Kale, I loved this piece. Very insightful, and, as folks say, it "tracks" my experience as a Catholic thinking and writing about these things for 30+ years.
Interesting. I'm not sure I buy the "hyperobject" idea in and of itself, but I agree, Vatican II is still sending shockwaves through the Church, 60 years later. We're still grappling with it, still trying to interpret it, still trying to bend it to our own agendas and ideologies. I suspect there was a similar period of aftershock after Trent, and probably numerous other councils. We just don't have a Twitter archive back that far to be able to see it in such granularity.
im not sure if this captures the salient point of ideological parallel between the climate crisis and v-2. the point being that its a negative identity, the grounding point is something bad that happened and is going to happen if we do not abandon everything in service to the crisis. only the now can save us from the past and future. where as the catholic spirit says the opposite, only the now can disconnect us from continuity with the good of the past and a promising future. covid functioned this way .its this basic structure that sets up the unfalsifiable boogeyman in relation to whom the reforms can always find their justification.
Kale, interesting article; thank you for writing it. I wonder if the concept of hyperobject as you have explained it was operative to any degree for prior councils. Any thoughts?
I'm not sure I buy the idea of a hyperobject. Or I'm not sure the label helps us think about things. Granted, my only exposure to it is a few minutes' unsympathetic reading of the introduction you linked to. The sentenced that jumped out at me (which you also quoted) was "I should care about it."
Looking at global warming and Vatican II, it seems to me that a hyperobject is something people who have power over me tell me i should care about. Or I should care about disproportionately. Or I should care about in the way I'm told to.
I suppose in reference to Vatican II the term is useful in the sense that we can decide whether it is (or ought to be) a hyperobject. I suppose a lot depends on whether the rays in that "Better Tomorrow" picture are the sunrise or a nuclear blast.
Kale, I loved this piece. Very insightful, and, as folks say, it "tracks" my experience as a Catholic thinking and writing about these things for 30+ years.
Interesting. I'm not sure I buy the "hyperobject" idea in and of itself, but I agree, Vatican II is still sending shockwaves through the Church, 60 years later. We're still grappling with it, still trying to interpret it, still trying to bend it to our own agendas and ideologies. I suspect there was a similar period of aftershock after Trent, and probably numerous other councils. We just don't have a Twitter archive back that far to be able to see it in such granularity.
im not sure if this captures the salient point of ideological parallel between the climate crisis and v-2. the point being that its a negative identity, the grounding point is something bad that happened and is going to happen if we do not abandon everything in service to the crisis. only the now can save us from the past and future. where as the catholic spirit says the opposite, only the now can disconnect us from continuity with the good of the past and a promising future. covid functioned this way .its this basic structure that sets up the unfalsifiable boogeyman in relation to whom the reforms can always find their justification.
Kale, interesting article; thank you for writing it. I wonder if the concept of hyperobject as you have explained it was operative to any degree for prior councils. Any thoughts?
I'm not sure I buy the idea of a hyperobject. Or I'm not sure the label helps us think about things. Granted, my only exposure to it is a few minutes' unsympathetic reading of the introduction you linked to. The sentenced that jumped out at me (which you also quoted) was "I should care about it."
Looking at global warming and Vatican II, it seems to me that a hyperobject is something people who have power over me tell me i should care about. Or I should care about disproportionately. Or I should care about in the way I'm told to.
I suppose in reference to Vatican II the term is useful in the sense that we can decide whether it is (or ought to be) a hyperobject. I suppose a lot depends on whether the rays in that "Better Tomorrow" picture are the sunrise or a nuclear blast.
That's an interesting and useful way at looking big events. Thanks for posting it!