' There's an apocryphal sequel to the story of the shepherd boy who cried "wolf!". And it is that when the village buried him, they made sure to inscribe on his gravestone the following words, "We were the wolf all along."
Alright. I'll admit. It is only apocryphal because I just made it up.
However, observe how this addendum transforms a simple Aesopian fable about honesty into a study of how systems of care produce their own "wolves".
The "wolf" wasn't an external threat but the very system of care and control that claimed to protect. The community's attempt to regulate truth/deception through punishment produced its own beasts.
As the institutional care of dominant politics breaks down, as politics becomes a vassal for something else, revealing other desirous vocations that disrupt the idea of the isolated discerning human subject, may we find the openings to do more than we think possible now. Something more compelling than victory (and the moral assemblage that makes finish lines and trophies meaningful) shimmers in the near-distance. Something that urges us to lose our way, together.
Blessings to my siblings around the world... especially in the United States. We will need new forms of care now. May we be found anew.
Bayo Akomolafe '
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t.me/DeepTheShadowbag/35
Alright. I'll admit. It is only apocryphal because I just made it up.
However, observe how this addendum transforms a simple Aesopian fable about honesty into a study of how systems of care produce their own "wolves".
The "wolf" wasn't an external threat but the very system of care and control that claimed to protect. The community's attempt to regulate truth/deception through punishment produced its own beasts.
As the institutional care of dominant politics breaks down, as politics becomes a vassal for something else, revealing other desirous vocations that disrupt the idea of the isolated discerning human subject, may we find the openings to do more than we think possible now. Something more compelling than victory (and the moral assemblage that makes finish lines and trophies meaningful) shimmers in the near-distance. Something that urges us to lose our way, together.
Blessings to my siblings around the world... especially in the United States. We will need new forms of care now. May we be found anew.
Bayo Akomolafe '
facebook.com/share/18LBy1xeuk
t.me/DeepTheShadowbag/35