I saw this from the Sunday Tribune's travel section: "Venezuela is facing a crime crisis of such proportions that its murder rate in 2009 was dramatically higher than Iraq's, a country with a similar size population (31 million to Venezuela's 27 million) and active war zones. More than 19,000 murders occurred in Venezuela, making it one of the world's most dangerous countries. Small gangs are responsible for much of the crime. Violent crime occurs throughout the country, with gangs often setting up roadblocks to look like police checkpoints and sometimes impersonating police officers. This type of crime often occurs on the main road to Caracas from the international airport."
At the same time I was reading this "commentary" from Philip Rieff: "Perhaps the best place to begin is with the suggestion that holiness is entirely interdictory. A moral absolute thus becomes the object of all. Holy terror is charismatic. . . Jacob swears by the fear of his father, Isaac (Genesis 31:53). What is this charismatic fear? What is holy terror? Is it a fear of a mere father; in a phantasmagoric enlargement, Freud's idea is silly. Holy terror is rather fear of oneself, fear of the evil in oneself and in the world. It is also fear of punishment. With this necessary fear, charisma is not possible. To live without this high fear is to be a terror oneself, a monster. And yet to be monstrous has become our ambition, for it is our ambition to live without fear. All holy terror is gone. The interdicts have no power. This is the real death of God and of our own humanity." Charisma, pp. 5-6.
Inner reality's outward manifestation.
No comments:
Post a Comment