man or mouse?
Hey, Bookfraud and Michelle. Thanks for your comments to the last post. They got me thinking about stuff, so I thought I'd just answer like this...I swear I'll go back to posting pictures of hot chicks soon.
I had a class on author Salman Rushdie back in 2001. Coincidentally, we were assigned to read his book The Satanic Verses the same week of 9/11. The book is about belief--well, it's about a lot of things really, but, maybe because of what had happened, belief really stuck out the most.
There is a character in the novel, Tavleen--a woman who hijacks a plane--who talks about the power of ideas. This is the passage that struck me the most:
In order to prove to her [Tavleen's] captives, and also her fellow-captors, that the idea of failure, or surrender, would never weaken her resolve, she emerged from her momentary retreat in the first-class cocktail lounge to stand before them like a stewardess demonstrating safety procedures. But instead of putting on a lifejacket and holding up a blow-tube whistle etcetera, she quickly lifted the loose black djellabah that was her only garment and stood before them stark naked, so that they could all see the arsenal of her body, the grenades like extra breasts nestling in her cleavage, the gelignite taped around her thighs, just the way it had been in Chamcha's dream. Then she slipped her robe back on and spoke in her faint oceanic voice. "When a great idea comes into the world, a great cause, certain crucial questions are asked of it," she murmured. "History asks us: what manner of cause are we? Are we uncompromising, absolute, strong, or will we show ourselves to be timeservers, who compromise, trim and yield." Her body had provided her answer.
Belief is very powerful, so much so that it can be dangerous or catastrophic. I guess I find it odd that we celebrate those who stand strongly for a cause--that changing one's mind makes someone weak--when the same mentality can be so frightening (ie 9/11). It'd be nice to say that there is something is absolutely good or bad or whatever, but with so many viewpoints, billions of them at last count, I don't think it's possible. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but keep in mind I'm not feeling very well.
8 comments:
I'm not sure if I like big letters or not. Weird. I can only read 1 or 2 entries at a time. That passage made you think of moral absolutes while I just keep imagining the naked woman with artillery. Hmm.
well, you know, that too, but i was pontificating.
You bring up an excellent point and i must concur with your post ( except the part of the chick with the handgrenades...she does nothing for me). I have recently read a book called terrorism and justice, it too raises belief and faith issues and after reading it, i can understand (not agree with though) how the whole jihad thing means so much to so many. I guess belief and faith are both strong emotions, but i feel sadness for those who must be so unhappy with life, that they have to turn to evangalistic/brain washing type groups. This is also not to say that other religons don't have faults but i am focusing on say tv eveangelists.
I thought Rushdies book was banned...taken off shelves?
the ayatollah of iran had declared a fatwa on rushdie after the book was published and went into hiding for quite a long time. i think the book may have been banned at one point, but a lot of great books have been--catcher in the rye was banned, now it's taught in almost every us school.
Catcher in the Rye banned at one time? Wow...such a great read too. It's on the high school curiculum here too. Very popular.
...and surprisingly enough, there are still parents who didn't want their children reading it in the A.P. English class at my school. They raised a rucus. Their children were not to read the blasphemous phrase "goddamnit" or relish in the angsty nature of despondant Holden. Their children (and this is a near exact paraphrase of the email they sent)have been brought up to look positively on life and they should not have their spirits dampened through the reading of this book.
Then again, these are the same parents who told as that we should be teaching their children how to read and write...not to think critically.
To bad the parents are on crack. I really like the kids.
S-
"It'd be nice to say that there is something is absolutely good or bad or whatever, but with so many viewpoints, billions of them at last count, I don't think it's possible." That's the big question since the Enlightenment--is there absolute Truth, a First Cause (God), or is "truth" just whatever we decide it to be? I know my answer.
Banned books: Catcher in the Rye, absolutely. Also The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Candide, Ulysses, Lysistrata, Moll Flanders . . . the list goes on and on.
ulysses is another one of my favorites. i'd ask what your answer is, but i don't want to pry. i'm still trying to figure mine out.
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