Clever resistance is necessary, as sad and absurd as that may sound. Resistance against America.
I am thinking this morning of the language of the US military, and the language of American adolescents of all ages as they hunker down in front of PCs and game consoles to defend the homeland against the enemy out there. The nameless to be gunned down are typically described as „bad guys“ or „insurgents“ in military parlance.
As I write this, in the land in which I live the day is a holy day, and insurgents are exiting our compounds as devices in the towers of the temples call the people to prayer. I ponder resistance. Insurgency implies a civil authority to be rebelled against. How does one encourage the maintainers of an empire to recognize that empire? I remember forty years ago it was risque to sport a button or bumpersticker reading „Question Authority“ – nothing so personally endangering as „Resist“ mind you, just „Question“. How does one encourage questioning as something to be embraced rather than cynically and/or fearfully scorned? What causes the dominant paradigm to characterize resistance to empire as something which sounds absurd?