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A review by aaronsequel
Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
1.0
Susan Sontag isn’t the declarative type, however she is refreshingly clear about something that should be patently obvious: that reality exists independent of the photograph depicting that reality. Only in a postmodern fuckfest of a culture would such an assertion be worth the page or ink, alas here we are. But Sontag’s clarity isn’t a constant, it’s often obfuscated by a bizarre commitment to a humanism that allows her, on one page, to sympathize with the Taliban (they too might have sisters! Wives!) and, just three pages later, comment on the "beauty" of the photos capturing the destruction of 9/11.
Sontag's point here and elsewhere isn’t (solely) that men bad, America bad, empire bad, but still an egregious number of passages serve no valuable purpose outside this relativistic prodding. As such, this essay feels like it's from another era, a time when leering at a "masculine issue" with a feminist lens was, unto itself, the lone requirement to make the issue seem fresh. But gone are the days when problematizing was enough, when logical conclusions were acceptably evasive or non-existent. Now are the days when I expect declarations to be made.
Sontag's point here and elsewhere isn’t (solely) that men bad, America bad, empire bad, but still an egregious number of passages serve no valuable purpose outside this relativistic prodding. As such, this essay feels like it's from another era, a time when leering at a "masculine issue" with a feminist lens was, unto itself, the lone requirement to make the issue seem fresh. But gone are the days when problematizing was enough, when logical conclusions were acceptably evasive or non-existent. Now are the days when I expect declarations to be made.