The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is truly worthless.
Socrates
****************
In a steam driven locomotive or other large machine wood or coal is burned to heat water and create steam. The steam is then carried through pipes to mechanisms that drive pistons or other devices. There are valves to siphon off excess steam. Hence we get the expression "letting off steam."
If the safty valve isn't allowed to open the machine will shut itself down or blow itself up, and that's what happens to a lot of people. Those who are steamed up all the time about something and don't have or don't use a means of blowing off steam are in for trouble of one form or another. Either they will implode, go into denial, stop thinking, stop doing and stop dealing with the things they need to deal with. Irresponsibility, defiance, anti intellectualism, anti culturalism, the self dumbing down of people are the way marks of such implosion. Then there are the exploders who try to wipe out the things they can't deal with through violence, the prevention of other people's rights, using personal power to corrupt righteous causes and eventual self destruction.
All of those negatives could be prevented by a little blowing off of steam. I think, and many others think so too, that the best valve to open for the stressing and squirming of the overwhelming difficulties of life is a sense of humor. There isn't anything in life that can't be graced by a sense of the comical, a sense of irony, absurdity, the ridiculous; a sense of humor.
The ability to laugh at ourselves is a great talent which anyone can develop. Comedians are in the business of showing us how funny we are. The great thinkers of the world all exhibited the ability to laugh at things. Socrates obviously had a sense of humor, Einstein certainly did, I think Jesus Christ did, although I'll get an argument about that from some stuffed up Christians who haven't found their own steam valve yet. One can not successfully carry with them a huge load of thoughts and actions, of cares and responsibilities without occasionally being able to see the funny side of things. That's why the kings and monarchs of old had court jesters.
We are all inadequate at having the truth and wisdom we are supposed to have. It is healthy to be reminded of that now and then. If the major politicians and the big CEOs are too stuck on themselves to be able to see it then they would each do well to have a jester on the payroll to remind them. There would be a lot more cooperation and a lot less mud slinging.
DB - The Real Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
******************
SUMMER QUESTION
Summer is moving along, people.
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
16 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Showing posts with label Socrates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socrates. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
What Is Art?
A concept is stronger than a fact.
Charlotte Gilman
*********************
I'm an artist who reads philosophy. Thus I'm faced with a complex dilemma, a group of questions that spray out and point in several directions like an open hand.
There is a branch of philosophy called Aesthetics, the study of Art in all its functions. I wouldn't want to see a philosopher or any thinker forced into the position of having to define Art. What is Art? That question is harder to answer, perhaps, than What is Science? Although there are similarities. To observe nature, make discoveries and articulate what you find could just as easily describe a poet as a scientist. The concept is the difference. That's all.
A fact is a simple thing, a goad to push us to discover more facts. A concept it a carrot dangling temptingly in front of us. It's a scientific theory, an artistic dream, an unanswered question, the source and fuel of all creative thinking.
So philosophers address themselves to questions such as, When is it art and when is it not art? or What is the proper process for observing and enjoying a work of art and how does that relate to the overall human experience? or How well does the work of art convey it's message? or How well has the artist conceived and articulated his ideas? This last question inevitably causes the philosopher to slip on the unseen banana peel and fall into the nasty world of criticism.
There are art critics, music critics, dance critics, restaurant critics, drama critics, even architecture critics and, of course, literary critics. That last is the only legitimate form of criticism is my opinion. A person who doesn't dance has no business being a dance critic. In my own experience I have had to groan through drama reviews written by critics who had no idea what they were writing about. Every respectable philosopher does well to stay out of the pit of criticism. Most philosophers tend to spend a lot of time criticizing each other, which is fine. That's exactly where they should be. It is in the statement, rebuttal and exchange of ideas that the vigor of philosophy exists.
The purpose of philosophy is to pursue and discover the truth, as it is with art and science, and should be but, alas, is not with other important human endeavors. Socrates considered philosophy to be the greatest of the arts. From that perspective then isn't the study of philosophy the same as the artistic experience, which brings me back to the beginning? Isn't Aesthetics truthfully the process of philosophy defining, describing and criticizing itself?
It is. And that's what makes it so interesting to me.
DB - The Vagabond
(Never give up.)
**************************
It's Summer. Time to give over the answers to the SPRING QUESTION.
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
---------------------------------------------
12 diverse and interesting answers.
-----------------------------------------
Do I think that NASA should send a two person mission to Mars. Absolutely not. It would serve no useful purpose and it would put the lives of those two people in unnecessary jeopardy.
I would think that a mission like this would cost many millions of dollars and at a time when many states are going broke, there are deep cuts to infrastructure, education, health, and community programs. The taxpayers are already on the hook to the tune of about 250 million dollars a day to fund the war in Iraq. All of that money has been siphoned away from funds that might have been available to create jobs, house and feed the homeless, stabilize towns and cities across America and provide a better future for both young and old.
We are not good stewards of our own earth and we have caused more problems here than we have fixed. There is absolutely no need to be spending money we don’t have in order to be exploring other planets. We need to get our priorities back in order.
-------------------------------
When it comes to Mars, I think that it is innate for man to explore and want to extend his reach. I am all in favor of the project and they could get the money by stopping the useless wars and invest in NASA.
-------------------------------------------------------
Good question! Since a year on Mars is nearly twice ours --and
elliptical-- the two planets get within 7-month's journey only every 2
Earth-years. So our astronauts would have to stay a year longer on
Mars. On top of this protraction, they would run out of food and have
to eat each other up, which would probably strain their relationship
afterward. I don't think they should do it.
--------------------------------------------
An unpopular view I'm sure.
Trip to Mars is wrong on so many levels, even, perhaps immoral.
We need the expertise, money, dedication, time, here on Earth. Fix things here, make Earth a better place. Don't go chasing waterfalls.
------------------------------------
Sure! Why not?
The travel time will reek havoc in their lives but the six months there will give them a ton of information to share..and perhaps experiments can be performed! :)
I have heard that people accomplish a lot in scientific experiments out in space!thanks! Interesting topic DB!
-------------------------------------
I think man has screwed up earth enough that he should leave the other planets alone and use the time and money spent going to Mars fixing all the damage he's done here on earth.
