A Sense of Brutality

Abstract

1. Borbolla, "Estrategia fallida."Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own.2. For instance, on philosophy after Auschwitz, we can count Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem; and Lyotard, Differend.After Tlatelolco, see Revueltas, México 68; and Monsiváis, Días de guardar.After 9/11, see Butler, Precarious Life; and Chomsky, 9-11. • A Sense of Brutalityand otherwise unthinkable and unspeakable violence remains a possibility outside conditions of war or the global politics of terror.Although these scenes unfold in places and contexts that are usually unfamiliar to us, we are all witnesses.We have our technological advancements in news and social media to thank for that.Indeed, as a result of the media saturation that is indicative of our technological age, the horrible scenes and atrocities of narco-culture unfold as sidenotes on more relevant social and political happenings of our day; as mere sidenotes, however, they grab our attention, and we, the "innocent bystanders," are drawn in, unable to look away.We become witnesses.As witnesses, the violence that we encounter itself demands our response-we are asked by the things themselves to respond somehow-specifically, to respond in understanding.How do we respond in understanding to this kind of violence?After all, this is a violence of an everyday type that is much more horrific, cruel, and brutal than what anyone should be used to.In what follows, we will try to understand this violence philosophically, or better yet, phenomenologically (i.e., as it gives itself ).To begin, consider the following headlines detailing everyday cartel or narco-violence.What these headlines and their corresponding events demonstrate is a violence that is both excessive and dehumanizing, one that seems, prima facie, to be beyond understanding:1. "5 Decapitated, Hearts Left in Mouths of Severed Heads" (April 26, 2018).In this gruesome scene in the tourist mecca of Cancún, Quintana Roo, authorities found five headless corpses inside a car, their heads mounted on the car's hood and roof.The mouths of the heads were sewn shut with steel wire.When opened, it was discovered that they were stuffed with the dead men's hearts.7 2. "Chilling Scene of the Narco War as Two Dismembered Bodies Found in Mexico City" (June 18, 2018).Two dismembered bodies were found in plain sight of Mexico City morning traffic.According to authorities, the "reason" for the grisly murders had to do with a "settling of accounts" between cartels.What was unusual about this crime was not that it happened but where: Mexico City, 7. "Decapitan a 5."These are cowardly acts, filled with vileness, that give us some idea as to what we are facing.We are not facing human beings, we are facing beasts, cowards, villains, persons who are capable of murdering children with the aim of holding our people hostage.19 18. Arendt, On Violence, p. 63. 19.López, "Ola de violencia."

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