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"As ever, weakness had taken refuge in a belief in miracles."
The prof is extending this unit until next week, which is great because there are no new readings, leaving me more time to send out resumes and freak out about my thesis data sets. The FAO can suck it, but the Philippines' Bureau of Agricultural Statistics is a friendly fellow, he can stick around.
Okay, what, Ideologies/Mythologies. Unit 2: Ideology & the Political-Theological
Lefort, "The Revolution as New Religion"
- Of the French revolution: When they left religion, they just became religious about something else. By believing in themselves instead of God, they brought the divine down to earth, within them.
- Quinet critizes religion, but he runs off with its metaphors.
- "All want their acts of violence, their iniquities, and their ferocity to be adored as sacred." Hello, Pevensies building the Narnian empire! Hello, Uther Pendragon! Ah, the legitimization of cruelty.
(- Relatedly, in confession, there is contrition. By articulating your trespasses, you are halfway to absolution, or at the very least you feel you are. This kind of reminds me of the awful time I had distributing stipends during the summer. Before they could get their stipends, they had to give me their travel rubbish (viz. boarding passes, airport tax, departure tax, whatever else), but it's not so easy. People's itineraries changed, the rubbish they gave me was not the rubbish I needed, and on top of that, they'd give me the whole sob story of their difficult travel. These stories will not soften my heart! Even if they did, I can't do anything about it, so in short, I do not care! Just give me the documents I need! I don't need to understand that you tried your best to catch your flight. I'm sure you did! But I do not have the authority to transform your sob stories into quicker stipend processing!)
Lefort, "The Permanence of the Theological-Political?"
- Symbolic vs. Imaginary. What is intangible is not necessarily unreal.
- "What philosophical thought strives to preserve is the experience of a difference which goes beyond differences of opinion; the experience of a difference which is not at the disposal of human beings, whose advent does not take place within human history, and which cannot be abolished therein; the experience of a difference which relates human beings to their humanity, and which means that their humanity cannot be self-contained, that it cannot set its own limits, and that it cannot absorb its origins and ends into those limits. Every religion states in its own way that human society can only open on to itself by beng held in an opening it did not create. Philosophy says the same thing, but religion said it first, albeit in terms which philosophy cannot accept."
- "Human beings populate the invisible with the things they see, naively invent a time that exists before time, organize a space that exists behind their space: they base the plot on the most general conditions of their lives."
- The following is talking about which of my beloved fictional monarchs?: Power is an empty place; it is a thing implied. Only its manifestations are truly tangible. "[P]ower belongs to no one; that those who exercise power do not possess it; that they do not, indeed, embody it; that the exercise of power requires a periodic and repeated contest; that the authority of those vested with power is created and re-created as a result of the manifestation of the will of the people."
(- It is an empty place because it has no positive determination: it is something else's negative space. It can be easy to mistake it for positive, the way the optical illusion can show both a couple kissing and a chalice, though it is the same picture either way. Unlike the illusion, however, power is not a relative thing.)
Marx, "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte"
- “In like manner the beginner who has learnt a new language always translates it back into his mother tongue, but he has assimilated the spirit of the new language and can produce freely in it only when he removes in it without remembering the old and forgets in it his ancestral tongue.”
- "As ever, weakness had taken refuge in a belief in miracles."
How did I forget to glee that Leverage is (supposedly) set in Boston? Oh well, I glee about it now. Boston! \o/ Oh well, Portland is not extremely different from Boston. D'you guys ever catch that X-Files episode that was 'set in Worcester'? Because HAHAHAHAHA that's funny.
I just finished catching up up to the 'Two Live Crew Job' and man, what a great episode, if only because they get to meet their selves from a parallel universe. And also Parker makes a new friend! Her and that guy who is her from the other crew have lockpicking competitions! Aww, please continue hanging out and being delightful as such! Eliot and the hot Mossad chick do an inventory of their scars before they have hot kinky sex! I approve also.
I still don't give a shit about Nate/Sophie. I mean, I like Sophie, but Nate is a honkin' bore. I like him as part of the family, but as an individual, mehhhhh. Give me adorable group shenanigans any day!
Okay, what, Ideologies/Mythologies. Unit 2: Ideology & the Political-Theological
Lefort, "The Revolution as New Religion"
- Of the French revolution: When they left religion, they just became religious about something else. By believing in themselves instead of God, they brought the divine down to earth, within them.
- Quinet critizes religion, but he runs off with its metaphors.
- "All want their acts of violence, their iniquities, and their ferocity to be adored as sacred." Hello, Pevensies building the Narnian empire! Hello, Uther Pendragon! Ah, the legitimization of cruelty.
(- Relatedly, in confession, there is contrition. By articulating your trespasses, you are halfway to absolution, or at the very least you feel you are. This kind of reminds me of the awful time I had distributing stipends during the summer. Before they could get their stipends, they had to give me their travel rubbish (viz. boarding passes, airport tax, departure tax, whatever else), but it's not so easy. People's itineraries changed, the rubbish they gave me was not the rubbish I needed, and on top of that, they'd give me the whole sob story of their difficult travel. These stories will not soften my heart! Even if they did, I can't do anything about it, so in short, I do not care! Just give me the documents I need! I don't need to understand that you tried your best to catch your flight. I'm sure you did! But I do not have the authority to transform your sob stories into quicker stipend processing!)
Lefort, "The Permanence of the Theological-Political?"
- Symbolic vs. Imaginary. What is intangible is not necessarily unreal.
