Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
Again: there is nothing inherently superior about resistance. All our claims for the righteousness of resistance rest on the rightness of the claim that the resisters are acting in the name of justice. And the justice of the cause does not depend on, and is not enhanced by, the virtue of those who make the assertion. It depends first and last on the truth of a description of a state of affairs that is, truly, unjust and unnecessary.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Resistance is justified only if it is based on a true understanding of injustice, not just on the virtue of those resisting.
In this quote, Susan Sontag emphasizes that the righteousness of resistance movements is contingent not on the moral character of the resisters but rather on the objective reality of the injustice they seek to challenge. The essence of justice is rooted in an accurate depiction of unjust conditions, and its legitimacy does not hinge on the personal virtues of the individuals advocating for change.
Themes
ResistanceJusticeInjusticeTruthEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for social justice, one could say, 'As Susan Sontag reminds us, the legitimacy of resistance is anchored in the truth of injustice.'
More from Susan Sontag
All quotes →Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
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Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
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Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
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In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
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It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
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