------------------------------------
Yes, because the highest mountain in the solar system is THERE.
---------------------------------------------
why go to mars when you can grow squash in your back yard, or at least
some chives in a window pot. All you can plant on mars is a flag.
Unless to go from Mars to `=7,./[]}#2 where all will be virgin
---------------------------------------------------
The human race, if it wants to continue to exist, has to solve its housing problem. In several million years our sun will go supernova and incinerate, during its expansion, the planet Earth. Then, when it cools down to a grey dwarf, what was planet Earth will be a cold rock of ice. Not a good place to live or vacation. We have to start flying around the Universe a la Star Trek and find other inhabitable planets if we wish to continue our future existence as a race. They better find a better propulsion system and more sophisticated means to harness energy, hopefully without hardware and make use of Warp Space (which are only time tunnels or Worms) for getting around more easily. It’s all in Star Trek, we’re just catching up.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Spring Question: Yes. Our greatest advances have come from pure science and discovery missions. We need to keep the ball rolling.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to respond to this purely from a "seems right" standpoint; that is, I know nothing more about the situation than what you've told me.
Anyway, I suppose traveling to Mars could be an utter waste of resources--time, money and energy that could be channeled toward solving some of our own planets problems instead of involving another. But, to be honest, even if we relocated the time, money and energy it may take to send two men to Mars, I can't bring myself to believe that it would certainly go to something like, for example, improving hospitals in Dhaka. So with all of that aside, every part of my being is screaming, "Why the hell not?! Go to Mars!"
But none of that is what I've really wanted to say to you. What truthfully came to mind when I read your question was this whole concept of mystery and wonderment, and all of these cliche ideas that still make me feel brave and strange and beautiful, regardless of their tendency to be overused in cheap literary settings. Visiting a different planet entirely, a place that authors and dreamers and children have fantasized about; a place that's so unknown, sometimes I feel as though its mass is more daydream than it is anything else.
Given not only the ability but the willingness and eagerness to explore, it would be a grand opportunity to waste. And not just for the intellectual gain either, which is, of course, very important... but for the experiences of the astronauts, the engineers and the planners, the people tracking the progress the whole year and a half it's happening, and for the people who tune in right at the end. These could be the kind of experiences, I think, that lead to understanding, empathy, introspection and perspective... not that experiences like that are necessarily farther away than the backyard garden, but they're valuable nonetheless, and, I think, are well worth a trip to Mars.
The potential there, the possibility, all of it reminds me quite a bit of how I felt when I finished reading A Wrinkle In Time in third grade. Childishly excited, maybe, but sincerely so.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Thank you all. Take a breath. SUMMER QUESTION is coming.
DB
******************
Charlotte Gilman
*********************
I'm an artist who reads philosophy. Thus I'm faced with a complex dilemma, a group of questions that spray out and point in several directions like an open hand.
There is a branch of philosophy called Aesthetics, the study of Art in all its functions. I wouldn't want to see a philosopher or any thinker forced into the position of having to define Art. What is Art? That question is harder to answer, perhaps, than What is Science? Although there are similarities. To observe nature, make discoveries and articulate what you find could just as easily describe a poet as a scientist. The concept is the difference. That's all.
A fact is a simple thing, a goad to push us to discover more facts. A concept it a carrot dangling temptingly in front of us. It's a scientific theory, an artistic dream, an unanswered question, the source and fuel of all creative thinking.
So philosophers address themselves to questions such as, When is it art and when is it not art? or What is the proper process for observing and enjoying a work of art and how does that relate to the overall human experience? or How well does the work of art convey it's message? or How well has the artist conceived and articulated his ideas? This last question inevitably causes the philosopher to slip on the unseen banana peel and fall into the nasty world of criticism.
There are art critics, music critics, dance critics, restaurant critics, drama critics, even architecture critics and, of course, literary critics. That last is the only legitimate form of criticism is my opinion. A person who doesn't dance has no business being a dance critic. In my own experience I have had to groan through drama reviews written by critics who had no idea what they were writing about. Every respectable philosopher does well to stay out of the pit of criticism. Most philosophers tend to spend a lot of time criticizing each other, which is fine. That's exactly where they should be. It is in the statement, rebuttal and exchange of ideas that the vigor of philosophy exists.
The purpose of philosophy is to pursue and discover the truth, as it is with art and science, and should be but, alas, is not with other important human endeavors. Socrates considered philosophy to be the greatest of the arts. From that perspective then isn't the study of philosophy the same as the artistic experience, which brings me back to the beginning? Isn't Aesthetics truthfully the process of philosophy defining, describing and criticizing itself?
It is. And that's what makes it so interesting to me.
DB - The Vagabond
(Never give up.)
**************************
It's Summer. Time to give over the answers to the SPRING QUESTION.
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
---------------------------------------------
12 diverse and interesting answers.
-----------------------------------------
Do I think that NASA should send a two person mission to Mars. Absolutely not. It would serve no useful purpose and it would put the lives of those two people in unnecessary jeopardy.
I would think that a mission like this would cost many millions of dollars and at a time when many states are going broke, there are deep cuts to infrastructure, education, health, and community programs. The taxpayers are already on the hook to the tune of about 250 million dollars a day to fund the war in Iraq. All of that money has been siphoned away from funds that might have been available to create jobs, house and feed the homeless, stabilize towns and cities across America and provide a better future for both young and old.
We are not good stewards of our own earth and we have caused more problems here than we have fixed. There is absolutely no need to be spending money we don’t have in order to be exploring other planets. We need to get our priorities back in order.
-------------------------------
When it comes to Mars, I think that it is innate for man to explore and want to extend his reach. I am all in favor of the project and they could get the money by stopping the useless wars and invest in NASA.
-------------------------------------------------------
Good question! Since a year on Mars is nearly twice ours --and
elliptical-- the two planets get within 7-month's journey only every 2
Earth-years. So our astronauts would have to stay a year longer on
Mars. On top of this protraction, they would run out of food and have
to eat each other up, which would probably strain their relationship
afterward. I don't think they should do it.
--------------------------------------------
An unpopular view I'm sure.
Trip to Mars is wrong on so many levels, even, perhaps immoral.
