Tag: ideology

by jad

Splitzing Politics

It’s worth pausing to consider “The Severance Metaphor” I wrote about in light of these images I got from “The Split Cam“; they weren’t wrong about branding the double-exposure process as “image fusion” because the end result is way more about fusing than splitting, isn’t it? I’m not sure why the more common lens attachment that does this trick is called a “splitzer,” but it’s making me think that there may be a use to having a third term in between those other two poles: severing, integrating, but also “splitzing” as well. Maybe it’s the goldilocks via media between the … Continue reading “Splitzing Politics” →

by jad

Virtue

You know when people are so close to getting it but just can’t seem to get there? How they’ll assert a thing like it’s a side of fries that can sit pretty by their narrow notion burger? I used to have a teacher who would berate us for not absorbing our lessons fully by pompously declaring “you must eat the stones,” which would irritate us to no end, and yet, somehow makes more sense to me now. By what social metabolism can you digest a lesson for others? You cannot. Your advocacy will break them out in hives. Their anti-bodies … Continue reading “Virtue” →

by jad

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

We’re not supposed to talk about asteroids in spooky quadrants of the sky as hardcore materialists and dialecticians, but the mind likes to color outside the lines. I read something the other day that made me think about my need for ordering chaos and how that connects to my nurturing side. The suggestion there was love and care tends to be expressed practically, through communication and intellectual engagement; that, for this personality type, devotion comes from attention to detail and makes one primed for a vocation in education, social work, or even healthcare. But what drew my eye was the … Continue reading “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” →

by jad

The Really-Real

Another cultural anxiety that Apple’s ‘Severance’ cashes in on is the impermanence of self; are we who we think we are? Will we always be that way? What makes me “me”, anyhow? Is an “innie” a real person or are they merely the really-real person out there ‘under the influence’? Which experience gets to have agency? Which actor is ultimately accountable? In the background of all these questions is the fundamental paradox of individuality: inviolable and sacrosanct, yet conditioned, if not determined. “Individual” literally means that which cannot be divided, and yet, we all know that our human experience contains … Continue reading “The Really-Real” →

by jad

The Party of Overthrow

“How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” That’s Engels quoting the souls of the martyrs slain for the word of God who cry out with a loud voice saying: “How long, O Lord?” And this is what Engels hears in the response they’re given; to rest for a little while yet, for more martyrs must be slain: “So here it is not yet a question of a ‘religion of love,’ of ‘love your enemies, bless them that curse you, etc.’ Here undiluted revenge is preached, sound, honest revenge … Continue reading “The Party of Overthrow” →

by jad

We Toasted to Victory

This is the moment we visited my father’s grave. It was the first thing we did, the day after I landed in Beirut. Among these images, some frames I remembered him occupying the last time we were all here together, when he could still walk with difficulty, and could point out the ancestral landmarks to me and Christine. I didn’t look back at those photos I’d taken of him back then. I just felt them in the moment. “If I were you, I’d constantly be going around like: do you know my small Lebanese hometown is basically a cult run … Continue reading “We Toasted to Victory” →

by jad

My Brain’s War Correspondent

People’s reactions to my trip to Lebanon have been thematically consistent. Most tell me that they’re thinking of me and praying for me; some say that they’ll miss me; even those who don’t know my reasons for travel have responded with a mix of investment and alarm. That’s a product of Lebanon’s place in the headlines since my last trip, I suppose. It’s been sweet to receive these sentiments, but the cumulative effect of it all is a mild sense of foreboding. Do people know something I don’t? Will I not make it back? What’s going on? That sense is … Continue reading “My Brain’s War Correspondent” →

by jad

Revolutionary Re-Enchantment

I’m fascinated by what draws people to occupy particular positions. In two very different organizations, I’ve heard bristling against the bogey of “identity politics,” which seems to act as shorthand for everything from managerialist “DEI” box-ticking tactics and the whole of Kamala’s campaign to the very erasure of class. It also borders on being a thought-terminating cliché. More interestingly, though, is when it seems to name a kind of permission for some to “speak again,” with all the problematics that come with that. It’s not just a racist dog-whistle; it’s a grasping at words in between stutters and hesitations. I’ve … Continue reading “Revolutionary Re-Enchantment” →

by jad

Hold The Tension

“Remember that a dialogue presupposes two sides. All too often comrades lecture people, not letting them get a word in edgewise. We must learn how to listen [emphasis in original] to people. Ask questions and get a sense of their political thinking.” We must learn how to listen. On one hand, it’s extraordinary that this needs to be said; on the other, thank God that and when it’s made explicit. All politics is learnt. All politics is also unlearnt. We are constantly relearning the give and take between the two. I’ve been engaging with a couple of points of political … Continue reading “Hold The Tension” →

by jad

32 Days

I didn’t want to mark a month, busying myself with the various “protagonisms” of the day, broadly understood. But now, 2 days later, the feelings are catching up with me. I’m thinking about all the arguing we’d be doing after the apparent “shattering” of the axis; he’d be telling me not to fall for the propaganda and I’d be insisting that he’s missing my point. I hear his voice in every cringe opinion I listen to among my new-found comrades so wrapped up in their “position in the imperial core” that they forget what it actually means to be “internationalist.” … Continue reading “32 Days” →