{"id":14380,"date":"2022-11-04T10:56:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=14380"},"modified":"2022-11-04T10:56:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:56:36","slug":"dust-in-your-eyes-war-and-its-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2022\/11\/04\/dust-in-your-eyes-war-and-its-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Dust in your Eyes: War and its Image"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bomb might be dropped any time soon now, apparently.<\/span><\/p>\n

The end of all ends, a nuclear war, looms among the narratives of where Ukraine and Russia’s war might end. Timothy Snyder warns in this regard that a nuclear bomb \u2018would make no decisive military difference<\/span><\/a>\u2019; adding that looking at ‘the mushroom cloud for narrative closure, though, generates anxiety and hinders clear thinking. Focusing on that scenario rather than on the more probable ones prevents us from seeing what is actually happening, and from preparing for the more likely possible futures.’<\/p>\n

As much as we can agree with this statement, and as much as it is nothing but a prediction for one of the possible futures, other geopolitical analysts such as the Italian Lucio Caracciolo<\/span><\/a> warn of the ease with which the nuclear option has entered public discourse, the talk shows and political debate<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

What now seems evident after Ukraine’s successful counter offensive in the north, and the ongoing systematic bombardments on its energy infrastructure, is that hostilities are continously escalating and we should prepare for a new phase in this war. If the unspeakable does happen, it will coincide with a new era of warfare. Maybe the last.<\/p>\n

How we develop historical awareness, and a particular narrative, depends more and more on which side of the Iron Curtain 2.0 we fall. For all our apparent enlightenment, time and again, we show ourselves incapable of building diplomatic bridges without brandishing the Sword of Damocles.<\/p>\n

The Bomb might be dropped anytime now. But a cultural bomb, the normalization of the possibility of nuclear war<\/a><\/span>, has already dropped from the virtual skies that we carry in our pockets; conveying an endless stream of images, produced by and for everyone, but curated and filtered by a few.<\/p>\n

No one can say when it started dropping. Maybe with the invasion of February 24, or maybe 2014. Some say even 2001. Regardless of the date, we join other generations of humans<\/a><\/span> that must now worry about the existence of nuclear weapons; of the apocalypse.<\/p>\n

The first shockwave comes in the form of war\u2019s inevitability as soon as Russia’s tanks began rolling down towards Kiev; until the last moment many, including me, were unconvinced the troops amassed at the border would ever march. The taboo of a land war directly involving nuclear superpowers was still intact.<\/p>\n

We are generally shielded, or not even exposed, to pictures revealing the true horror of warfare. For the most part, what is put in front of us depends on the political agenda of warring superpowers or various forms of commodification of suffering. One wonders whether we are now even capable of autonomously creating our own memories; or freely perceiving the present and past, never mind the future under such conditions of conditioning.<\/p>\n

The effect of an endless flow of images, tailored and auto-curated to arouse emotions \u2013 residing alongside our most intimate obsessions \u2013 requires acknowledgement. Their capacity to induce fear and trigger desire are the preferred tools of contemporary propaganda and such tools are used by both side of the Iron Curtain 2.0.<\/p>\n

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Even the posture he had to adopt to do so was symbolic. He had to bend down, to lower himself, in order to commit the ignominy of his seeing his own face \u2026 the creator of the mirror poisoned the human race."https:\/\/t.co\/gtJMu7XUA3<\/a><\/p>\n

— Frank Armstrong (@frankarmstrong2) September 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n