We need the expertise, money, dedication, time, here on Earth. Fix things here, make Earth a better place. Don't go chasing waterfalls.
------------------------------------
Sure! Why not?
The travel time will reek havoc in their lives but the six months there will give them a ton of information to share..and perhaps experiments can be performed! :)
I have heard that people accomplish a lot in scientific experiments out in space!thanks! Interesting topic DB!
-------------------------------------
I think man has screwed up earth enough that he should leave the other planets alone and use the time and money spent going to Mars fixing all the damage he's done here on earth.
------------------------------------
Yes, because the highest mountain in the solar system is THERE.
---------------------------------------------
why go to mars when you can grow squash in your back yard, or at least
some chives in a window pot. All you can plant on mars is a flag.
Unless to go from Mars to `=7,./[]}#2 where all will be virgin
---------------------------------------------------
The human race, if it wants to continue to exist, has to solve its housing problem. In several million years our sun will go supernova and incinerate, during its expansion, the planet Earth. Then, when it cools down to a grey dwarf, what was planet Earth will be a cold rock of ice. Not a good place to live or vacation. We have to start flying around the Universe a la Star Trek and find other inhabitable planets if we wish to continue our future existence as a race. They better find a better propulsion system and more sophisticated means to harness energy, hopefully without hardware and make use of Warp Space (which are only time tunnels or Worms) for getting around more easily. It’s all in Star Trek, we’re just catching up.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Spring Question: Yes. Our greatest advances have come from pure science and discovery missions. We need to keep the ball rolling.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to respond to this purely from a "seems right" standpoint; that is, I know nothing more about the situation than what you've told me.
Anyway, I suppose traveling to Mars could be an utter waste of resources--time, money and energy that could be channeled toward solving some of our own planets problems instead of involving another. But, to be honest, even if we relocated the time, money and energy it may take to send two men to Mars, I can't bring myself to believe that it would certainly go to something like, for example, improving hospitals in Dhaka. So with all of that aside, every part of my being is screaming, "Why the hell not?! Go to Mars!"
But none of that is what I've really wanted to say to you. What truthfully came to mind when I read your question was this whole concept of mystery and wonderment, and all of these cliche ideas that still make me feel brave and strange and beautiful, regardless of their tendency to be overused in cheap literary settings. Visiting a different planet entirely, a place that authors and dreamers and children have fantasized about; a place that's so unknown, sometimes I feel as though its mass is more daydream than it is anything else.
Given not only the ability but the willingness and eagerness to explore, it would be a grand opportunity to waste. And not just for the intellectual gain either, which is, of course, very important... but for the experiences of the astronauts, the engineers and the planners, the people tracking the progress the whole year and a half it's happening, and for the people who tune in right at the end. These could be the kind of experiences, I think, that lead to understanding, empathy, introspection and perspective... not that experiences like that are necessarily farther away than the backyard garden, but they're valuable nonetheless, and, I think, are well worth a trip to Mars.
The potential there, the possibility, all of it reminds me quite a bit of how I felt when I finished reading A Wrinkle In Time in third grade. Childishly excited, maybe, but sincerely so.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Thank you all. Take a breath. SUMMER QUESTION is coming.
DB
******************
Friday, May 27, 2011
Am I Ignorant?
I do not think I know what I do not know.
Socrates
**********************
Hello Amiens France
***********************
I don't know but I think the world generally demands more from us humans than we are capable of giving. It seems we are all expected to have ready answers to anything and everything. Books are written and published, lectures are given, interviews are conducted. There are too many authorities around who aren't really authorities at all, but opinion holders abound.
With very little knowledge of facts legislatures pass laws that make no sense. With limited understanding media editors express observations and summaries of important events. And when an interview is conducted, whether in a public forum or on the street, the interviewee is expected to come up with an answer. "How die you feel when such and such happened? What went through your mind...." Etc. Stupid questions which generally elicit very unsatisfactory answers. "Who knows what went through my mind. I don't remember."
On the other hand if you don't come up with an immediate answer the questioner assumes you don't know. The more we live the more data we carry around in our heads, the longer it takes to address the question.
I was standing on a New York City subway platform reading a paper and waiting for the train when a woman approached and asked me if the train stopped at a certain station. I began to draw up the route in my head to see if that station was on the way. But she immediately said scornfully "Well if you don't know, don't guess." In another moment or two I would have given her an answer but since she decided to be rude with me I directed her to a map on the wall midway down the station platform and went back to my paper.
Socrates was the great questioner. Starting from the assumption that he did not know he probed his and other people's minds to find the possible answers. It is a great lesson. I suggest facing the bewildering circumstances of the world with a sturdy backbone of ignorance about most things, asking intelligent questions and waiting for intelligent answers before expressing opinions or taking actions.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
Never give up.
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. Picked up another answer. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 10 responers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Socrates
**********************
Hello Amiens France
***********************
I don't know but I think the world generally demands more from us humans than we are capable of giving. It seems we are all expected to have ready answers to anything and everything. Books are written and published, lectures are given, interviews are conducted. There are too many authorities around who aren't really authorities at all, but opinion holders abound.
With very little knowledge of facts legislatures pass laws that make no sense. With limited understanding media editors express observations and summaries of important events. And when an interview is conducted, whether in a public forum or on the street, the interviewee is expected to come up with an answer. "How die you feel when such and such happened? What went through your mind...." Etc. Stupid questions which generally elicit very unsatisfactory answers. "Who knows what went through my mind. I don't remember."
On the other hand if you don't come up with an immediate answer the questioner assumes you don't know. The more we live the more data we carry around in our heads, the longer it takes to address the question.
I was standing on a New York City subway platform reading a paper and waiting for the train when a woman approached and asked me if the train stopped at a certain station. I began to draw up the route in my head to see if that station was on the way. But she immediately said scornfully "Well if you don't know, don't guess." In another moment or two I would have given her an answer but since she decided to be rude with me I directed her to a map on the wall midway down the station platform and went back to my paper.
Socrates was the great questioner. Starting from the assumption that he did not know he probed his and other people's minds to find the possible answers. It is a great lesson. I suggest facing the bewildering circumstances of the world with a sturdy backbone of ignorance about most things, asking intelligent questions and waiting for intelligent answers before expressing opinions or taking actions.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
Never give up.
