Mark
asked
Viet Thanh Nguyen:
I just finished Nothing Ever Dies, and there is a clear and valid argument about how the way we remember wars perpetuates the war machine. But global deaths from war have dropped precipitously over the past 40 years (see https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/). Is it possible we are also doing something right in how we remember wars that we can build on?
Viet Thanh Nguyen
We are clearly making progress as a species. We no longer organize ourselves by tribes and villages, or city-states, but by nations. So our notion of community has grown ever larger. But are capacity for killing has grown too. So even if we may be less likely to go to war now, we have the ability to inflict much greater destruction if we do. Whether or not our growing capacity for empathy and inclusiveness will beat our growing capacity for total annihilation obviously remains to be seen.
More Answered Questions
Lg
asked
Viet Thanh Nguyen:
I am deeply amazed by this book, while only on page 131. Coincidentally, last night I heard Allan Johnson speak on race and the concept of systemic perpetuations of power over/exclusion of "the other," including the example of films that diminish the characters of "non-whites" - so precisely depicted in your interchange between the narrator and the film director. Are you aware of Johnson's writings?
Melissa
asked
Viet Thanh Nguyen:
Congratulations, professor :) I am Vietnamese-American and honestly have very mixed-up feelings about how much attention we should pay to race and the stories of where we came from. But it is so great to see someone like you winning a Pulitzer. I will definitely be reading your book! ?
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