So, while I sit here and slowly write my response to Lady Pistil's most excellent questions about my last post and try and sort through my emotional response to visiting LA this past weekend, I thought that I would ask a question that has been bugging me for quite a while.
Specifically, when is violence the answer?
I mean, we've all been told a thousand times to turn the other cheek, take a deep breath and be the bigger person, but I want to know about the moment that all that falls away and all that is left is the requirement for action... messy, violent, icky action... with chainsaws...*
So yeah, where do you draw the line? And I'm not just talking the big stuff here, I want to know it all. We all have those moments, those little spaces in time, in which the world whites out and we come-to with bruises on our knuckles... Whether it's in front of your computer incandescent with fury as a pre-teen shouts "TITS or GTFO!" or trying to get the goddamned coffee pot to work in the morning, I want to know what it takes to get you take that final step...
To start things off, I've put a random list of five (Lord knows there are more, and their importance tends to vary according to their proximity) for your edification. Please feel free to respond at will, as I'm looking forward to what you have to add.
DrV
THE LIST (for now):
1. Spiders. (no explanation necessary).
2. I have a problem with people who hit their girlfriends... and people who don't take 'no' for an answer... like, a serious problem... like... chainsaws... yeah... with fire.
3. Malfunctioning electronics. Like the DVD player, my alarm clock... or the heater in my classroom.
4. You know that guy? The one at the club? You know, the one whose "cell phone" has been digging in your back for the past half hour? The one who won't leave you alone, or take no for an answer? Yeah. Him.
5. Otters. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know... "But Doctor, otters are so cuuuuttte!!" Yeah, well, so were those little lizards in Jurassic Park, and we all know how that ended, now don't we??
*WARNIG: RANT-Y FOOTNOTE AHOY!! Now, to be sure, this probably has more than a little to do with the fact that I'm currently riding the downdraft of a truly righteous rage spiral, but it also has to do with my general impatience with the way that women and queers are told to wait patiently, kill 'em with kindness, and work through the rage until you find your way to a higher state of being. The way that violence is imbricated within modern masculinity, in a way that is traumatic for boys and men as well as the people around them, and the way that passivity and patience are said to be benchmarks of femininity. I just get so frustrated waiting for a future in which everything will be better... must we always be martyrs to a time that may not contain us? Why must we always sacrifice for children who we do not know and will not love? I know that violence isn't the answer, but I'm not sure that it isn't the answer...
No comments:
Post a Comment