Post by samitch on Apr 18, 2016 16:58:29 GMT
I wanted to start this post out by saying I really liked Agamben. His discussion of the biopolitical, homo sacer, and the conflation of rights of human vs state was interesting and as I mentioned in my reply to Jake, really reminded me of Foucault, who I also dig. That being said, I can't help but sort of laugh at the growing prospects of an apocalyptic future that seems to be a common theme with late-20th to early-21st century philosophy. I agreed with most of what Agamben had to say on the biopolitical, but when I read his No to Biopolitical Tattooing piece, I had a shake my head moment when I came across his assertion "the west is no longer the city-state, but the concentration camp, and that we have crossed from Athens to Auschwitz" (p.202). Really? AUSCHWITZ!?
Look, I get it. The continued use of growing state technology to monitor, file, and essentially function as a 1984 "big-brother" is troubling when you reflect on it, but sometimes, the metaphors become too much for me. Between last week's Rufo and Atchinson claiming that fascism is on the rise with delimited citizenship, to Agamben likening contemporary biopolicy to 1940s Nazi Germany, I think that our scholars like to harken back to what was the most brutal era in history to make a point, if only to scare us into buying their position, regardless of its relevance. I understand Agamben's hesitance to blindly accept these policies and I agree with most scholarship that we should question and interrogate their presence, but how much of this is a symptom of where we are today and what Americans want? Americans are scared, freaked out by damn near everything. From terrorism to Ebola to the fear that we're hated (which we think is by everyone), generally, people here are concerned with their security and openly support these policies, regardless of what they could possibly mean long-term. I understand that these policies (such as the Patriot Act) should be condemned and critiqued heavily by our field and others like us. But when we take the leap to equating contemporary America to a concentration camp, I believe we devalue the horror and significance of something like an Auschwitz. I wish some of us, notably a skeptical Agamben in 2008, would take a step back and take caution before we suggest we've reached humanity's rock-bottom like we did with Auschwitz. If we don't, we sound just like the folks who troll the quad, calling Obama Hitler, Hilary the Devil, and believe Tupac Shakur is hanging out on a beach in Cuba (may he Rest in Peace). Maybe I'm off base, but the doom and gloom of a lot of recent philosophy really bugs me and I find it unproductive.
...looking back, I'm not really sure there's a question in there but I would like to hear your opinions on if these scenarios our scholars paint are legitimate?
Look, I get it. The continued use of growing state technology to monitor, file, and essentially function as a 1984 "big-brother" is troubling when you reflect on it, but sometimes, the metaphors become too much for me. Between last week's Rufo and Atchinson claiming that fascism is on the rise with delimited citizenship, to Agamben likening contemporary biopolicy to 1940s Nazi Germany, I think that our scholars like to harken back to what was the most brutal era in history to make a point, if only to scare us into buying their position, regardless of its relevance. I understand Agamben's hesitance to blindly accept these policies and I agree with most scholarship that we should question and interrogate their presence, but how much of this is a symptom of where we are today and what Americans want? Americans are scared, freaked out by damn near everything. From terrorism to Ebola to the fear that we're hated (which we think is by everyone), generally, people here are concerned with their security and openly support these policies, regardless of what they could possibly mean long-term. I understand that these policies (such as the Patriot Act) should be condemned and critiqued heavily by our field and others like us. But when we take the leap to equating contemporary America to a concentration camp, I believe we devalue the horror and significance of something like an Auschwitz. I wish some of us, notably a skeptical Agamben in 2008, would take a step back and take caution before we suggest we've reached humanity's rock-bottom like we did with Auschwitz. If we don't, we sound just like the folks who troll the quad, calling Obama Hitler, Hilary the Devil, and believe Tupac Shakur is hanging out on a beach in Cuba (may he Rest in Peace). Maybe I'm off base, but the doom and gloom of a lot of recent philosophy really bugs me and I find it unproductive.
...looking back, I'm not really sure there's a question in there but I would like to hear your opinions on if these scenarios our scholars paint are legitimate?
