AIDS occupies such a large part in our awareness because of what it has been taken to represent. It seems the very model of all the catastrophes privileged populations feel await them.
Susan SontagThere is an understandable vindictiveness in people who come from Communist countries. They want to keep telling us that we were fools to think that we could make radical changes in our society. Though I understand their dismay, respect their suffering and don't understand the gullibility of some people who don't take in how repressive these societies are, I still think it's important to keep people of all kinds as active in civic matters as possible.
Susan SontagPart of the puzzle, surely, lies in the disconnect between official rhetoric and lived realities. Americans are constantly extolling โtraditionsโ; litanies to family values are at the center of every politicianโs discourse. And yet the culture of America is extremely corrosive of family life, indeed of all traditions except those redefined as โidentitiesโ that fit in the larger patterns of distinctiveness, cooperation, and openness to innovation.
Susan Sontag