Benjamin Saltzman

Yeah.

I mean, I think we've all probably done it, safe to say.

And it means a lot when we do.

And I think we often think about why we did it.

It stays with us for a while.

And so that's what I'm interested in.

What does this gesture mean?

And what does it mean across the ages in art, when it shows up in art and poetry and philosophy?

Well, I mean, one of the things that we face now more than ever is the frequency and the speed with which we encounter the suffering of others on our phones, in the street, in the media, the news.

And I guess one way to think about it is that our attention is constantly being turned from one act of violence, one instance of suffering to another.

And so the question is, where is our agency in that?

Where does our decision making lie?

And how do we kind of dwell with that decision when we do turn away from someone?

Yeah, I mean, that's the interesting thing is that part of my understanding is that really since the mid-20th century, the years after World War II and ever more since then, there has been a kind of discourse, a rhetoric around the moral obligation to pay attention, right?

We understand paying attention as a guardrail against atrocity, against violence, against suffering.

we're kind of constantly told, don't turn away, don't look away.

And the more that I've thought about it, the more that I've kind of looked at this gesture in a wide variety of contexts, I've come to realize that actually the act of turning away, the gesture of turning away is a deeply human act and experience.

And it's an act and a gesture that carries all kinds of meaning.

We do it in a

a wide range of circumstances.