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. Picked up another answer. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 10 responers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Solving The Puzzle
Some of the mountains I have climbed turned out to be made of Paper Mache, while some of the simple jig saw puzzles of life seem to have an infinite number of pieces.
Dana Bate
***********************
Hello Atlantica, Bolivia
************************
One of the most amusing exercises in the arena of mental competition is when a philosopher or other thinker propounds a solid, sturdy idea and creates a phalanx of those who are armed and ready to prove him wrong and is met by another one just as determined to prove he's right. A whistle is blown and the fight is on. What makes it even more interesting is that there is no end game.
People are still trying to prove the Socrates was right, or wrong. But Socrates said "For knowledge too cannot continue to be knowledge unless continuing always to abide and exist. But if the very nature of knowledge changes, at the time when the change occurs there will be no knowledge, and if the transition is always going on, there will always be no knowledge, and, according to this view, there will be no one to know and nothing to be known."
Well !! That sort of erases the lines on the playing field and takes down the goal posts. So why are we trying to know things if all we know is there is nothing to be known? (I'm sure Socrates had a sense of humor, a guy I would have liked.)
The gray bearded, brass knuckle fact is that everything is in transition. Does that mean we should stop trying to know anything since there is nothing that can be known. If that's so then we should close all the schools, burn the books, bury the paintings, lock up the labs, stop playing music and, in short, stop thinking. I once read about a Swami in India who spent his life staring at the sun until he was totally blind because the sun was the only thing that didn't change.
I also remembering reading a solipsistic music critic of the 17th Century who said that all the possible combinations of tones had already been invented and there would be nothing new in the field of music. That was before Bach, Handel, Haydn. Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mahler, Wagner, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Ellington and Brubeck.
A physicist was asked if he didn't find it frustrating that the theories of natural law kept changing with new discoveries. He replied that that's what made it so exciting. An old cactus in the desert will suddenly sprout a blossom. A new galaxy will be discovered. An eagles egg will crack open and a new life will emerge into the world.
One should not claim that the mountain is solid, impenetrable rock and not Paper Mache until one climbs it, as Socrates and many other have done. He who collects the largest number of jig saw puzzle pieces may know a lot more than I do, but he will never know it all.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
Never Give Up
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Dana Bate
***********************
Hello Atlantica, Bolivia
************************
One of the most amusing exercises in the arena of mental competition is when a philosopher or other thinker propounds a solid, sturdy idea and creates a phalanx of those who are armed and ready to prove him wrong and is met by another one just as determined to prove he's right. A whistle is blown and the fight is on. What makes it even more interesting is that there is no end game.
People are still trying to prove the Socrates was right, or wrong. But Socrates said "For knowledge too cannot continue to be knowledge unless continuing always to abide and exist. But if the very nature of knowledge changes, at the time when the change occurs there will be no knowledge, and if the transition is always going on, there will always be no knowledge, and, according to this view, there will be no one to know and nothing to be known."
Well !! That sort of erases the lines on the playing field and takes down the goal posts. So why are we trying to know things if all we know is there is nothing to be known? (I'm sure Socrates had a sense of humor, a guy I would have liked.)
The gray bearded, brass knuckle fact is that everything is in transition. Does that mean we should stop trying to know anything since there is nothing that can be known. If that's so then we should close all the schools, burn the books, bury the paintings, lock up the labs, stop playing music and, in short, stop thinking. I once read about a Swami in India who spent his life staring at the sun until he was totally blind because the sun was the only thing that didn't change.
I also remembering reading a solipsistic music critic of the 17th Century who said that all the possible combinations of tones had already been invented and there would be nothing new in the field of music. That was before Bach, Handel, Haydn. Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mahler, Wagner, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Ellington and Brubeck.
A physicist was asked if he didn't find it frustrating that the theories of natural law kept changing with new discoveries. He replied that that's what made it so exciting. An old cactus in the desert will suddenly sprout a blossom. A new galaxy will be discovered. An eagles egg will crack open and a new life will emerge into the world.
One should not claim that the mountain is solid, impenetrable rock and not Paper Mache until one climbs it, as Socrates and many other have done. He who collects the largest number of jig saw puzzle pieces may know a lot more than I do, but he will never know it all.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
Never Give Up
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A Tasty Dish
Philosophy is the greatest of the arts.
Socrates
*********************
As far as I'm concerned a person's philosophy isn't worth a dime if it doesn't have practical purpose, some positive effect on the world. It's the same with a person's religion. Jean Paul Sartre's philosophy certainly profoundly affected the French and others. Martin Luther's ideas transformed much of European religious thought. Socrates is still shaking up world thought.
It's fun, and probably therapeutic for some, to dream up fancy utopian ideas but what good are they if you can't put them into practice. "I will show you my faith by my works" wrote James, chapter 2. If it works, it's worthy of faith, if it doesn't work it's fruitless fancy.
Some may think I'm a philosopher. I don't think so. Many philosophers started out as mathematicians, or other scientists, some started out as priests. I wonder if there was ever a philosopher who started out as an actor.
Philosophy is certainly woven through the writings of the great playwrights from the ancient Greeks to Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen and Shaw. Pope John Paul II started out as a playwright and became a priest.
To consider myself a philosopher I would have to become familiar with all philosophers from Thales to the latest one to publish. And considering that my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be and I have to read with a magnifying glass, that would be a very tedious task.
And many of today's philosophers spend too much time arguing with each other over semantic gravel like borderlines of borderlines, theories of vagueness, implicatures and secondary said-content. Try analyzing a sentence like "Even, unlike Picasso, Warhol was famous." Good luck.
The greatness of philosophy is the greatness of art and the greatness of science. Imagination, ingenuity, intelligence and a sense of humor. Mix thoroughly. Serve. Season to taste.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
The Ball Game
a story in 7 parts
Part 4
Jimmy thought that after graduating from high school he would take a year off, find a job, make a little money and then try to enter City College, or maybe Brooklyn College, to study to become a scientist like his father. So he was very surprised when he got a phone call from the head office of the Brooklyn Hawks.
