Oftentimes accusations of negativity are made at groups I belong to or identify with. Claims that I/we cannot see the good in the world, that we take negative events out of context, and manufacture and export misery to the world.
But the truth is that there is so much beauty in this world, and it is of great value to me. If I am fighting for anything, I am fighting for those and that which I love, and beauty. Those are the things that inspire me – not any abstract principle that can so easily be distorted or abused.
Naguib Mahfouz said in his Nobel lecture:
In spite of all what goes on around us I am committed to optimism until the end [...]The truth of the matter is that Evil is a loud and boisterous debaucherer, and that Man remembers what hurts more than what pleases. Our great poet Abul-’Alaa’ Al-Ma’ari was right when he said:
“A grief at the hour of death
Is more than a hundred-fold
Joy at the hour of birth.”
Beauty happens on a much smaller scale, and at a much more intimate level, for me at least, than the things that I normally talk about here. If I mention something, it is because it is sufficiently impersonal. It is because darkness obscures the beauty that exists in the world that I struggle against it.
I have run out of time here, so I’ll finish only by saying that perhaps my critics are right.Too often lies and ugliness prevail, and to paraphrase Solzhenitsyn, a word of truth or a moment of beauty is worth more than anything else.
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“/// The IDEA of the POLICE like hydra grows 100 new heads for each one cut off–and all these heads are live cops. Slicing off heads gains us nothing, but only enhances the beast’s power till it swallows us. /// First murder the IDEA–blow up the monument inside us–& then perhaps…the balance of power will shift. When the last cop in our brain is gunned down by the last unfulfilled desire– perhaps even the landscape around us will begin to change…/// Poetic Terrorism proposes this sabotage of archetypes as the only practical insurrectionary tactic for the present. But as Shiite Extremists eager for the overthrow (by any means) of all police, ayatollahs, bankers, executioners, priests, etc., we reserve the option of venerating even the “failures” of radical excess. /// A few days unchained from the Empire of Lies might well be worth considerable sacrifice; a moment of exalted realization may outweigh a lifetime of microcephalic boredom & work. /// But this moment must become ours–and our ownership of it is seriously compromised if we must commit suicide to preserve its integrity.” [hakim bey, arrogantly abridged by me.]
tell that to andrew bolt!