A Commentary on “Making the Terrorist Dance:
Technologies of Power, Foucault, and
By Nicholas C. Jackson,
There is an idea that is called forth from out
of this paper and I think is perceptibly clear. I have the desire to bring to
light this idea and expand upon it. It is in the hopes of engaging you all that
this thought will be proffered. I think it will do the community good because
it has not been explored as much as it should be. This thought of the “Self”
and the “Other” is necessary to answer the question of how one can “name” one
thing and then call the other one “subversive.”
This idea has disclosed itself quite
clearly to me and I find it to be at the very heart of the matter. As we have
seen and the paper has doubtless pointed out, the 9/11 event has brought forth
two key “subjects.” These two key “subjects” of that of I speak cannot only be
“subjects,” in that they are not just beings who are being “known” and beings who
are the “knower.” One subject is seen as a “Self” and the other one as an
“Other.” This, I think makes it possible for one to call out and be vilified by
the other.
This vilification occurs when one identifies and then labels the “other,” as the “Other.” As we have seen both subjects have done this. President Bush gives a stack example of this when he said “you are either with us or against us.” In other words, you are either one of us, “a self,” or you are not, in which cause one to deem, as the “other.” Although, we are considered an “Other” to the terrorists and they always considered themselves as a “Self.” Further, since the world is categorized in this manner, it makes possible us (the Self) to “trace, name, and call” the terrorist (the Other). However, it makes the terrorists “the Self” and then enables them to do the same thing to us, make us the Other.◦
©Nicholas Jackson, 2006