When he went to the appointment he met with a man who explained that they had been watching Jimmy for the past year and thought he would make a good ball player for the team. If he agreed he would be sent to the White Plains Aces, the Hawks farm team, for a few years and if it worked out he could move up to the majors. Jimmy never thought any one would pay him to play baseball. His Mom told him he should do what's in his heart.
When he went in to sign the contract he still wasn't sure. The man he had talked to before said that he would step out of the room for a few minutes and leave Jimmy alone to think about it.
Jimmy read the contract over carefully and sat staring at it. "Jimmy" a voice said. He looked up and sitting across the table from him was a man in a lab coat, glasses and a big warm smile. "Dad, what should I do?"
The man didn't speak, but just then a pen came floating out of a cup on the table, gently moved over to in front of Jimmy and hung there in mid air. He took it and singed the contract. When he looked up the man in the lab coat was gone.
(Part 5 tomorrow)
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
2 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Socrates
*********************
As far as I'm concerned a person's philosophy isn't worth a dime if it doesn't have practical purpose, some positive effect on the world. It's the same with a person's religion. Jean Paul Sartre's philosophy certainly profoundly affected the French and others. Martin Luther's ideas transformed much of European religious thought. Socrates is still shaking up world thought.
It's fun, and probably therapeutic for some, to dream up fancy utopian ideas but what good are they if you can't put them into practice. "I will show you my faith by my works" wrote James, chapter 2. If it works, it's worthy of faith, if it doesn't work it's fruitless fancy.
Some may think I'm a philosopher. I don't think so. Many philosophers started out as mathematicians, or other scientists, some started out as priests. I wonder if there was ever a philosopher who started out as an actor.
Philosophy is certainly woven through the writings of the great playwrights from the ancient Greeks to Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen and Shaw. Pope John Paul II started out as a playwright and became a priest.
To consider myself a philosopher I would have to become familiar with all philosophers from Thales to the latest one to publish. And considering that my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be and I have to read with a magnifying glass, that would be a very tedious task.
And many of today's philosophers spend too much time arguing with each other over semantic gravel like borderlines of borderlines, theories of vagueness, implicatures and secondary said-content. Try analyzing a sentence like "Even, unlike Picasso, Warhol was famous." Good luck.
The greatness of philosophy is the greatness of art and the greatness of science. Imagination, ingenuity, intelligence and a sense of humor. Mix thoroughly. Serve. Season to taste.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
The Ball Game
a story in 7 parts
Part 4
Jimmy thought that after graduating from high school he would take a year off, find a job, make a little money and then try to enter City College, or maybe Brooklyn College, to study to become a scientist like his father. So he was very surprised when he got a phone call from the head office of the Brooklyn Hawks.
When he went to the appointment he met with a man who explained that they had been watching Jimmy for the past year and thought he would make a good ball player for the team. If he agreed he would be sent to the White Plains Aces, the Hawks farm team, for a few years and if it worked out he could move up to the majors. Jimmy never thought any one would pay him to play baseball. His Mom told him he should do what's in his heart.
When he went in to sign the contract he still wasn't sure. The man he had talked to before said that he would step out of the room for a few minutes and leave Jimmy alone to think about it.
Jimmy read the contract over carefully and sat staring at it. "Jimmy" a voice said. He looked up and sitting across the table from him was a man in a lab coat, glasses and a big warm smile. "Dad, what should I do?"
The man didn't speak, but just then a pen came floating out of a cup on the table, gently moved over to in front of Jimmy and hung there in mid air. He took it and singed the contract. When he looked up the man in the lab coat was gone.
(Part 5 tomorrow)
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
2 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Monday, January 3, 2011
Seals And Monkeys
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
Socrates
************************
During my career I have often been disgusted to learn what some young students have been taught by one dim acting teacher or another from their various drama departments. I heard one girl say her teacher told her the way to do comedy was to always keep her elbows up. I tried playing a scene with a boy who wouldn't look at me or listen to me because his teacher told him to always play to the audience.
One summer day I was with a few youngsters fresh out of college with degrees in Acting. It was a field trip of sorts to which I was invited as a resource. We went to the Central Park Zoo in New York City.
Just inside the entrance there is a large stone pit filled with water. There is a foot bridge over the water to a small island in the middle. Swimming around in the water are seals. Periodically a zoo keeper will walk out to the center and hold out fish. The seals will jump out of the water to grab the fish. They are trained to do that and it is quite amusing.
But as we entered the zoo I said to the group I was with "Remember. All the animals we see will be acting, except for the seals." They gave me very strange looks, probably doubting my sanity.
We saw the penguins, standing up flapping their wings, or swimming like bullets through the water. We saw the polar bears, one stretched out in an undignified posture sunning himself on the rocks, the other swimming back and forth. We saw the tree snakes oozing their way from one twig to another.
Then we came to large tree filled area with some very hairy black and white monkeys. The monkeys were chasing each other around from one tree to another, swinging on branches and chattering away. They were having a hell of a good time and it was very entertaining.
One of the girls turned to me and said "Now I see what you mean. These monkeys are doing what they naturally do. They're not playing for us, they're playing for each other."
"That's right" I said.
"I'll never look at animals the same way again."
"Or people."
"Or people?"
"Yes. Who are the natural monkeys and who are the trained seals."
I don't know if any of the other kids got it, but she sure did. And to know she could translate that knowledge into the performing art gave her a flame that would never go out. To know to rely on natural behavior and to play with the other actors and not to the audience was the beginning of her training as an actor. And it had nothing to do with elbows.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Socrates
************************
During my career I have often been disgusted to learn what some young students have been taught by one dim acting teacher or another from their various drama departments. I heard one girl say her teacher told her the way to do comedy was to always keep her elbows up. I tried playing a scene with a boy who wouldn't look at me or listen to me because his teacher told him to always play to the audience.
One summer day I was with a few youngsters fresh out of college with degrees in Acting. It was a field trip of sorts to which I was invited as a resource. We went to the Central Park Zoo in New York City.
Just inside the entrance there is a large stone pit filled with water. There is a foot bridge over the water to a small island in the middle. Swimming around in the water are seals. Periodically a zoo keeper will walk out to the center and hold out fish. The seals will jump out of the water to grab the fish. They are trained to do that and it is quite amusing.
