It’s interesting to think how the experience of catastrophe can sensitize us, such that the next exposure triggers an exaggerated response. And on the contrary, how the experience can desensitize us, through having learned that we can can cope. Maybe it depends on how trivial vs dire were the consequences that we went through.
I'm really interested in the desensitization that allows us to think clearly. Managed fear. The first time I got into the ring to spar with someone the coach chuckled at my look of terror, and I ended the round cowering. The fourth time I got into the ring I was looking for openings in my partner's defense so I could pop him between the eyes. Between the first and the fourth event I had learned that the worst thing that would happen would be a split lip, or bloody nose, and even that was unlikely. But it took all those rounds to move me out of the fear zone and into a conversation that involved responses rather than reactions. Now a real match would be a different thing, you could die out there. but your fear would have to be manageable or you wouldn't last a round. All that to say that once you've gotten into a ring with someone, even just to spar, your relationship to "scary things," changes.
I would think that the first incision would be scary as hell, but then...
Yes, the desensitization that leads to the ability to think clearly under threat is fascinating. No doubt it applies to the experienced military planners in Iran and Israel tonight (à propos of your Proportionate Response post).
While we hope that their desensitized, experienced heads remain cool, and don’t get carried away with fury when plotting their deadly- but measured- responses.
The problem is there's no clear thinking when it comes to these never ending conflicts. Insanity compounded by insanity. Or, in more prosaic terms, "what the fuck is wrong with these people?"
Interesting, fun, even. Subscribed for the short term, anyway. Being a tilde (virguililla) would be interesting - squiggling along on the top of n's, changing them into ny's for no apparent reason, substituting for dashes for the artsy. Caterpillar like creatures, turning into mustaches on cartoon characters. Etc...
It’s interesting to think how the experience of catastrophe can sensitize us, such that the next exposure triggers an exaggerated response. And on the contrary, how the experience can desensitize us, through having learned that we can can cope. Maybe it depends on how trivial vs dire were the consequences that we went through.
I'm really interested in the desensitization that allows us to think clearly. Managed fear. The first time I got into the ring to spar with someone the coach chuckled at my look of terror, and I ended the round cowering. The fourth time I got into the ring I was looking for openings in my partner's defense so I could pop him between the eyes. Between the first and the fourth event I had learned that the worst thing that would happen would be a split lip, or bloody nose, and even that was unlikely. But it took all those rounds to move me out of the fear zone and into a conversation that involved responses rather than reactions. Now a real match would be a different thing, you could die out there. but your fear would have to be manageable or you wouldn't last a round. All that to say that once you've gotten into a ring with someone, even just to spar, your relationship to "scary things," changes.
I would think that the first incision would be scary as hell, but then...
Yes, the desensitization that leads to the ability to think clearly under threat is fascinating. No doubt it applies to the experienced military planners in Iran and Israel tonight (à propos of your Proportionate Response post).
While we hope that their desensitized, experienced heads remain cool, and don’t get carried away with fury when plotting their deadly- but measured- responses.
The problem is there's no clear thinking when it comes to these never ending conflicts. Insanity compounded by insanity. Or, in more prosaic terms, "what the fuck is wrong with these people?"
I’m not sure about this.
There’s an interesting writer on Substack named Shalom Auslander. I just read his piece entitled ‘The Period Who
Became a Question Mark’. Some
of the comments readers posted about it are also fascinating.
https://open.substack.com/pub/shalomauslander/p/the-period-who-became-a-question?r=28wmvg&utm_medium=ios
Interesting, fun, even. Subscribed for the short term, anyway. Being a tilde (virguililla) would be interesting - squiggling along on the top of n's, changing them into ny's for no apparent reason, substituting for dashes for the artsy. Caterpillar like creatures, turning into mustaches on cartoon characters. Etc...