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• 1 media/Deeper-into-the-abyss-300x225.jpg 2019-04-14T18:46:22-07:00 Icon: What happens when you stare into the abyss? 15 Imperialism and exceptionalism in westerners image_header 2019-05-08T02:36:34-07:00 Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
  
  Friedrich Nietzsche (pardon the poor translation)
  
  What happens when two soft Westerners arrive in a remote west African village looking for a warlord to write a story about?  In Nnedi Okorafor’s story, "Icon", we get an alternative to the story pitched by Western media. Most media and, specifically reporters, would have us believe that they are brave heroes who venture forth into the great unknown on our behalf.
   
  Richard and Nancy, the most suburban white people names an author could think of (despite Richard being Black), have travelled to the darkest reaches of the dark continent to get the aforementioned story.They meet Icon, the warlord in question, who isn’t at all what they expect. What do they expect, you ask? They expect their Americanism to protect them from all harm. They are, after all, from the most exceptional country on earth. Their Americanism should be recognized and respected by all the people of the earth, right? Does not their nationality afford them certain conciliations from all others, like guarantees of safety? Icon introduces them to the harsh and cold reality of the world, a world of violence that is a daily occurrence for him and his army, a way of life.
  Our journalists find themselves staring into the abyss. -Porn (hyphen porn). They are trying to write a -Porn story. Give the people what they want, right? In this case, it doesn’t turn out quite that way.
  They suffer from the illusion of American exceptionalism. Icon offers them a glimpse into the abyss. Unfortunately for them, they must become monsters to survive the encounter. Icon demands that they take the life of an innocent person to avoid death themselves. The journalists want to understand death and violence, but when confronted with the reality of it, they balk. They don't actually want to understand it, they want to be tourists in that world.
  
  Journalists engage in -porn journalism all the time. In this case, it’s war porn (don’t google that, you won’t like the results). Strangely, they often have the idea that their Western culture exceptionalism will protect them from harm. Sure, they know intellectually that it’s dangerous, but they don’t internalize it. They don’t stare into the abyss. Some lose their lives in the pursuit, most don’t..
  What are we to make of this? We don’t have a magic shield around us, despite what Americanism would have you believe. There are lives out there in the world that our Western culture hasn’t prepared us for and our Western sensibilities cannot fathom. I guess the answer is that if you’re not ready to become a monster, don’t go around monsters…