January 22, 2001,
11:35 p.m. || the nails are but small nubs by now
I am thinking about this Lauren Berlant quote in
relation to so
many things:
"Revolutionary-style performance can appear as a shameful mode
of distraction. It claims to have already incited foundational changes
whose utopian outcomes seem always deferred; it makes it hard to think
about formation of violence in the face of the good effects a politics
promises; and meanwhile certain specific individuals, classes, and
social movements will find themselves abandoned to continue struggling
to transform the very same modes of domination that have engendered the
constraints they have long suffered."
==
I know her frustration . I feel
a certain amount
of dread at the task of undoing hegemony in the space of
one hour a week -- a
Herculean endeavor, far worse than gargantuan stables full of horseshit or three-headed hell hounds. Last semester
a student blithely argued, "Yes, well, I know that boys can play with
dolls, but I still think it's wrong, and might make them gay."
Such a short sentence, made as if it spoke some personal truth and
not an ideological invention that binds and shreds young hearts and
minds.
==
I am tearing my hair out over gag rules and "investigations" of
FDA approval of RU-486. See the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy regarding
the latest outrages of the new Bush administration.
And for those who insisted during the election that there is
a difference between the two major parties, that it will be
Ralph Nader's fault when abortion is outlawed and the U.S.
steps up sanctions against Iraq, why did not one Democratic senator
join the House's Black Caucus in protesting the ill-gotten electoral
votes from Florida? And will Democratic senators confirm John
Ashcroft --a staunch supporter of the Old South (you know, when the
"races lived in harmony" under slavery) and anti-abortion crusader
-- to the position of Attorney General? When that happens (and
you know it will when Demoractic senators now speak of Ashcroft as
"a man of integrity") tell me who's at fault. Argh.