Perceptive as ever, Bryce. Makes me think of the image of a young single, usually white, man, staring at a computer screen in a basement apartment. In terms of community, exiled — spiritually dead — already. Online hate forums and red hats make a lot more sense in that context. I alone can fix it. I am your retribution. I will welcome you in from an exile of grievance.
Western politics, built on individual guilt and the primacy of death as punishment, blinds us to older traditions that saw banishment—and thus the loss of community—as the real end of a life. This piece shows how fear of death feeds supremacy, while indigenous justice begins from kinship. It’s a bracing reminder that our politics still misunderstands what people truly need. Thanks, Bryce.
William, thank you so much for your reflections here, and particularly for your conclusion: "our politics still misunderstands what people truly need." For a considerably better politics, we'll almost certainly have to address deep-rooted conceptions that haven't served us well and that we nevertheless may find it quite difficult to part with.
Your reply names the real difficulty: the very ideas that fail us are the ones we cling to most tightly. (When in doubt, raise your voice!) A better politics will require loosening that grip without losing moral seriousness. I appreciate your willingness to press the point that reform demands rethinking our deepest assumptions, not just our policies.
Shawn, thank you! I wasn't aware of the Sakai incident. After looking into it a bit, I agree: it dovetails with the tension between two cultures--in the Sakai incident between East and West at the time--about what constitutes justice. Thanks for your contribution and for expanding my thoughts here.
Perceptive as ever, Bryce. Makes me think of the image of a young single, usually white, man, staring at a computer screen in a basement apartment. In terms of community, exiled — spiritually dead — already. Online hate forums and red hats make a lot more sense in that context. I alone can fix it. I am your retribution. I will welcome you in from an exile of grievance.
Western politics, built on individual guilt and the primacy of death as punishment, blinds us to older traditions that saw banishment—and thus the loss of community—as the real end of a life. This piece shows how fear of death feeds supremacy, while indigenous justice begins from kinship. It’s a bracing reminder that our politics still misunderstands what people truly need. Thanks, Bryce.
William, thank you so much for your reflections here, and particularly for your conclusion: "our politics still misunderstands what people truly need." For a considerably better politics, we'll almost certainly have to address deep-rooted conceptions that haven't served us well and that we nevertheless may find it quite difficult to part with.
Your reply names the real difficulty: the very ideas that fail us are the ones we cling to most tightly. (When in doubt, raise your voice!) A better politics will require loosening that grip without losing moral seriousness. I appreciate your willingness to press the point that reform demands rethinking our deepest assumptions, not just our policies.
I like the idea, but I wanted to bring up the sakai incident as a possible addition.
Shawn, thank you! I wasn't aware of the Sakai incident. After looking into it a bit, I agree: it dovetails with the tension between two cultures--in the Sakai incident between East and West at the time--about what constitutes justice. Thanks for your contribution and for expanding my thoughts here.