The "Unlearning" Process

This image depicts the mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki towards the end of WWII. It all looks like a massive poof. The argument of course is similar to what Floyd's response was to the results of a bombing- "aesthetic" in nature. He found the "the bomb blasts to be beautiful." In a like manner, this picture could be perceived as stating the results of nuclear could also be artistic in nature- perhaps not in the sense that it is aesthetic to see lifeless corpses, but in the sense that the effects of an explosion could create a picturesque poof. This image almost seems to be speaking out saying, "Look at what nuclear war would look like." Perhaps many people would even utter something like, "Hey, that looks cool."

Interestingly enough though is the fact that I had never thought of putting the title "aesthetic" to an image like this. Perhaps I unconsciously thought of it, but did not allow myself to do it simply because the image itself dealt with a serious topic- war and of course all the implied deaths. Cook also describes the process individuals go through when learning to kill (or should I say "unlearn"). He mentions that soldiers for instance have to "unlearn a series of relations that govern contact between bodies in a society." This means they almost have to dehumanize themselves in a way in order to be detached of their innate good human feelings. It is a process. It is something they are trained to do.

In the case of this picture I feel that in order for one to articulate the words "This is cool" a mini version of the "unlearning" process has to occur. One would have to detach human feelings from what is actually happening or could happen- even if it is just a hypothetical picture, and even if it is just for a short period of time.