(click image to enlarge)more water lillies
copyright, © 2007 Vanina Marsot
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
More on "Bread and Circuses"
from Plato Jesus, in response to "re: Bread and Circuses":
First, is the Frank Miller quoted the same Frank Miller who, when running for the highest office of his country (Canada), refused to debate the opposition? Or, is it Frank Miller the filmmaker who inaccurately glorifies Dorian Spartans -- who practiced slavery and human sacrifice, fought against Athenian democracy, and incidentally were the ones who made homosexuality part and parcel of military indoctrination -- and in contrast to historical records, paints the multicultural Iranian Empire, which tolerated and integrated a variety of Semitic peoples as well as introduced Cuneiform, as savages in the film 300?
Both are great illustrations of the Western mentality that feels it knows everything and has no need to engage anyone else.
Now to the merits of the comment:
First, at no point does Wyatt Doyle (or me for that matter in my comments) celebrate other cultures or try to say they are equivalent or equal in their merits. We only critique the representation presented. So this comment does not refute our points -- that most political representations of other cultures are more alarmist then informed.
Second, as someone who teaches in "American Higher education" -- if such a monolith exists, which is unlikely -- it is a total myth, if not outright fabrication, to say it promotes equality of cultures. Most college classes do not dwell on other traditions; indeed, core requirements are based on the Western cannon of the ancient Greeks to deconstructionism and critical theory out of European traditions. Beyond esoteric advanced classes or obscure graduate programs, there is absolutely no equal treatment of other cultures. The "cultural relativism" movement has been relegated to the margins at most universities.
Third, the whole "clash of civilizations" thesis, particularly as applied to the Middle East, is flawed. Empirically it is not culture at the roots of armed conflicts. For instance, such a representation cannot explain the Sunni-Shiite divide, tribal rivalries in Iraq, NATO's intervention on behalf of Muslim Albanians against Slavic Orthodox Serbs, or the current civil war among Palestinians. If we scrutinize history over time, a vast majority of cultural interactions have not produced conflict, but cosmopolitanism. Look at Jerusalem, Sarajevo, or most world cities at the crossroads of cultures, ethnic and religious groups live together peacefully for most of their history. It is when politics interjects this grievance and creates this macro-narrative that ignores some divisions and embellishes others.
If we do want to think of cultural units -- and by that I mean, aggregate the actions of countries that are in a particular tradition -- which civilization has promoted worldwide conflict more than others? It's by far the Judeo-Christian traditions of the Western world. This is not to say other cultures aren't violent or aggressive at times, but in terms of attacking, and indeed destroying foreign cultures, as well as occupying their traditional lands, it's the West, hands down. By the start of the 20th century, European imperialism had conquered nearly 90% of world. That is to say, if a comparison of violence based on a sense of cultural superiority is to be made, here the West can rightly proclaim its pre-eminence.
We're #1! We're #1!
copyright, © 2007 Plato Jesus
for more on this topic, see:
http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/bread-and-circuses.html
and
http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/re-bread-and-circuses.html
First, is the Frank Miller quoted the same Frank Miller who, when running for the highest office of his country (Canada), refused to debate the opposition? Or, is it Frank Miller the filmmaker who inaccurately glorifies Dorian Spartans -- who practiced slavery and human sacrifice, fought against Athenian democracy, and incidentally were the ones who made homosexuality part and parcel of military indoctrination -- and in contrast to historical records, paints the multicultural Iranian Empire, which tolerated and integrated a variety of Semitic peoples as well as introduced Cuneiform, as savages in the film 300?
Both are great illustrations of the Western mentality that feels it knows everything and has no need to engage anyone else.
Now to the merits of the comment:
First, at no point does Wyatt Doyle (or me for that matter in my comments) celebrate other cultures or try to say they are equivalent or equal in their merits. We only critique the representation presented. So this comment does not refute our points -- that most political representations of other cultures are more alarmist then informed.
Second, as someone who teaches in "American Higher education" -- if such a monolith exists, which is unlikely -- it is a total myth, if not outright fabrication, to say it promotes equality of cultures. Most college classes do not dwell on other traditions; indeed, core requirements are based on the Western cannon of the ancient Greeks to deconstructionism and critical theory out of European traditions. Beyond esoteric advanced classes or obscure graduate programs, there is absolutely no equal treatment of other cultures. The "cultural relativism" movement has been relegated to the margins at most universities.
Third, the whole "clash of civilizations" thesis, particularly as applied to the Middle East, is flawed. Empirically it is not culture at the roots of armed conflicts. For instance, such a representation cannot explain the Sunni-Shiite divide, tribal rivalries in Iraq, NATO's intervention on behalf of Muslim Albanians against Slavic Orthodox Serbs, or the current civil war among Palestinians. If we scrutinize history over time, a vast majority of cultural interactions have not produced conflict, but cosmopolitanism. Look at Jerusalem, Sarajevo, or most world cities at the crossroads of cultures, ethnic and religious groups live together peacefully for most of their history. It is when politics interjects this grievance and creates this macro-narrative that ignores some divisions and embellishes others.
If we do want to think of cultural units -- and by that I mean, aggregate the actions of countries that are in a particular tradition -- which civilization has promoted worldwide conflict more than others? It's by far the Judeo-Christian traditions of the Western world. This is not to say other cultures aren't violent or aggressive at times, but in terms of attacking, and indeed destroying foreign cultures, as well as occupying their traditional lands, it's the West, hands down. By the start of the 20th century, European imperialism had conquered nearly 90% of world. That is to say, if a comparison of violence based on a sense of cultural superiority is to be made, here the West can rightly proclaim its pre-eminence.