But as we entered the zoo I said to the group I was with "Remember. All the animals we see will be acting, except for the seals." They gave me very strange looks, probably doubting my sanity.
We saw the penguins, standing up flapping their wings, or swimming like bullets through the water. We saw the polar bears, one stretched out in an undignified posture sunning himself on the rocks, the other swimming back and forth. We saw the tree snakes oozing their way from one twig to another.
Then we came to large tree filled area with some very hairy black and white monkeys. The monkeys were chasing each other around from one tree to another, swinging on branches and chattering away. They were having a hell of a good time and it was very entertaining.
One of the girls turned to me and said "Now I see what you mean. These monkeys are doing what they naturally do. They're not playing for us, they're playing for each other."
"That's right" I said.
"I'll never look at animals the same way again."
"Or people."
"Or people?"
"Yes. Who are the natural monkeys and who are the trained seals."
I don't know if any of the other kids got it, but she sure did. And to know she could translate that knowledge into the performing art gave her a flame that would never go out. To know to rely on natural behavior and to play with the other actors and not to the audience was the beginning of her training as an actor. And it had nothing to do with elbows.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Waiting For The Light
Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.
Emily Dickinson
*****************
"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." said Socrates. That realization made him a wise man. I enjoy reading the philosophers of the past and present, and what do I find? I find men and women who are searching, yes. They are searching for truth, for virtue and righteousness. But I also find another amazing trait. I find them waiting.
Some of those philosophers are scientists, some are historians or teachers, some are priests, imams and rabbis or other religious figures, some are artists, some are sailors, farmers, fishermen. But they all poke their mental fingers into every aspect of human life and probe into all the issues of human existence, from the most mundane to the most universal, trying to determine what we are, what our destiny is and what is the best life to have. They pose questions and ponder answers.
But the very best thinkers have become aware that there is a greater truth to come, a wisdom that is beyond wisdom, a place beyond the realm of simple, sane reason into a cosmic metaphysic. Enlightenment.
What makes these thinkers different from the rest of us is that they know it is there and we don't. They know that all the accumulated knowledge in the world is still ignorance when it comes to the great dawn of understanding. They also know that it is not something that can be pursued. One cannot throw a rope around it, jump off a horse and tie it up. Martin Heidegger said that when we go thinking after the most important thing to think about it retreats from us.
But to know the great truth is there and that it will come on its own terms in its own natural way if one remains prepared for it humbles the thinker into a blessed state of expectation and patience. And because no one knows when and where it will come, the philosopher is required to be perpetually alert to the rhythm of new ideas and new wisdom. The thinker's waiting is not passive. He is a watchman, a guard, a careful observer of whatever he does and what is happening around him. Bias, prejudice, assumption, foregone conclusion are not his tools. He may not have found the way but he knows the way is there and is not what we think it is.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
Weekend Contest
Here we are a few days into Winter and I still don't have a Winter Question. I have some ideas but I open the meeting to anyone who would like to propose a good question to intrigue and inspire the readers to come forth with interesting answers.
1 response so far.
Thank you.
DB
***************************
Emily Dickinson
*****************
"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." said Socrates. That realization made him a wise man. I enjoy reading the philosophers of the past and present, and what do I find? I find men and women who are searching, yes. They are searching for truth, for virtue and righteousness. But I also find another amazing trait. I find them waiting.
Some of those philosophers are scientists, some are historians or teachers, some are priests, imams and rabbis or other religious figures, some are artists, some are sailors, farmers, fishermen. But they all poke their mental fingers into every aspect of human life and probe into all the issues of human existence, from the most mundane to the most universal, trying to determine what we are, what our destiny is and what is the best life to have. They pose questions and ponder answers.
But the very best thinkers have become aware that there is a greater truth to come, a wisdom that is beyond wisdom, a place beyond the realm of simple, sane reason into a cosmic metaphysic. Enlightenment.
What makes these thinkers different from the rest of us is that they know it is there and we don't. They know that all the accumulated knowledge in the world is still ignorance when it comes to the great dawn of understanding. They also know that it is not something that can be pursued. One cannot throw a rope around it, jump off a horse and tie it up. Martin Heidegger said that when we go thinking after the most important thing to think about it retreats from us.
But to know the great truth is there and that it will come on its own terms in its own natural way if one remains prepared for it humbles the thinker into a blessed state of expectation and patience. And because no one knows when and where it will come, the philosopher is required to be perpetually alert to the rhythm of new ideas and new wisdom. The thinker's waiting is not passive. He is a watchman, a guard, a careful observer of whatever he does and what is happening around him. Bias, prejudice, assumption, foregone conclusion are not his tools. He may not have found the way but he knows the way is there and is not what we think it is.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
Weekend Contest
Here we are a few days into Winter and I still don't have a Winter Question. I have some ideas but I open the meeting to anyone who would like to propose a good question to intrigue and inspire the readers to come forth with interesting answers.
1 response so far.
Thank you.
DB
***************************
Monday, December 6, 2010
That Old Devil Moon
The fortunes of us that are moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea.
Shakespeare
*****************
One of the most important scientific events of the 20th Century was the discovery of the subconscious mind. Though what it is and how it works are still being argued it is undeniable that the research and understanding of something influencing us that is hidden from immediate conscious view has been a great help for doctors attempting to cure mental and emotional problems, and the resourcefulness of doctors and others to utilize what is known to carefully affect cures.
I did a season of summer stock in a theatre on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Summer stock is difficult work. It's very busy and takes a lot of activity all day, every day. To prepare and perform a play a week demands intense concentration and discipline. In contrast to that there was a young man who came to the beach every morning, when it wasn't raining, with a quart of beer. He would sit down, stick the bottle in the sand and stare out at the ocean. Every now and then he would take a sip of beer, but otherwise he just sat and stared. At midday he would get up and go somewhere, presumably to have lunch, and then return with a fresh bottle of beer and sit staring at the ocean until the evening.
He never spoke to anyone and was never seen in any company. I was told he was a composer. Well, maybe he wrote music at night but his day was spent in a beer fueled contemplation of the ocean. I called him a "solatic," a solitary individual who was the opposite of a lunatic.
