From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sun Dec 10 2000 - 20:23:23 MST
>> Ah! Spoken like someone who has never actually experienced *any* of those
>> things.
>Exactly. And I probably never will, unfortunately. It seems that all
>authentic experiences are being replaced with mediated fantasies and
>simulations... war is something that I read about. There are no revolutions
>left.
You could visit Timor, for example, and do some medical or other useful
work there. Plenty of blood and guts, and in a good cause.
>I've never really loved or hated anyone. I'm not sure if I'll even
>get the priviledge of dying. I don't feel like I'm even alive half the
>time. If these are all so terrible, why do I long for them?
This is perfectly understandable. It's what Tolstoy, who hated war, felt
surging through him despite himself as he saw a group of soldiers marching
by to the fife and the drum.
A book I was rather influenced by many years ago on this poignant dichotomy is
George Kateb, .
Utopia and its enemies.
New York, Schocken Books [1972, c1963]
It's unavailable at amazon, but might be in university library stacks.
Damien Broderick
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