if states are merely thoughts and ideas, then states are also fragile and delicate. no real security can exist if a state can be understood as existing beyond an agreed space or border. this insecurity justifies gross overreaction when threatened (see iraq or vietnam), while simultaneously providing cover to ignore ACTUAL material conditions of life in said idealized state (see incarceration/border security/quality of life).
i guess im trying to reaffirm materialism, however poorly.
On 9/9/07, bitch at pulpculture.org <bitch at pulpculture.org> wrote:
>
> for perry anderson, *all* nations emerge as ideas. it's what makes them
> nations. that's why people who think you can so easily overcome the
> nation-state crack me up. all they do is substitute one idea for another.
> woo! solved that problem, eh?
>
> At 12:13 PM 9/9/2007, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >[from the Rush & Molloy column in The New York Daily News]
> >
> >"America is not just a country," Bono said here recently. "It's an
> >idea."
> >___________________________________
> >http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
> "You know how it is, come for the animal porn,
> stay for the cultural analysis." -- Michael Berube
>
> Bitch | Lab
> http://blog.pulpculture.org (NSFW)
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>