| | |
|
ReconciliationOfFreedomAndTheState 4 - 18 Feb 2010 - Main.JohnAlbanese
|
| | I'm curious about what other people made of Robinson's enigmatic response. In class, Mohit suggested it was an attempt to dissociate himself from his actions in Vietnam. I'm assuming in this view, he saw "reconciliation" as the direct subjugation of Robinson's freedoms to the "needs" (or more accurately power) of the state - and was placing the burden of his actions on the State.
In my own view, I saw it as the reconciliation of the ideals. Robinson isn't an anarchist, he seems to feel a need for a state. But in war, he had to come to terms with the inconsistencies between his ideal of freedom and his ideal of state. Similar to Arnold's Folklore, Robinson previously viewed States as actors themselves. But in war, he fully realized that a state can only act through its individuals. Rather than dissociating himself from his actions, he recognizes the essential incongruity and disconnect in those concepts and "reconciled" them. His ideals didn't match reality, but he accepts the moral consequences of his actions. Part of my belief that he isn't dissociative comes from the quickfollowing anecdote about "C. Robinson". C as in "See what you have done". | | | My initial thought was that you can accept a truth without wanting to talk about it. But going back over it, I think you're right. Robinson "lectured" him on the phrase, he didn't rant and explode like he did talking about the legal system. Robinson's inability to shut up about his work - Joseph is almost unable to get in a word edgewise - supports the idea that he really loves what he's doing now, despite how messed up it all is. When he spoke about war, it's in the clipped, academic voice. When he speaks about his job, he's the "fucking vulgar guy" he really is. Of course, it could also be just a general product of aging and getting more comfortable speaking about things. I wonder what Robinson would say now if asked about Vietnam.
-- StephenSevero - 17 Feb 2010 | |
>
> |
According to dictionary.com, the first definition of "reconcile" is "to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired."
Accepting this definition, while different from the one Eben gave in class, it is possible that Robinson meant that he resigned his freedom to the state. One of the justifications for the necessity of the United States' entry into the Vietnam War was that the U.S. needed to contain the spread of communism in order to preserve its own freedom. However, the soldiers, who were supposedly fighting for their freedom, did not have the freedom to choose to not fight. To Robinson and others who were drafted, their freedom was whatever the state said it was. This conception fits in with Robinson's generally realist view of the world.
-- JohnAlbanese - 18 Feb 2010 | | | |
|
|
|
|
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
|
|
| | |