Friday, January 12, 2007

The Dignity of the Entity


Though there is no such thing as an 'I',
the uniqueness of the individual is real and dignified.
Though there is no such thing as 'we',
the creative power of collectivity is real and dignified.

Ownership of the collective entity ends in dictatorship
and the death of the creative power of the people.
Ownership of self kills the uniqueness of an individual
because it is a form of dictatorship
and, as Hanah Arendt observed, dictatorships are
banal.

A collective entity has no owner
but this need not make it less powerful;
great collective movements are not always led;
sometimes they ignite spontaneously by themselves.
An individual entity has no owner
but this does not detract from its dignity.

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