Those who serve power fear the trusting gaze that recalls their lost spirit

Evidence

Those savages of whom it is recounted that they have no other longing than to die, or rather, they no longer have even that longing, but death has a longing for them, and they abandon themselves to it, or rather, they do not even abandon themselves, but fall into the sand on the shore and never get up again-those savages I much resemble, and indeed I have fellow clansmen round about, but the confusion in these territories is so great, the tumult is like waves rising and falling by day and by night, and the brothers let themselves be borne upon it. That is what, in this country, is called “giving someone a leg up”; everyone here is always ready with such help. Anyone who might collapse and remain lying without ground [or: without cause] is dreaded as though he were the Devil, it is because of the example, it is because of the stench of truth that would emanate from him. Granted, nothing would happen; one, ten, a whole nation might very well remain lying and nothing would happen; life in all its might would go on just the same; the attics are still chockablock with flags that were never unfurled; this barrel organ can play only one tune, but it is eternity in person that turns the handle. And yet the fear! How people do always carry their own enemy, however powerless he is, within themselves18 The powerlessness that inscribes itself throughout this text would certainly participate in stripping the musical instrument, life, of any force of its own, thus maintaining the need for an outside player, an outside and even divine force or power. — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 747 (#expands, via linked claim)

Everything was working for her now, but for some reason she grew scared of her happiness. She called her dad frequently and began pushing him to get a transfer back to the East Coast, telling him she would go with him. She felt she wanted to go back to where her mother had raised her, believing she would feel more connected to her mother if they moved back to Maryland. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 646 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: People fear collapse and carry their own powerless enemy within themselves — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab: A History of the…, 747; People can fear happiness and retreat to familiar grief-filled places — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 646

Broader Connections

• People fear collapse and carry their own powerless enemy within themselves #expands (0.78) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 747
• People can fear happiness and retreat to familiar grief-filled places #complicates (0.72) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 646