I think my reaction to 9/11 was sublime. I think many, maybe even most the world who watched it on tv had something very similar to a sublime reaction. I think Al-Qaeda must have also had a sublime moment, probably falling over themselves in joy, incredulous laughter, very much like the tv coverage of various cities and various groups of people in the Muslim and Arab world. The guys who planned this could not have ever imagined it would be so stunning, such a sublime moment.
A few hours after and when the immediate sublimity of the events wore off a little, I felt something like an earthquake after shock, which was a much less intense sublimity reaction. I thought oh, no, oh, shit. This is going to get bad, really, really bad. This has given the Bush administration something to die for, a reason to live. Several days or about week later when it was apparent the federal government help was minimal, stalled, covered in bullshit reasons why this or that couldn't be done, I realized these bastards (Bush et al) don't give a shit about NYC, the people killed or effected. They have moved on to make this the entire center of foreign and domestic policy. Maybe they thought this through, or maybe they just reacted. I think they just reacted, with little or no thought about what they were doing or why. It was only about how. The only issue was how to fight this awesome sublimity they felt, and crudely tried to pin on some target, out there, somewhere in the Muslim and Arab world.
.....
At the risk of being accused of indulging in 'theory' (which doesn't exist...at least not in the way detractors suppose) while Klansman burn crosses and plan...something, I think I should mention that this is almost precisely the thesis of one of Baudrillard's finest essays, "The Spirit of Terrorism" --
<http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0111/msg00083.html>
Which, I discussed in the blogular format here --
Baudrillard on Terror: Five Years Later
<snip>
And now, let’s reconsider Baudrillard’s essay, “The Spirit of Terrorism” which, as I recall (but memory is faulty), was roundly criticized as “postmodernist” navel gazing when it was released in 2001. Americans in particular, even those who were opposed to military action, dismissed it as missing the point, of minimizing the martyrdom of the 2000 plus who died in the towers, of sympathizing with nihilists who sought to destroy civilization.
To many, Baudrillard played the role of the ultimate (stereotypical) European intellectual: trapped in his thoughts when he should have been feeling more deeply - feeling the loss of the hallowed dead, the perfidy of the means by which they were killed, the special nature of the American loss, the painful struggle ahead.
[...]
full --
<http://monroelab.net/blog/?p=609>
And here:
The atomic kiss of Godzilla: dream or nightmare?
<http://monroelab.net/blog/?p=254>
.d.