9/16/14 Kaia Hayes

A common theme discussed in both "Welcome to the Desert of Real" and "Living in the End Times" was the manner in which we, as a western society, see disaster in relation to ourselves. Zizek describes the perspective as a 'bubble', shielding us from the reality of living in such circumstances. While this is a broad statement, I agree that as a whole, we see tragedy as something we observe, rather than experience. Because the majority of our global intervention and interaction occurs abroad, Americans tend to see tragedy and true disaster as something that happens elsewhere, to other people. They develop a false sense of invincibility, and as a result, are not mentally prepared for the instances when disaster does strike. One would hope that this denial would be shaken as we reel in the aftermath, that we can take away from the event the 'revelation' that Zizek argues a disaster provides-- but the 'that kind of thing doesn't happen here' mindset is deep-rooted, and tends to result in normalizing the event rather than catalyzing societal change. One application of this is the recent upspike in school shootings and gun violence, especially in the past two years. There is nothing to dispute about the horror of such acts, however once the initial frustration and call to action have dulled in their echoing, the issue seems to fall from the public eye. It is almost as if the issue has become so prevalent that we are becoming desensitized; as if the idea that finding a solution to such an overwhelming and concrete issue is entirely in our hands is too much responsibility to handle. People shy away from acknowledging that they play a role in the world around them-- and in doing so, shrug their shoulders and tell themselves that it's too late to do anything about it anyway, or that eventually change will be brought about by the worsening of the situation. In reality, true change requires society to validate disasters as a very real and present force to contend with, and once it has done so, as Zizek concluded in "Desert of Real," people must alter their thinking from "Things like this should not happen here!" to "Things like this should not happen anywhere!"