How does he come to profess that "the" French are (like "the" Germans, too?) paralyzed by a sense of fear? Is he a scholar of American romantic literature of the first decades of the 18 hundreds?

Does he try to apply Edgar Alan Poe's definition of terror, the Angst of the unknown, and does he declare it to be the status quo of the collective psyche of the continental EU Member States' populations?

And if he does so: has he understood Edgar Alan Poe's writings correctly? Does he at all understand Poe's dynamic principle of interpretative imagination, the clear voyant - even lunatic (that is a person's capability to also see in the dark {Poe's recurrent black cat motive})- anticipation of the shaping of possible future events, which are triggered by the ONSLAUGHT of horror? Or is he not failing instead to perceive this intrinsic dynamic dimension and therefore falsely interpreting the French public's state of mind as a mental paralyses, a stand still?

Let me be clear.

Steve Philips doesn't understand shit. Not only does he not understand a person's power of imagination to overcome a situation of horror, far less still has he ever personally experienced the mental and bodily joy which flows from collectively imagening ways out of a situation of terror. He lacks the soul invigorating knowledge which stems from the willful, energetic action to collectively combat and to jointly OVERCOME the paralysing onslaught of terror.

Why is that so?

Well, there IS a reason why Steve Philips is blind to see what is going on in France. First of all it has to do with his socialisation, or better: his "isolisation". Steve went to an elite university and enjoyed (si fa' per dire!) an extremely sheltered social life on an isolated campus. He was also set apart from his fellow country (wo)men due to the financial privileges which allowed him to study there. Steve has not shared the life forming exposure of French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Belgian etc. students of his generation who went to universities which are situated RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of big cities and who don't come of age in the atmosphere of the ego - cuddling Weltfremdheit of a segregated ghetto campus. Europe's student population is not segregated by elite universities. As a matter of fact there are no "elite" universities (with the exception of England).

See, Steve? For years you were succesfully and systematically "isolisated", you are definitely "elite" now.

European students on the other hand are not. Which is actually of great importance and has beneficial consequences when it comes to understanding ones own position in this world of terror (remember: Everything changed after 9/11.?)

And here is my central point for you, Steve. You are overwhelmed by what you see and what surrounds you. You are alone and you interprete the world in a bi-polar, static way. A world in the grip of terror. And you feel your personal weakness in the face of it. So you resort to the "invisible" powers, or more precisly to the "invisible hand" to rescue you. The "invisible power" of what? Yes, you got it, of the free markets!

See? That was easy!

You trust in and let it over to the unleashed, invisible economic forces to free you from fear. You are on the save side anyway, aren't you? But wait. Don't you have to offer something to your fellow country (wo)men and maybe the Europeans too? What is it Steve? Tell me. Oh yes, how could I forget President Bushes bullhorn speech on the rubble heeps of the WTC ? He had a clear message to all of us who are not elite: GO SHOPPING!

But here comes the surprise, Steve. European students have a different take on reality. Not only are they  not elitists like you, but they also don't go shopping in the face of danger and they don't trust in "invisibel hands".

Instead they take the responsibility for their life  prospects in their own hands and extend it to the  workers movements of their countries. They are not paralysed by terror. No, on the contrary: they become very active. Not only do they temporarily shut their schools, universities and companies and engage in a vivid national discussion about how to live their lives, no they enter into what Poe rightly describes as the dynamic phase of "acute and hightened awareness."

It is a phase which feels very much like that of a warrior who goes into battle. It is best described as a state of wilfully accepting the risk to die, of great fear even, but also, and more importantly, of total personal abandonment and of mobilising the inner strength to go forward, to make the one ultimate, decisive step yet and to give in into the risk of the immediate fate of was is going to happen NOW. This acute nervousness, the paralyzing nagging self doubts are suddenly blown away when the warrior goes on the assault and physically confronts his opponents. He enters a hightened state of being in tune with reality. All becomes easy now. He sees the terrain of the battle field with the utmost clearity and does things he has thought previously impossible. He rejoyces and commits acts that astound him. He is immersed in a world of total beauty, of liberty and of strength. Everything is possible now. It is a Zen exercise.

Beauty of action in the face of horror as Edgar Alan Poe saw it. It is a she:

 


"The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819