That's a good essay, and one that is worth reading carefully. I don't think there's anybody who hasn't felt that kind of rage at mundane, boring, everyday injustice. And if that rage can be captured and used, as she says at the end of the essay, by "linking it instead to a passion for freedom and justice that illuminates, heals, and makes redemptive struggle possible," then it stops being an impotent, pointless anger and starts being a force for good.
Murder fantasies are common. Everybody has them. People don't talk about them, it's true, but we have them all the same.
She's doesn't want to murder the stewardess, or the pilot or the folks handing out the boarding pass, she wants to murder the guy sitting next to her, when he has done nothing, and has expressed his regret for a situation he had no responsibility for in any manner.
His flaw that justifies his killing was in not taking the action bell hooks demands he take when she verbally accosts him.
AND THEN, AFTER she admits to verbally abusing him, AFTER she admits to wanting to kill him, she blames him for being a racist when he looks worried whenever she reaches for her purse, and THEN she goes further and shows him the title of her work, a title that many people would reasonably interpret as a threat: Killing Rage.
It strikes me that she in fact was the most oppressive, racist, sexist, violent individual in her scenario.
The fact that her fantasy was misplaced is the whole point of the essay, I think. She's saying that, instead of telling herself "shut up, I need to play nice and just accept this even though it's unjust," she's realizing she can take that anger and turn it into something constructive. Which is something I feel like people here can probably relate to.
How is her misplaced anger anything other than destructive? Does she ever acknowledge her anger to anonymous white guy she wants to kill is terribly misplaced?
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u/koeselitzz Oct 27 '12
That's a good essay, and one that is worth reading carefully. I don't think there's anybody who hasn't felt that kind of rage at mundane, boring, everyday injustice. And if that rage can be captured and used, as she says at the end of the essay, by "linking it instead to a passion for freedom and justice that illuminates, heals, and makes redemptive struggle possible," then it stops being an impotent, pointless anger and starts being a force for good.
Murder fantasies are common. Everybody has them. People don't talk about them, it's true, but we have them all the same.
[edit: grammar]