[Xmca-l] Re: Imagination

[Andy Blunden]

Context?
Andy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/


Glassman, Michael wrote:
> I'm not sure there is such a bright line between mediationalists and associationalists.  At least some of the associationists I have read don't deny mediation, they simply don 't prioritize it.  Any mediation artefact is couched within the associations people make from it.  An interesting view where history is contained within the act rather than the act being a product of history.  An extremely interesting thing happened in the United States as a football game.  I think others have mentioned the "hands up don't shoot" behavior/artefact that emerged after the Ferguson shooting and took on greater urgency after the failure to indict the police officer who shot an unarmed teenager who  (according to witnesses) had his hand up in the don't shoot position.  Anyway, four players entered the field of play with their hands up.  If you watched football games over the years you would realize there is nothing new in players entering the field with their hands raised above their heads -
>   often meant to signal coming domination of the opponent - a mediating artifact for competitiveness and battle within the arena - at least I think that is the association thousands of wildly screaming fans would make.  Except this time the hands above the head gesture was associated with something completely different - the injustice towards and mistreatment of young men of color by the criminal justice system.  Almost every American who watched the gesture, whether in real time or on delay immediately made this association, and from there made further associations based on their histories and belief systems (you only had to listen to sports call in shows to see the different trails of association).  So which is more important the mediating artifact of the gesture or the associations you make from its transactional relaitonships to other things?  Or perhaps it is not important to even consider which is more important - development of ideas is not a competitive arena sport (w
>  ell sometimes we associate it with that maybe).
>
> Michael
>   
>