"after Auschwitz, poetry cannot be written" - Theodor Adorno
The technological development in the field of nuclear weapons has brought humanity to a state which the danger of total extinction is hovering above it. This brings us to the question - who will suffer the loss of human beings lives if they themselves annihilate these lives? Answer: not a single soul. Total annihilation is not a loss for there can be no loss without there being a loser. Therefore, we must search for the meaning of extinction only in human beings expectation of it, the very same expectation that corrupts their very own lives (according to Jonathan Shell).
Just as the meaning of the past is only fully understood in the present, the meaning of our acts in the present seek for their full understanding in the future. The threat of self extinction of humanity therefore redefines the face of the moral world we live in today. It is commonly considered that a single event that occurs in the present may lead to several different results in the future. This may also be looked upon from the opposite perspective - our acts in the present, in part, are a suggestion as to shaping the future a certain way. In other words, the future which we are preparing ourselves has a role in shaping the present we are operating in now.
The current policy of nuclear threat is in a way a suggestion to a general behavior that portrays a refusal by principal to the possibility of the existence of a moral world, one of a moral time and space, without such there is no moral existence to the world.
If an end shall come to man in the same threat of mutual suicide, history will then come to an end. If our present is the past of the future - it now has a new meaning from the one we thought. One of the ways in which our acts in the present get their meaning is from our own conception - the way we imagine the future. Self extinction of humanity is a denial of any possible future, and in that it is in fact denial of any meaning of the present.
Today denial of human respect is no theoretical threat - it is an existing reality that is well instilled in us. We are living in the present, in a world that chooses to continue what was invented in Auschwitz, Majdanek and Hiroshima. Today, human traits are no longer a source of great honor. Degrading behavior is no longer surprising or upsetting, insult and disrespect have become integral parts of our world.
If indeed justice is with sustainers of the nuclear threat there is then no alternative to this world of degraded honor: we are - in Albert Camus' words - "the victims and the executors" all at once.
Is it possible to create a present based on a positive memory of the future and not that of annihilation?
The answer is in the hands of man!
Notes:
How can you write poetry when you know man can create the Holocaust?
Future picture and self-fulfilling prophecy
Is it possible to have a positive future picture?
Future picture is hard > idealistic, but also shaped by the fact that humans created Auschwitz. Which "reality" is more prevalent?
humans created Auschwitz shaping future picture > apathy
What is the future picture for your life? Your actions, interactions, and relationships should reflect that. Garin Aliya? Socialism? Anarchy? Shivyon Erech Haadam? Or is it a super capitalist America?
Don't accept that there will be conflict and war forever!
("That's not what I want, but that's what it is.") No > Enemies surrounding us > Mifgash B'Englit > accepting that
See peace in future > prepare for it, treat Israeli Arabs better
See no peace in future > prepare for it, racism
Use imagination in future picture!
Martin Buber, Zion and the Youth: Older people see "reality" > push on youth > accepting
America's future picture > violent, survival of the fittest > strength, don't touch us > mass weapon build-up
Postitive future picture > may sound naive, but it is important, even essential > We need the courage to see and act towards things that may be/seem naive, but is what we believe is right.
Don't be afraid to think naive thoughts or to imagine a different world.
You can't imagine or work toward a better world alone. You need a group. Work together!
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