We're #1! We're #1!
copyright, © 2007 Plato Jesus
for more on this topic, see:
http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/bread-and-circuses.html
and
http://newtextureblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/re-bread-and-circuses.html
If you think the WGA strike is bullshit...
...or don't understand what's going on, exactly, Ed Naha spells it all out for you here.
It's worth your time.
It's worth your time.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
A World Without Culture
Fun And Games .
"Mindfuck skins auto-pilot's cat" said John Crouse.
+ + +
Here's some good ones from our "new age" friend Joseph Chilton Pierce:
"Culture is the enemy of Biology"
and
"culture cannot be improved and it should never be sustained"
and
"Culture depends on violence. Culture breeds violence. And culture thrives on violence"
and
The establishment is never changed. Whether it’s a technological establishment or not makes no difference. Culture functions as culture, which is based on fear, and blocks our biological unfolding. And that’s right across the board; I find no exceptions to that whatsoever. Culture never absorbs the new ideas cropping up within it that would lead to transcendence. It kills them off. Now what you end up with… culture can wear a million different faces. It can take on all these trappings. But its underlying basis of fear, anxiety, and self-defense, defensiveness is always there. That never changes.
and and and and
Go ahead. Listen to the pod casts. Don't be afraid. Don't be.
+ + +
And then there's Adam Curtis. He wrote an article called "The TV elite has lost the plot." You don't have to read very far to get to the part where he says
First of all, the people who do blogging, for example, are self-selecting. Quite frankly it's quite clear that what bloggers are is bullies.
and just a wee bit further
I've talked to news editors in America. What they are most frightened of is an assault by the bloggers...They're terrified if they stray one way they'll get monstered by bloggers on the right, if they stray the other way they'll get monstered by bloggers from the left.
The future is scary--yes it sure is!
I wonder if Adam Curtis has read Chris Rich's latest (outstanding) offerings?
+ + +
Getting back to culture, (you know, "the enemy of biology") this take on culture popped up in a delightful little book called Islam Explained by Tahar Ben Jelloun:
Define the word "culture" for me.
I'm tempted to say it's everything that makes us different from animals. Culture comes from the word "to cultivate," that is, to plow the earth and plant seeds in it. Human beings need to eat and drink and to be in good health. But they have just as great a need to learn about the world they live in. Culture is the product of intelligence, which makes it possible for us to develop our minds, to think better, and to make contact with what our ancestors have left us. Culture is passed down from generation to generation. The whole of its expressions and developments are called "civilizations."
+ + +
Later in that pod cast I asked you to listen to Joseph Chilton Pearce says:
"Well first of all I would say that we have no civilization."
and later
"After 2000 years of hymn singing, bible thumping, proselytizing, missionaries, cathedral building, witch burning, and so forth, human nature has not changed one iota. We are every bit as murderous, and far more efficient at our murder of each other now than we were 2000 years ago when Jesus crops up on the scene. Thousands of years of meditation have not changed human nature one iota. We are every bit as murderous toward each other now as we were at the time of Buddha or any other time."
+ + +
"Culture is what makes us different from animals."
I had a land lord once who said humans are the product of an "alien super species" who came to earth and fucked a lot of different animals: pigs, apes, chickens, snakes and the like. If you believe (as I do) that everything is a fictional narrative, said notion sits as comfortably as any.
There aren't a lot of cows carrying guns. There aren't a lot of pigs building nuclear power plants. There aren't a lot of chickens exporting jobs over seas. There aren't a lot of snakes running the fixed income-markets. It's all done by their alien super species half brothers and sisters.
Has anyone read "A World Without Us?" No, me neither. From what I understand, Mr. Weisman went to places were there were no humans--like the land mind littered strip between North and South Korea. In the absence of humans, or, in the absence of culture biology flourished.
Speaking of animals, who here has read anything by Temple Grandin? You gotta love Temple Grandin for a number of reasons. Two of which, when combined, make for a fun mental feed-back loop: Temple Grandin has done more than just about anyone to make the slaughter of animals more peaceful and humane. (Combined with) Temple Grandin has done a lot of work for McDonalds. By making the slaughter facilities hired by McDonalds more peaceful and humane, she has made them more efficient and profitable.
Is McDonalds a friend of Biology?
Is McDonalds a friend of Culture?
Is McDonalds our culture?
Is it really possible to be part of the solution and the problem at the same time?
In Animals in Translation she says this:
Mammals and birds have the same core feelings people do. Researchers are just now discovering that lizards and snakes probably share most of these emotions with us, too...We know animals and humans share the same core feelings partly because we know quite a bit about how our core emotions are created by the brain, and there's no question animals share that biology with us. Their emotional biology is so close to ours that most of the research on the neurology of emotions--or affective neuroscience--is done with animals.
+ + +
Animals (and humans) have similar emotional biology.
Are we animals?
Are we "rooted in nature?"
Does anything mean anything anymore?
+ + +
It's probably too early to say for sure, but so far Build a Nation is in the lead for best release 2007.
copyright © 2008 Stanley Jason Zappa
"Levy me alone" by Lindsay Griffith Armistead Baldwin
copyright, © 2005, 2007 Lindsay Griffith Armistead Baldwin
WWJDD?
Recent NTB post subject John Doe is being honored by The Sundance Channel for his numerous contributions to much that is good and worthwhile in music and film.
Check out their "Spotlight" here.
The man's even blogging now: What Would John Doe Do?
Good on ya, J.D.
Check out their "Spotlight" here.
The man's even blogging now: What Would John Doe Do?
Good on ya, J.D.
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