'dlawbailey' continues to struggle to imagine a world without lawyers.
In his fantasy 'Flatland' Edwin A Abbot imagines the world of people who live only in two dimensions (Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Oxford 1962). Such people he suggests would find it difficult to recognise a sphere. When a sphere passes through 'Flatland' the 2-dimensional citizens chide the narrator, 'that's not a sphere, you fool - there's no such thing - what you can see is just a circle'. As the sphere passes through Flatland, the Flatlanders see the circle expand from being a mere dot to a great circle, then later shrinking to a dot again, before disappearing altogether.
'dlaw' is a Flatlander. He lives in world where there are lawyers and money and private property, and imagines that this is all that there ever will be. Historical change is the thing that he cannot imagine. Show him a world without lawyers - like a primitive society - and he points at the village elder and says - 'look, a lawyer!' Ask him to imagine communal property, and he says, 'but what if someone steals your communal property?'
I can't show a Flatlander a sphere. Let him be content that it is just a fluctuating circle.
-- James Heartfield The 'Death of the Subject' Explained is available at GBP11.00, plus GBP1.00 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'