Belly Button Lint

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Tag: danger

  • Theme:

    the unseen blade is hardest to parry

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    1–2 minutes

    The worst trouble -the most danger- comes from the unexpected: attack from the clear blue sky.

    We can only defend against the future we can see; prediction allocates our resources.
    This leaves us vulnerable to ambush from unforecast betrayal, against which only the paranoid can prepare. But even the paranoid must trade risk for the capacity to function.

    A possible solution is to move faster than plotters, quicker than disaster can strike. Make of yourself the blade that cuts through expectation, become the chaos others must prepare against.
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  • Theme:

    Rejecting Progress

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    1–2 minutes

    We are objectively better off than ever, yet anger and nationalism swell to occupy every space. It seems we (humans) crave struggle—a noble cause, a crusade, or a holy war.

    As Steven Pinker might argue, “Would we trade modern comforts and medicine for medieval suffering, just to feel purpose?” Would we rather have irrational beliefs that allow our child to die, or a religion allowing us to be disemboweled in a holy war or inquisition, rather than suffer some ennui or alienation?

    The answer is yes. We have progressed this far because of our insatiable, inherent striving, including war and science.

    As a species, we perpetually pocket progress and develop new anxieties, but to say “only this narrow progress is permissable” or “be satisfied” is to misconstrue human nature and how we have come this far.

  • Theme:

    The Apocalypse That Never Ends

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    1–2 minutes

    The world has ended—again. Every headline screams apocalypse, yet the truth is ongoing, and its direness is a matter of relative perspective.

    Yes, the past is lost, but this is not the end; it is change. History flows, and while crises are real, exaggerated doom is disingenuous and harmful to the real.

  • Theme:

    mystical positions: pacifist or miltant

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    1–2 minutes

    Can passivity exist without eventual repression or injustice? totalitarianism or fascism?
    This becomes tangled in being either for or against struggle, for or against violence, which are mystical, fantastical positions of abstract language.

    To be pacifist or militant does not engage in the real world and, therefore, does not truly exist.

    from Blase Bonpane

  • Theme:

    linguistic creep / semantic drift

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    1–2 minutes

    Linguistic creep (or semantic drift) is exemplified by the use of terms like "art," which, once rigidly defined by culture and its relative merit, argued, today, "anything can be art" as beauty is in "the eye of the beholder."

    This horizontal expansion renders the term ‘art’ nearly meaningless, and alternate categories must be delineated to allow critical judgment.

    A similar expansion occurs with "violence/trauma" or "racism": if all things are racist (systemic racism) or any action can be deemed triggering, we must now invent new terms to respecify the attenuated definition, such as "anti-racist" or "pro-peace."

    Words function symbolically. Once the categorical definition is expanded, it de-defines the word, rendering it useless as it ceases to point to anything. (The sign points to the signified (idea) forgetting about the signifier (object).)

    Just as we can no longer recognize "art," as it is everything, the danger is to be unable to name actual racism or violence: the broadening spectrum dilutes the impact. Originally, to open a term spotlights unconsidered applications, which can be helpful, but once popularized as a tactic we must reinvent the language.

  • Theme:

    Overemphasizing Human Rights

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    1–2 minutes

    Post-Cold War overemphasis on human rights has skewed discourse, sidelining issues like ecology, climate change, income inequality, and nuclear proliferation.

    Human rights have become sacrosanct, yet they are oddly always under threat. This allows broad arguments concerning the species’ survival to slide into the more punchy, impossible, short-term trumpeting of moral indignation instead of retaining focus on realpolitik issues.

    While the rationality needed for long-term survival has its pitfalls (such as quantifying the value of life), the emphasis on human rights has drifted into emotional protectionism.

    This is a significant danger: when human rights are conflated with subjective emotions, the threat is to dismiss rights, as is often done with emotions.

  • Theme:

    violence as bleach

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    1–2 minutes

    Consider violence as a harsh problem solver: it removes obstructions and stains. However, like any caustic agent, the short-term fix applied repeatedly is corrosive to the structure.
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  • Theme:

    Pacifism in Context

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    1–2 minutes

    Pacifism claims a moral high ground, often overlooking the historical complexities of global conflict for idealistic humanism. While noble, this moral stance frequently proves futile, especially in the absence of opposing violent forces.*

    When an adversary is already contending with violence elsewhere, pacifism becomes a strategic position rather than a revolutionary one, allowing for negotiations and compromises with existing state powers that hold coercive authority. Thus, pacifism bows to violent powers to maintain an ethical stance.

    * examples of pacifism prevailing occur when violence on other fronts has decimated or threatened the existing power, meaning pacifism only works when violence is actively applied in some regard.

    from Ward Churchill

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  • Theme:

    begging for trouble

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    1–2 minutes

    First, we should know not to poison ourselves for a high.
    We love weird, violent, drama-filled television and media, and yet it upsets our dreams and arouses anxiety and suspicion. We then drink alcohol to mute the feelings that we provoke.
    Simultaneously, we don’t work out, which counterintuitively leads us to eat worse: we either rush towards disaster or dive into self-improvement but can’t maintain a moderate stance.

    Humans are oddly compulsive; even when we move in the right direction, we overdo it, begging for trouble at every turn.
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  • Theme:

    contagion versus resonance

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    1–2 minutes

    Revolutions and ideas can be said to spread like a contagion or "memetic virus." This view looks at nodes and vectors, which we became familiar with during COVID-19, to target and trace spread.
    Alternatively, we can see the spread as a "synchronous resonance" of like-minded actions happening in disparate places, setting up a rhythm. As the waves collide, amplification and density result, expanding the resonance and expanding the revolution.

    Equally, an empire can set up a resonance that imposes an order establishing reality. When strong enough, any counter-resonance is washed out or unheard: de-amplified or "noise canceled."

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