Wisława Szymborska, "Vermeer"

Hi all –

By now you've heard that the U.S. bombed Iran. The U.S. seems to have been pretending to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program. Then it joined the Israelis in an attack to destroy their nuclear facilities. Some commentators have noted that this will diminish trust in any negotiations the U.S. has with anyone, despite other world leaders saying Iran is dangerous or staying quiet. It took me a second to realize that the consequences to our credibility won't be said aloud. They won't be easily tracked, though they will be immense. People will say whatever the U.S. wants to hear while avoiding us, doing as they like, and making deals with others. We're in an era of self-sabotage where we force others to politely but decisively neglect us. This is what it means to be treated with contempt, if not hatred.

Whatever one thinks about the people in the White House, this is the result of thinking all attention is good attention. They've got no idea that billions of people the world over think of them little more than blundering killers. Also:

I recommend reading Spencer Ackerman's Forever Wars on this topic. In his initial post, he talked about the U.S.' sheer desire for domination. The "unconditional surrender" Trump keeps demanding of a country which had not directly attacked us is not a ruse. One endgame might involve invading and partitioning Iran, a truly gruesome timeline but one that is entirely plausible. The U.S. does not understand how radical those in charge are. A significant number of Americans quote neo-Nazi rhetoric and treat it like common sense as opposed to an attack on their neighbors and themselves.

Another post of Mr. Ackerman's is about how the Trump administration really believed "shock and awe" would work. That you could bomb someone and then immediately expect them to show up to the negotiating table and say "we surrender."

I'll add that I watched Fox News after the bombing. The commentators weren't just gloating, they were reveling in the technical details of precision strikes. The planning and piloting and targeting involved. And it struck me that another society was notably obsessed with military matters, thinking its army could do anything if the generals were allowed free rein. That was Germany, inebriated by Prussian military culture. I remember an old Weekly Standard article that talked about how most countries have an army, but in Prussia, the army had a country.

I'll talk more about this idea that if you can plan right you can do anything. It's an incredibly stupid idea, one that doesn't take into account how much learning and experience goes into good planning. It doesn't even bother with the fact that good plans fail. For now, we should note this: there is an alliance between the nerds who think they have world conquest perfectly planned (complete with memes!) and incompetent jock wannabes. They're not just insensitive to others and bragging about it. In both cases, they want to use power recklessly and not hear a single complaint. Praxis is denying people like this power and respect as much as possible.

Wisława Szymborska, "Vermeer"

The Milkmaid presents the stateliness of a handcrafted world. I don't want to indulge that naively; the Dutch colonized and enslaved others across the globe in Vermeer's day. There is no innocent, romantic moment where we create or consume art. We do this despite ourselves.

In this painting, a plain wall across from a window shines with daylight. Technically negative space, it infuses the room with brightness, framing the subject at work. The milkmaid herself stands central, wearing a brownish-yellow top, textured blue apron, and red skirt. Her expression as she pours the milk into a pot is curious. Is she focused on the task of pouring? What is she contemplating? A table full of bread is her workspace; behind her, in the corner, is a wooden box, a foot warmer. Small, decorative tiles are on a wall behind it. It's hard to see what's on the tiles, but one of them features Cupid.

Milkmaids were objectified sexually at the time. A number of paintings then showed milkmaids looking, as the kids say, "thirsty," surrounded by symbols of erotic love. The symbols are there in this painting, but they are subdued. What stands out is craft. You observe the different textures of each of the milkmaid's garments; bread whole and torn; baskets solidly weaved; earthenware which refuses to be decorative.

Is this what Szymborska appeals to in her assertion that the world doesn't deserve the world's end?

Vermeer
Wisława Szymborska (translated by Clare Cavanagh & Stanislaw Baranczak; originally published in the NYRB)
 
So long as that woman from the Rijksmuseum
in painted quiet and concentration
keeps pouring milk day after day
from the pitcher to the bowl
the World hasn’t earned
the world’s end.

Szymborska cites the "painted quiet and concentration" of the milkmaid. Her action and focus is renewed each time she's seen; she "keeps pouring milk day after day / from the pitcher to the bowl." Because of this, "the World hasn't earned / the world's end."

Does that seem enough to save the world? Szymborska appeals to the intensity of our efforts. That we would take our time to carefully pour, that we would invest our mental energy in making sure one line is drawn properly or one word strikes with impact. This justifies us. It makes sense when we reflect on the carelessness and inhumanity of many in power. They are unjustified; much of the damage they do comes from sloppiness and arrogance. However, there is a more serious challenge. What about those who read, write, consider problems carefully, and stand squarely in a world of their own delusion? Or hatred?

You might say such people don't exist. I have news: I've encountered plenty of monsters who have immersed themselves in what they think is a moral vision. They have what they think are rich discussions. They too build an intensity of detail. As a prominent commentator noted, white supremacist "scholars" exist in the academy, continually citing the bullshit of other white supremacist "scholars." This recently resulted in a student winning an award for saying that "We the People" requires ethnic cleansing.

For myself, I'm struck by the simplicity of the action of pouring the milk. We can list things like it, which also picture the grace reality has: taking a lovely walk, eating salt water taffy, writing a letter, organizing photos, etc. Those graces are earned because they don't deny the everyday and what it requires. By contrast, think about what it is like to be inseparable from cable news, books written by cranks, websites awash in conspiracy theories. Everyone else has to be blamed because no aspect of life can be enjoyed.