A lunatic is someone who is wildly manic, but whose insanity is supposedly affected by the phases of the moon. The term dates back to the 14th Century. I once knew a mystic philosopher who opined that since there was liquid in the body and the moon influenced the tides there was no reason why it couldn't do the same to us. Though it may not drive us crazy, he thought, it should have some result.
The human mind to me is like a combination of a well kept garden, a beautiful forest and a jungle. I enjoy reading books and articles on psychology: Freud, Jung, Adler, Laing and others. The study of psychology itself is a trek through the jungles. The unusual flowers and plant life, the strange and dangerous beasts, the unexpected and hidden beauties of nature are all to be found under the surface of our conscious mentality.
We all experience the phenomena of thoughts popping into our heads from nowhere. Strange and unfamiliar images and ideas occur to us and we don't know where they come from. We have also learned that similar things happen unconsciously. While we can discard the conscious thoughts as being not what we really think or want to think and thus avoid any effect on our activities and behavior, or at least we can choose to do so. But what if we are influenced by appearances out of the jungle that we are unaware of and hence unprepared for? That's where reason and a clear sense of morality come to our aid. We need to know who we are, what we believe and how we allow ourselves to behave.
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "Socrates established a permanent state of daylight against all dark desire - the daylight of reason." It's one of the reasons I enjoy reading philosophers. Great philosophers, like great playwrights, and great novelists are psychologists.
I was playing a scene with a young actor in which his character had a fit. I stood watching it. We were in rehearsal and in the note session the director wanted to know what I was doing during the fit and I said I was trying to figure out what his tactic was. The actor said there was no tactic and that "Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar." I said a cigar is always just a cigar but on the stage it means something and that there must be a tactic even if the character himself doesn't know what it is. The actor was impressed. He had just learned something about himself, acting and the workings of the human mind.
Reason is the human mechanism for keeping our sanity. A lunatic is one who loses it at certain moments. There was nothing apparently manic about the solatic on the beach, but, quite the opposite, a picture of a man who was unable to do anything but stare at the ocean as the tides rolled in and out.
Fortunately we have reason to protect us from the jungle creatures, to safely accompany us as we walk through the forest of imagination and to keep our fortunes from ebbing and flowing like the sea.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
Only 8 responses so far. Let's go, let's go.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Shakespeare
*****************
One of the most important scientific events of the 20th Century was the discovery of the subconscious mind. Though what it is and how it works are still being argued it is undeniable that the research and understanding of something influencing us that is hidden from immediate conscious view has been a great help for doctors attempting to cure mental and emotional problems, and the resourcefulness of doctors and others to utilize what is known to carefully affect cures.
I did a season of summer stock in a theatre on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Summer stock is difficult work. It's very busy and takes a lot of activity all day, every day. To prepare and perform a play a week demands intense concentration and discipline. In contrast to that there was a young man who came to the beach every morning, when it wasn't raining, with a quart of beer. He would sit down, stick the bottle in the sand and stare out at the ocean. Every now and then he would take a sip of beer, but otherwise he just sat and stared. At midday he would get up and go somewhere, presumably to have lunch, and then return with a fresh bottle of beer and sit staring at the ocean until the evening.
He never spoke to anyone and was never seen in any company. I was told he was a composer. Well, maybe he wrote music at night but his day was spent in a beer fueled contemplation of the ocean. I called him a "solatic," a solitary individual who was the opposite of a lunatic.
A lunatic is someone who is wildly manic, but whose insanity is supposedly affected by the phases of the moon. The term dates back to the 14th Century. I once knew a mystic philosopher who opined that since there was liquid in the body and the moon influenced the tides there was no reason why it couldn't do the same to us. Though it may not drive us crazy, he thought, it should have some result.
The human mind to me is like a combination of a well kept garden, a beautiful forest and a jungle. I enjoy reading books and articles on psychology: Freud, Jung, Adler, Laing and others. The study of psychology itself is a trek through the jungles. The unusual flowers and plant life, the strange and dangerous beasts, the unexpected and hidden beauties of nature are all to be found under the surface of our conscious mentality.
We all experience the phenomena of thoughts popping into our heads from nowhere. Strange and unfamiliar images and ideas occur to us and we don't know where they come from. We have also learned that similar things happen unconsciously. While we can discard the conscious thoughts as being not what we really think or want to think and thus avoid any effect on our activities and behavior, or at least we can choose to do so. But what if we are influenced by appearances out of the jungle that we are unaware of and hence unprepared for? That's where reason and a clear sense of morality come to our aid. We need to know who we are, what we believe and how we allow ourselves to behave.
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "Socrates established a permanent state of daylight against all dark desire - the daylight of reason." It's one of the reasons I enjoy reading philosophers. Great philosophers, like great playwrights, and great novelists are psychologists.
I was playing a scene with a young actor in which his character had a fit. I stood watching it. We were in rehearsal and in the note session the director wanted to know what I was doing during the fit and I said I was trying to figure out what his tactic was. The actor said there was no tactic and that "Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar." I said a cigar is always just a cigar but on the stage it means something and that there must be a tactic even if the character himself doesn't know what it is. The actor was impressed. He had just learned something about himself, acting and the workings of the human mind.
Reason is the human mechanism for keeping our sanity. A lunatic is one who loses it at certain moments. There was nothing apparently manic about the solatic on the beach, but, quite the opposite, a picture of a man who was unable to do anything but stare at the ocean as the tides rolled in and out.
Fortunately we have reason to protect us from the jungle creatures, to safely accompany us as we walk through the forest of imagination and to keep our fortunes from ebbing and flowing like the sea.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
Only 8 responses so far. Let's go, let's go.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Congress Of What?
The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone.
Socrates
********************
I often wonder if there is any nation on Earth for a good man to live in where the government isn't destroying it's own country. I also wonder why anyone would want to get into politics considering how corrupt it is. Even if it is not overtly corrupt with bribes, inequities and influence buying and selling. It is covertly corrupt by the fact that few politicians understand what life is like for the average citizen.
Now we have a nation where politicians can be bought by big corporations. There is nothing new about that, it is that it used to be covert corruption but now the court has put it out into the open as legal practice.
