One of the most undervalued privileges in this world is the ability to move about it freely unconcerned that one could be violated or dominated. When this privilege is threatened in any way, repercussions are fast and furious. A rich, white CEO of a hated company is killed and the reaction of other rich, white CEOs was so hysterical that a special 911 line was established just for them. Ridiculous photo ops were staged by the mayor so he could look tough on crime. I am willing to bet everything I own that during the same timeframe a woman was also murdered in an alley somewhere in NYC. But her death isn’t worthy of any hullabaloo because women are meant to be victims. Apologies to Margaret Atwood, but men’s greatest fear isn’t that women will laugh at them. Their greatest fear is the oppressed will gain power and control and want vengeance.
The concept of the “dual world” reminds me of DuBois and “double consciousness”. The supremacists and enslavers are terrified of having their own consciousness “doubled”. — Thanks for the excellent essay!
If "The Beetle" had been filmed as often as "Dracula" has (and, judging from the passages, it seems rather hard to transfer to film), it would be better known. But Marsh, along with Stoker and some other Victorian writers (such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Parasite"), was clearly trying to deal with the Freudian suppression of sexuality in Victorian England with various degrees of subtlety.
One of the most undervalued privileges in this world is the ability to move about it freely unconcerned that one could be violated or dominated. When this privilege is threatened in any way, repercussions are fast and furious. A rich, white CEO of a hated company is killed and the reaction of other rich, white CEOs was so hysterical that a special 911 line was established just for them. Ridiculous photo ops were staged by the mayor so he could look tough on crime. I am willing to bet everything I own that during the same timeframe a woman was also murdered in an alley somewhere in NYC. But her death isn’t worthy of any hullabaloo because women are meant to be victims. Apologies to Margaret Atwood, but men’s greatest fear isn’t that women will laugh at them. Their greatest fear is the oppressed will gain power and control and want vengeance.
Excellent essay! Thank you for giving me a lot to think about this morning.
The concept of the “dual world” reminds me of DuBois and “double consciousness”. The supremacists and enslavers are terrified of having their own consciousness “doubled”. — Thanks for the excellent essay!
Really appreciate how this ties the issues to the psychology of slavery, or with what slavery brings out psychologically.
More of this, please, from everywhere if we can.
Very articulate.
If "The Beetle" had been filmed as often as "Dracula" has (and, judging from the passages, it seems rather hard to transfer to film), it would be better known. But Marsh, along with Stoker and some other Victorian writers (such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Parasite"), was clearly trying to deal with the Freudian suppression of sexuality in Victorian England with various degrees of subtlety.