Jared D. Price (On Byung-Chul Han) excerpt

Quite provocatively, Han suggests that while the negative aspect of violence appears to be subsiding, it has only been replaced—morphed even—by an equally insidious positive violence. In one of Han’s recent works, Topology of Violence, Han draws this distinction quite sharply, separating violence into two categories: the “macro-physics of violence,” and the “micro-physics of violence.” In Han’s schema, the macro-physics of violence is that which is constituted primarily by negativity, “...as an effect that comes from the outside, attacks me, and overpowers me, robbing me of my freedom.” On the other hand, there is the micro-physics of violence, or what Han theorizes as an excess of positivity, something that covers over and momentarily obfuscates or eliminates macro-physical violence from the scene. If macro-physical violence is directly destructive and invasive, then micro-physical violence is subtle and welcomed.