Walk V
Back on Earth this time. Last two weeks continued with my daily walks though weather does force me more and more often to trade richardlonging for a bus ride. Trying to avoid the tube, as I can’t read there or if I do get a seat (and therefore a comfortable reading environment) I am troubled trying to avoid the looks of women and some men to whom back home I would give my seat to.
I’ve read in a London guidebook that you should not do this because in the advanced and sophisticated British society emancipated liberal women would feel offended. You would imply, according to the guidebook, ‘Me powerful Tarzan, you weak Jane’ – an offensive statement of course. Seriously, would women feel offended?
Continuing on the topic of giving your seat to someone I’ve heard a great group conversation just few days ago. The issue was whom should you give your seat to. The group agreed on disabled, elderly and other usual suspects. It got interesting when one person asked what about nuns. Silence was broken by: no, unless she’s pregnant!
Putting jokes aside, as of late I’ve been reading ‘First as Tragedy than as Farce’ by a Marxist philosopher Zizek who argues, following other philosophers, that modern-day colonization happens not only via political-economic medium but also on a moral and linguistic level. Liberal West haunted by remorse beats itself in its chest and loudly says: we’ve done horrible things and we need to help developing countries to develop as we hindered their progress before by exploiting their peoples and resources. According to Zizek, by accepting the role of victims developing countries make a mistake because in this way they accept Western mercy and a divisive language. Western countries made a smooth transition from: ‘Us powerful – you weak and conquered’, to ‘Us powerful in our mercy – you humble in your acceptance of our much-needed help’. The cycle of dependency continues.
It struck me that on a personal level giving your seat to someone can be seen as a barbaric macho gesture while on a political level not helping is seen as disgusting. Obviously, the person seating on the tube did not cause another passenger’s disability (at least most of the time), pregnancy (also highly improbable, especially with nuns), and certainly did not ‘make’ someone old or female. But neither did a vast majority of Western citizens cause colonization and yet the feeling of guilt lingers. On the flip side, a Marxist would say a country should not accept the role of a victim, should proudly say that whatever happened in the past belongs to the past and should without hesitation talk about positive and negative sides of colonization. At the same time communist societies are famous for their immense courtesy (as empty as it may be) and it is unthinkable not to give one’s seat to a woman.
I’m still struggling to decide which sort of consistency I should choose: seat is mine and independent poor countries reject international aid, or I stand and the cycle of colonial dependency continues. Zizek as a fervent supporter of psychoanalysis would probably say that on a subconscious level my inability to decide is the Real reason why I choose the easiest solution: to walk.
