“Solider ‘kicked puppy to death’�
Following on from Bush’s turn to Baudrillard, Rumsfeld seems to have been studying Nietzsche. Not for Rumsfeld the attempt to “separate the lightning from its flash.� No, when he says that he takes responsibility for the torture in Iraq, he is well aware that this does not mean that there is any ‘he’ who is in any way ‘responsible’ and should, for example, resign; “there is no ‘being’ behind doing, working, becoming.� I’m not sure of the quality of his Nietzsche scholarship, though; this seems like the old-fashioned Straussian nihilist Nietzsche, rather than the Derridean or Deleuzian ‘dancing star’.
Actually, this seems to be a favourite strategy of our moral leaders. Accuse Bush or Blair of complicity in some evil, and they will no longer attempt to deny or justify their involvement; instead they’ll agree with you that the evil is indeed evil, attempt to outdo you in denouncing it, and then, conscience assuaged, carry on as before. Perhaps this isn’t so much Nietzschean as Humean, a millitant refusal to countenance the mysticism of cause and effect. The constant conjunction of Blair and evil turns out to be a sign of the tough choices he is prepared to make and so, actually, a sign of his great moral strength. Evil + evil = good.
Incidentally, the title of this post comes from the Cambridge Evening News. It’s actually a grimly sordid story, but the headline made me laugh out loud, disturbing the guy behind the counter in our local Mace.
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