- "What philosophical thought strives to preserve is the experience of a difference which goes beyond differences of opinion; the experience of a difference which is not at the disposal of human beings, whose advent does not take place within human history, and which cannot be abolished therein; the experience of a difference which relates human beings to their humanity, and which means that their humanity cannot be self-contained, that it cannot set its own limits, and that it cannot absorb its origins and ends into those limits. Every religion states in its own way that human society can only open on to itself by beng held in an opening it did not create. Philosophy says the same thing, but religion said it first, albeit in terms which philosophy cannot accept."
- "Human beings populate the invisible with the things they see, naively invent a time that exists before time, organize a space that exists behind their space: they base the plot on the most general conditions of their lives."
- The following is talking about which of my beloved fictional monarchs?: Power is an empty place; it is a thing implied. Only its manifestations are truly tangible. "[P]ower belongs to no one; that those who exercise power do not possess it; that they do not, indeed, embody it; that the exercise of power requires a periodic and repeated contest; that the authority of those vested with power is created and re-created as a result of the manifestation of the will of the people."
(- It is an empty place because it has no positive determination: it is something else's negative space. It can be easy to mistake it for positive, the way the optical illusion can show both a couple kissing and a chalice, though it is the same picture either way. Unlike the illusion, however, power is not a relative thing.)
Marx, "The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte"
- “In like manner the beginner who has learnt a new language always translates it back into his mother tongue, but he has assimilated the spirit of the new language and can produce freely in it only when he removes in it without remembering the old and forgets in it his ancestral tongue.”
- "As ever, weakness had taken refuge in a belief in miracles."
How did I forget to glee that Leverage is (supposedly) set in Boston? Oh well, I glee about it now. Boston! \o/ Oh well, Portland is not extremely different from Boston. D'you guys ever catch that X-Files episode that was 'set in Worcester'? Because HAHAHAHAHA that's funny.
I just finished catching up up to the 'Two Live Crew Job' and man, what a great episode, if only because they get to meet their selves from a parallel universe. And also Parker makes a new friend! Her and that guy who is her from the other crew have lockpicking competitions! Aww, please continue hanging out and being delightful as such! Eliot and the hot Mossad chick do an inventory of their scars before they have hot kinky sex! I approve also.
I still don't give a shit about Nate/Sophie. I mean, I like Sophie, but Nate is a honkin' bore. I like him as part of the family, but as an individual, mehhhhh. Give me adorable group shenanigans any day!
no subject
I also am bored with Nate.
I am glad your folks in the Philippines are safe.
What happened to that Eid drabble, eh? ;)
no subject
me too :D
I DUNNO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EID DRABBLE DDDDDDD:
sorryyyyyyyyyyyyy
SOON?!
no subject
yay more academic stuffs!
I wish I had time to read the others tonight, but I do not. But this one by itself is absolutely fabulous!
"All want their acts of violence, their iniquities, and their ferocity to be adored as sacred."
It's surprisingly common, isn't it? this need for validation from people who you would think would need it least? ruthless dictators who demand complete adoration from their people. it's probably why everyone worshiped the gods so much. they were already giving them human traits, naturally they would give them the human need to be praised. or perhaps more importantly, to be acknowledged as worthy of praise. it's something that shows up a lot in fandom too. hmm. to return to the original point, it makes you wonder if they worry about what they're doing and want the people to say it's okay, or if they're convinced they're right and are just acting the human need for praise.
By articulating your trespasses, you are halfway to absolution, or at the very least you feel you are.
YES. you can catalogue the things you have done wrong, and look at them and think 'there is room for absolution still.' I have a problem with obsessively listing the things I'm doing wrong and forgetting that I am also doing some things right. I don't know if this is a common thing or not? from what I've heard, it seems like it probably is. humans seem to be unhealthily obsessed with either thinking about or ignoring completely what they have done wrong, which fits in with the whole 'demanding praise' thing. maybe this is their way of remembering that they have done things right too.
"the name of the priest and the king, representatives of what is most general, that is to say, divine."
I really like the distinction he gives to 'the name' and 'the word', because those are extremely important, aren't they?
"But these victims, they have been brought into subjugation; they are not -"
that looked like the start to a really interesting sentence, but alas! pg. 168 is "not part of this book preview." D:
"Yet one must not make of the people an idol, measuring one's faith by it's capacity to will itself to be free, to give expression to humanity, which tends to fulfill itself through all the people." "Humanity merits our faith only inasmuch as it asks us to answer for it, only inasmuch as it presents us with an infinite task."
ahskldgdkflsjdgh. something about the first sentence is infinitely and a little sadly beautiful to me. and the second one! humanity is only worth our faith when it demands that we answer for ourselves, because we are humanity, small pieces of it. when it demands that we do not just sit down and watch the show, but stand up and speak if something is wrong. humanity can love us only as much as we love it.
ahskgldhgksldjf. SO AWESOME.
no subject
Haha, yeah that is pretty common. I hear some people get over it, but I suspect this is a myth.
I like those last 2 quotes you bring up! And this part especially - Yet one must not make of the people an idol, measuring one's faith by it's capacity to will itself to be free - makes me think of the 'Lucifer' graphic novel I am reading, because it's all about individualism and freedom and choice. But freedom is not the cure-all people tout it as. It is not the ends, it is a means. I guess both those quotes are pushing towards the same message: to engage.
oh and the sentence on page 168 is:
no subject
OH NEW LANGUAGE/OLD LANGUAGE
that Lefort quote on power belonging to no one makes me think of Foucault's Discipline and Punish, where power is more like a structure that people occupy positions in. people don't own it, they just stand in a place where they exercise it.
I wish I were taking more social sciences courses this quarter... perhaps I should consider this seriously.
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no subject
if I remember correctly, for Foucault knowledge is power, and being in a position of power is like being at the center of a panopticon - you can see everyone and monitor them. discipline and division of labor is an exercise of power, it's knowing and shaping an individual. it's freaking creepy is what it is.