, I also struggled with people who could so quickly think their way out of recognising the sheer horror of it, even though I also knew there were material causes for what happened. I remember meeting a guy at an academic conference the following Spring who was giddy with excitement about the new course he was about to teach, deconstructing images of 9/11 in terms of aesthetics - and I literally retched just hearing him talk about it, even though I also LOVE deconstructing images and could happily read nothing but Barthes for the rest of my days.
Thank you for this. I’ve never read Barthes or any of that crowd (feel slightly ashamed to admit that!) and I’m sure it has huge relevance and use in some circumstances, but I do feel that the kind of ground-up, masticated version of it that has passed into wider culture is a bit sick in the head. The ease with which some of us (definitely me included at times) distance ourselves with sophomore-level ‘analysis’ buttressed by some half-understood quotes becomes a way of evading (or coping with) material things that are actually happening.
I think there is a distinction to be made about this particular example, just because a lot of people are claiming that the atrocities that occurred were fabricated, despite the reports that have confirmed even the worst details.
Yes, that's a fair point. I think even apart from this example, the disputes about veracity that often occur around massacres/crimes against humanity are a justification for recording and viewing videos and images. I recently had to do some work on humanitarian responses to the Ethiopian civil war around five years ago, and there are very grave accusations there of massacres, and of using rape and starvation as weapons of war, that as far as I know are disputed to this day. (Of course none of this got much news coverage in the west.)
I really appreciate your emphasis here on the conversation that was never had, which I think was because the events were immediately (as intended) made the central radioactive core of the cultural and actual wars that have engulfed us ever since. I suspect I’m not alone in struggling still to articulate my thoughts and feelings about what happened that day. It stands as a line in the sand in my life between before and after, even though I was thousands of miles away in London and had yet to visit the States, let alone New York itself. For a long time, I also struggled with people who could so quickly think their way out of recognising the sheer horror of it, even though I also knew there were material causes for what happened. I remember meeting a guy at an academic conference the following Spring who was giddy with excitement about the new course he was about to teach, deconstructing images of 9/11 in terms of aesthetics - and I literally retched just hearing him talk about it, even though I also LOVE deconstructing images and could happily read nothing but Barthes for the rest of my days.
Thank you for this. I’ve never read Barthes or any of that crowd (feel slightly ashamed to admit that!) and I’m sure it has huge relevance and use in some circumstances, but I do feel that the kind of ground-up, masticated version of it that has passed into wider culture is a bit sick in the head. The ease with which some of us (definitely me included at times) distance ourselves with sophomore-level ‘analysis’ buttressed by some half-understood quotes becomes a way of evading (or coping with) material things that are actually happening.
“bloodied bodies from the October 7 massacre”
I think there is a distinction to be made about this particular example, just because a lot of people are claiming that the atrocities that occurred were fabricated, despite the reports that have confirmed even the worst details.
Yes, that's a fair point. I think even apart from this example, the disputes about veracity that often occur around massacres/crimes against humanity are a justification for recording and viewing videos and images. I recently had to do some work on humanitarian responses to the Ethiopian civil war around five years ago, and there are very grave accusations there of massacres, and of using rape and starvation as weapons of war, that as far as I know are disputed to this day. (Of course none of this got much news coverage in the west.)