You have good instincts; keep on keeping to them. I refused to attend to any aspect of this last election nonsense for similar and ever more George Carlinesque reasons. However, let me caution you that there are some things that are perilous to avoid facing and understanding well, and these things are precisely what the political chatter aims to bury in "a consensus which insulate[s] those inhabiting it against being changed by what had been revealed." (Well put.)
What has been revealed is the deep naivete and perhaps willful incomprehension among "establishment" — or let us say bluntly "empire-aligned" minds — regarding others who are not so aligned. Failing to understand or even plumb it is extraordinary and must reflect the glaring class myopia one finds at this (Substack, online, but also often offline) convivial table, no matter how far one retreats or how small the circle is drawn.
I hope framing things this way makes blindness of such obvious facts visible too, as a symptom of something else — a fear, a loathing, and a failure of nerve in the face of the insufficiently repressed violence at our backs and ever increasingly in our faces. Violence must, of necessity, come more concretely into our lives, the closer we get to living without paying someone else to handle it for us.
Yes indeed, when I write of "those whose bodies are vulnerable to what just happened", I'm thinking not least of the ones liable to come home maimed or in body bags. One thing I've been struck by, when I do listen in on the post-election loudness, is the gap between those who appear to be living 2024 as Groundhog Day (because they allowed themselves to be convinced that 2016 was an "aberration") and those who experience a distance in their own responses between then and now.
Dougald, there is a game "around here lately" of praising each other in succession in order to collect followers or subscribers unto the egoic dream that dogs us all. This is not that. If the limits of the political today are the kitchen table and table manners are the seeds of any polis worth cultivating then I think the time of kingmakers is over and the time of place setters is come. When I was I child at the Passover meal there was always one extra plate set. After dark some aunt or uncle would open the door to welcome some say Elijah, other the Messiah to that open setting. The cold night and wind would blow in and imaginations of some othering fellowship would drink that moment in. You and Anna our place setters, showing the art of making room and opening doors, dark to light, divide to Company. A few times now I have heard my words in your mouth and been both humbled and honored in a way that calls me to my own oaths rather than my own worth. May He and She and They always haunt your doorstep and fill the seats about you all. What we paint on our door posts and over our thresholds as this world winds down is now less about death passing over as it is about a togethering walking on into whatever Next has for Us and Ours. I look forward to learning how to welcome whoever wishes in and onward with you my friend. Salut the Table Setters everywhere!
Thanks, Andrew, this was good to read. And it brought home to me that the practice of the lit candle and the extra place at the table – which I learned from the Illich friends – is another thread in the weave of Illich's Jewishness.
excellent stuff! i look forward to trying out the more mature and measured approach described here, now that i'm (hopefully) done blowing off all my post-election steam. maybe we can try again with another recorded conversation soon?
You have good instincts; keep on keeping to them. I refused to attend to any aspect of this last election nonsense for similar and ever more George Carlinesque reasons. However, let me caution you that there are some things that are perilous to avoid facing and understanding well, and these things are precisely what the political chatter aims to bury in "a consensus which insulate[s] those inhabiting it against being changed by what had been revealed." (Well put.)
What has been revealed is the deep naivete and perhaps willful incomprehension among "establishment" — or let us say bluntly "empire-aligned" minds — regarding others who are not so aligned. Failing to understand or even plumb it is extraordinary and must reflect the glaring class myopia one finds at this (Substack, online, but also often offline) convivial table, no matter how far one retreats or how small the circle is drawn.
It is astonishing to me that so many people in the threadbare American neo-imperial colonial protectorate care so much and wish for any particular outcome in its elections, let alone one in which they believe they benefit. Neither are these benefits understood as a counter-interest to a majority of Americans, particularly those most demographically associated with military service. (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/30/military-veterans-remain-a-republican-group-backing-trump-over-harris-by-wide-margin/)
I hope framing things this way makes blindness of such obvious facts visible too, as a symptom of something else — a fear, a loathing, and a failure of nerve in the face of the insufficiently repressed violence at our backs and ever increasingly in our faces. Violence must, of necessity, come more concretely into our lives, the closer we get to living without paying someone else to handle it for us.
Yes indeed, when I write of "those whose bodies are vulnerable to what just happened", I'm thinking not least of the ones liable to come home maimed or in body bags. One thing I've been struck by, when I do listen in on the post-election loudness, is the gap between those who appear to be living 2024 as Groundhog Day (because they allowed themselves to be convinced that 2016 was an "aberration") and those who experience a distance in their own responses between then and now.
Dougald, there is a game "around here lately" of praising each other in succession in order to collect followers or subscribers unto the egoic dream that dogs us all. This is not that. If the limits of the political today are the kitchen table and table manners are the seeds of any polis worth cultivating then I think the time of kingmakers is over and the time of place setters is come. When I was I child at the Passover meal there was always one extra plate set. After dark some aunt or uncle would open the door to welcome some say Elijah, other the Messiah to that open setting. The cold night and wind would blow in and imaginations of some othering fellowship would drink that moment in. You and Anna our place setters, showing the art of making room and opening doors, dark to light, divide to Company. A few times now I have heard my words in your mouth and been both humbled and honored in a way that calls me to my own oaths rather than my own worth. May He and She and They always haunt your doorstep and fill the seats about you all. What we paint on our door posts and over our thresholds as this world winds down is now less about death passing over as it is about a togethering walking on into whatever Next has for Us and Ours. I look forward to learning how to welcome whoever wishes in and onward with you my friend. Salut the Table Setters everywhere!
Thanks, Andrew, this was good to read. And it brought home to me that the practice of the lit candle and the extra place at the table – which I learned from the Illich friends – is another thread in the weave of Illich's Jewishness.
excellent stuff! i look forward to trying out the more mature and measured approach described here, now that i'm (hopefully) done blowing off all my post-election steam. maybe we can try again with another recorded conversation soon?
For sure, I'll look forward to taking another shot at it. Let's have a think about what would be most enlivening to chew on together.
Thank you for this feast, Dougald. I feel fired up after reading it. 🔥
I’m with Nora Bateson, all the way! Thank you Douglas.