Violence operates largely thru the imagination.
I.
A single psychopath may torture and kill and NOT want his actions known and discovered, at least initially. But they all still want to penetrate our imagination.
There are never enough bullets so the next best thing is to shoot some in a way that inserts you into the cultural imagination.
State power always wants others (the other) to know. That is the point of the torture or execution.
If you think execution is just about eliminating that one person for his crime, you are that person.
One could say this is the case whenever one side clearly overpowers the other. Power wants to communicate to you (and by extension, others) the stupidity of contesting it via your imagination.
You do the heavy lifting (fear), and as always, power collects the benefits (obedience).
When the sides are more equally matched this is less so. Violence is about effectiveness.
Two boxers, evenly matched need to anticipate their opponent. Defend for his strengths. Develop a plan to capitalize on his weaknesses.
In essence, knowing the opponent is necessary.
A tyrant however, doesn't need to know squat about the man in the noose. What motivates him. Why he chose to fight. Hell, if he's even the right guy.
What matters is that his defeat communicates, largely thru your imagination, futility. Aspirational anxiety. Promotion dangled for those in the machine while worse consequence await resistance should you imagine it.
None of that has to be real because its all in your head.
II.
When men say that women are unfathomable, unknowable...that may be because men, in general, don't have to learn about women. The power structure is lopsided.
Women know men because they have to.
Likewise minorities often seem strange and unfamiliar to the majority. Minorities often have the pulse on the majority however. This is because of the power structure.
When you are unevenly matched, the powerful side doesn't need to know you and usually doesn't. The weak side knows you all too well.
III.
This is the meaning of institutional violence. Structural violence. Its built into the system. Systemic. It doesn't occur occasionally. It is the system.
It takes a lot of structure to maintain this unbalanced facade. And its an expensive, mind numbing, imagination crushing facade at that. If you work in a bureaucracy,
married into money or belong to a minority group, or turn on your television at any point, you know of what I speak.
IV.
In order to subvert this, rupture it, displace power, break open and recreate...the imagination has to first be reawakened.
To deconstruct and reassemble what it is you are seeing in the first place.
To dream anew. That requires a certain...prophetic touch.
Which itself is a subverting and recreating art. For language itself must be re-imagined. The smooth everyday violence that is symbolic, rests on language.
V.
No, prophets have nothing to do with 'such and such will happen' at 'such and such time'. My god, grow up already.
VI.
The task of prophetic imagination is to cut through the numbness, to penetrate the self-deception, to bring people to engage their experiences of suffering and to nourish them with the absurd.
If you find it hard to imagine a world without say, capitalism or your TV or culture wars about gay sex, this is because your imagination has been turned down like a dimmer switch.
Slowly, ever so slowly. But down.
If you are some of those asking, "Why in the world would I WANT to envision a world without capitalism, my entertainment system or hours of facebook posts about gay sex?"
Than there is no dimmer switch as not only has your 'power' been off for some time but your hut has blown away.
The battle is for your imagination. When you dream it, see it with the minds eye and have faith that yes, it is as possible as it is absurd, nothing can stand in the way. Which is to say everything will.
Because you inevitably act. When you don't act, you didn't imagine. This is known. This is why your imagination is being turned off, violently.
Ṇ
If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible.
I.
A single psychopath may torture and kill and NOT want his actions known and discovered, at least initially. But they all still want to penetrate our imagination.
There are never enough bullets so the next best thing is to shoot some in a way that inserts you into the cultural imagination.
State power always wants others (the other) to know. That is the point of the torture or execution.
If you think execution is just about eliminating that one person for his crime, you are that person.
One could say this is the case whenever one side clearly overpowers the other. Power wants to communicate to you (and by extension, others) the stupidity of contesting it via your imagination.
You do the heavy lifting (fear), and as always, power collects the benefits (obedience).
When the sides are more equally matched this is less so. Violence is about effectiveness.
Two boxers, evenly matched need to anticipate their opponent. Defend for his strengths. Develop a plan to capitalize on his weaknesses.
In essence, knowing the opponent is necessary.
A tyrant however, doesn't need to know squat about the man in the noose. What motivates him. Why he chose to fight. Hell, if he's even the right guy.
What matters is that his defeat communicates, largely thru your imagination, futility. Aspirational anxiety. Promotion dangled for those in the machine while worse consequence await resistance should you imagine it.
None of that has to be real because its all in your head.
II.
When men say that women are unfathomable, unknowable...that may be because men, in general, don't have to learn about women. The power structure is lopsided.
Women know men because they have to.
Likewise minorities often seem strange and unfamiliar to the majority. Minorities often have the pulse on the majority however. This is because of the power structure.
When you are unevenly matched, the powerful side doesn't need to know you and usually doesn't. The weak side knows you all too well.
III.
This is the meaning of institutional violence. Structural violence. Its built into the system. Systemic. It doesn't occur occasionally. It is the system.
It takes a lot of structure to maintain this unbalanced facade. And its an expensive, mind numbing, imagination crushing facade at that. If you work in a bureaucracy,
married into money or belong to a minority group, or turn on your television at any point, you know of what I speak.
IV.
In order to subvert this, rupture it, displace power, break open and recreate...the imagination has to first be reawakened.
To deconstruct and reassemble what it is you are seeing in the first place.
To dream anew. That requires a certain...prophetic touch.
Which itself is a subverting and recreating art. For language itself must be re-imagined. The smooth everyday violence that is symbolic, rests on language.
V.
No, prophets have nothing to do with 'such and such will happen' at 'such and such time'. My god, grow up already.
VI.
The task of prophetic imagination is to cut through the numbness, to penetrate the self-deception, to bring people to engage their experiences of suffering and to nourish them with the absurd.
If you find it hard to imagine a world without say, capitalism or your TV or culture wars about gay sex, this is because your imagination has been turned down like a dimmer switch.
Slowly, ever so slowly. But down.
If you are some of those asking, "Why in the world would I WANT to envision a world without capitalism, my entertainment system or hours of facebook posts about gay sex?"
Than there is no dimmer switch as not only has your 'power' been off for some time but your hut has blown away.
The battle is for your imagination. When you dream it, see it with the minds eye and have faith that yes, it is as possible as it is absurd, nothing can stand in the way. Which is to say everything will.
Because you inevitably act. When you don't act, you didn't imagine. This is known. This is why your imagination is being turned off, violently.
Ṇ
If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible.
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