Description
What I’m calling an aristocracy of violence is so pervasive that we hardly notice it. And because we barely notice it, it runs deep and affects us profoundly. For these reasons, dealing with it can seem odd, and even troubling. After all, things that we barely notice can seem like inseparable parts of us, or at least as unalterable parts of the world. And when such things are called into question, we feel destabilized and unsettled. But the truth is that many of the things that we presume to be built into us really aren’t.
My contention is that the aristocracy of violence is not “us,” even though it seems so: it’s a convention that was passed down long enough to masquerade as “us.”