Posted by zeugma on January 6, 2006, at 19:34:50
In reply to Re: THANK YOU LARRY, THANK YOU LARRY, THANK YOU » alexandra_k, posted by Declan on January 6, 2006, at 19:13:53
I think we are right to fear what others think of us, in the sense that we're a scary species.>>
we are not made less scary by being civil.
i find my sanity rattled by this place, because the dreadful thought comes out of nowhere from time to time that lynchings, too, can be done civilly. Shirley Jackson's "Lottery" is a scary story about a civil society.
Kindness and sympathy are one thing, civility another. but kindness and sympathy wear our souls out. and they can't be defined, they can only be shown. or not shown.
a viscerality about kindness that doesn't sit well with people. we are wise to fear one another.
-z
poster:zeugma
thread:595104
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060102/msgs/595962.html