No subject

faces, and souls. The powerful were stunned by it, the weak consoled. One 
did not notice, or rather did not want to notice, the new light it threw on 
the division between winners and losers in the world. A new world 
materialized, both more united and more divided than ever before - never 
were the losers all across the planet so unified by sardonic joy, never were 
the winners so unified by fear. Thus, some emotions, and perhaps not the 
best ones, were becoming globalized.

The events that most shock us are not surprises such as natural disasters 
that are beyond the realm of human history. True shock is provoked when an 
event occurs that we have been dreading, hoping all along that it will not 
happen, or that we have been dreaming about without truly believing in it.

On September 11th a visitor we had been awaiting for a long time, convincing 
ourselves all the while that he would not come, came back to our attention. 
He had been announced in Hiroshima. Since that day we knew that the 
technological demon had escaped from human control, that man could 
henceforth blow up the planet. Indeed, weapons exist only to be used, the 
only uncertainty is the moment when. In addition, during the Second World 
War the borders our conscience had set were crossed. In the post-war years 
an omnipresent anxiety held sway; philosophers and writers were wondering 
how mankind was going to be able to live in the awareness of the imminence 
of the apocalypse. Since they were incapable of providing an answer, and 
following a basic rule of human behavior, helpless reflection made way for 
entertainment. Anxiety postponed the apocalypse artificially and during the 
Cold War entertainment covered up the technological horror. As for the void 
the Second World War left in human consciousness, it was filled with the 
hope that behind the great confrontation between capitalism and socialism 
must lie the promise of a better society. Why else would such an unrelenting 
planetary battle be taking place? Moreover, capitalism, terrified of 
revolution, had adopted its most human, moderate, and tolerant mask, taking 
the social demands within its frontiers into account and keeping its 
imperial tendencies abroad in check...

To continue the article (it is rather long), go to:
http://www.autodafe.org/correspondence/chroniques/stanko1.htm


_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. 
http://www.hotmail.com