to rush - /rʌʃ/
to hurry, race, rush, push, hasten, chase, hustle, accelerate.
We live in turbulent, fractured times. The political order of recent decades is shifting. Bombs are flying. The stability of the global order has faltered. Laws are being rewritten. Freedom is suffocating. How does one navigate such a reality?
Inhale. Exhale. Blood rushes. Pulse rises. RUSH.
I am here.
What can a single person do when everything suddenly falls silent? Dissolve into the crowd, or move the crowd? How can one make themselves heard amidst the noise of a digitized world?
Scream.
Mass movement.
Shout out.
Be silent.
Everything feels "normal," yet this "normality" suddenly seems alien. Where does the new boundary lie? New categories of potential threats are being codified into laws. What is a "threatening danger"? Am I a "threatening danger"? Is my neighbor? Is the state itself?
One of the central tasks of the state is to protect the security of its citizens. Michel Foucault, in his discussion of modern forms of governance, offered a thought that resonates here: "Security has (...) the essential function of responding to a reality in such a way that this response negates the very reality to which it responds." The concept of "threatening danger" can also emanate from the state itself, reinforcing its image as a "paternal protector."
An ordinary situation. Spring. The trees are budding. The city’s veins pulse despite climate change.
Inhale. Exhale. RUSH.