The government is considering digging into Social Security benefits for older Americans thus creating hardships and, in some cases, homelessness. Are their eyes only on government expenditures or on their absurd fear of Socialism? Whatever umbrella their action may sit under it is "government against the people."
I think I would be ashamed to be a Congressman right now. That such measures are even being considered at any time is rabid, bile spitting injustice. What happened to common sense?
The government wastes money on wars we can't win, overfunded useless programs and
Congressmen's extracurricular activities. Greedy Big Business wastes money buying Congressmen to protect their greed. Who doesn't waste money? Last week I bought a quart of apple juice, an expenditure I can't afford.
If they cut back on my Social Security benefits I won't be able to pay my rent, along with thousands of other seniors, and that's a fact. The government will say "move." And who is going to pay for that?
The biggest, fiercest injustice in the land is the irresponsability of Congress and it's failure to face facts. They tell us what the American people want without asking the American people. The last time I was asked what I want by the government was 9 years ago when I had the option to have money taken out of my Social Security to pay for more Medicare.
My quiet, solitary protest is for Congress to stop wasting our money, stop the wealthy corporations from gouging us and not paying their fair share of taxes, stop funding useless programs, put the money to work for the nation. Spend it on improved education for our young, including better teacher's salaries, taking care of the unemployed and underemployed, strengthen the US Postal Service so it doesn't go out of business, and, for mercies sake, continue to provide for us older citizens who for years have voted, paid taxes, obeyed the laws and given our lives working for one American industry or another.
Dana Bate
The Vagabond
Socrates
********************
I often wonder if there is any nation on Earth for a good man to live in where the government isn't destroying it's own country. I also wonder why anyone would want to get into politics considering how corrupt it is. Even if it is not overtly corrupt with bribes, inequities and influence buying and selling. It is covertly corrupt by the fact that few politicians understand what life is like for the average citizen.
Now we have a nation where politicians can be bought by big corporations. There is nothing new about that, it is that it used to be covert corruption but now the court has put it out into the open as legal practice.
The government is considering digging into Social Security benefits for older Americans thus creating hardships and, in some cases, homelessness. Are their eyes only on government expenditures or on their absurd fear of Socialism? Whatever umbrella their action may sit under it is "government against the people."
I think I would be ashamed to be a Congressman right now. That such measures are even being considered at any time is rabid, bile spitting injustice. What happened to common sense?
The government wastes money on wars we can't win, overfunded useless programs and
Congressmen's extracurricular activities. Greedy Big Business wastes money buying Congressmen to protect their greed. Who doesn't waste money? Last week I bought a quart of apple juice, an expenditure I can't afford.
If they cut back on my Social Security benefits I won't be able to pay my rent, along with thousands of other seniors, and that's a fact. The government will say "move." And who is going to pay for that?
The biggest, fiercest injustice in the land is the irresponsability of Congress and it's failure to face facts. They tell us what the American people want without asking the American people. The last time I was asked what I want by the government was 9 years ago when I had the option to have money taken out of my Social Security to pay for more Medicare.
My quiet, solitary protest is for Congress to stop wasting our money, stop the wealthy corporations from gouging us and not paying their fair share of taxes, stop funding useless programs, put the money to work for the nation. Spend it on improved education for our young, including better teacher's salaries, taking care of the unemployed and underemployed, strengthen the US Postal Service so it doesn't go out of business, and, for mercies sake, continue to provide for us older citizens who for years have voted, paid taxes, obeyed the laws and given our lives working for one American industry or another.
Dana Bate
The Vagabond
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Press Here
Some people make headlines while others make history.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
********************
I advise you to take what the general media says about anyone with more than a grain, more like a handful, of salt. I was never a major celebrity during my career, but in my small way I had a public life and appeared on radio and television programs as a guest and was interviewed by newspapers and magazines. In my memory I can recall only one journalist, for the New York Daily News, who was interested in finding out and reporting accurately on what I did. All the rest, to one degree or another, tried to find something strange ("newsworthy") about me to discuss. As a result I have a healthy disregard for whatever I read in the papers or see on TV or Internet news about anyone in the arts, show business, sports, religion or politics.
Instead of accepting the fact that we are all human beings, trying to get by in life, with all of it's daily problems and solutions, some of the media and its fans try to find the real secret behind someone's actions, the real "dirt." What a waste of time and effort!
Wrong, sensationalized reporting of people and events has caused much misunderstanding and trouble in the world from the condemnation and death of Socrates up to the recent health care debate. Facts are brought out and interpreted one way or another. Other facts are ignored.
Socrates made history. If he hadn't mentioned his accusers by name we would probably never know who they were.
Before I lessen or insult anyone's efforts I want to assume that there are responsible, intelligent journalists in our society. There certainly are. They may be hard to find because their reporting is not intended to tantalize us with outrage or scorn. It's much easier, it seems, and more interesting, to have an emotional reaction to people and events than an intelligent one.
(That said, one of these days, soon I hope, I will write about the New York Journal American and the Mad Bomber.)
We have freedom of the press in this country, and thank heaven we do. That it is often misused or poorly applied is no excuse for denying that freedom. That there is a dumbing down process to much of what we are given by the media is an undeniable fact. Given that fact it is up to us as individuals, the world over, to resist it and to hold the media accountable for it's actions just as we should our governments. The press is very powerful. Just as honest reporting has been able to topple tyranny, dishonest, or even just irresponsible reporting has helped to establish it.
No matter what the story there is always another side or other sides to it. Don't stop watching the news or reading the papers, but always have that handful of salt ready to fling in the face of the reporting if you are not hearing all the sides.
DB
*****************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you can but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
Dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
********************
I advise you to take what the general media says about anyone with more than a grain, more like a handful, of salt. I was never a major celebrity during my career, but in my small way I had a public life and appeared on radio and television programs as a guest and was interviewed by newspapers and magazines. In my memory I can recall only one journalist, for the New York Daily News, who was interested in finding out and reporting accurately on what I did. All the rest, to one degree or another, tried to find something strange ("newsworthy") about me to discuss. As a result I have a healthy disregard for whatever I read in the papers or see on TV or Internet news about anyone in the arts, show business, sports, religion or politics.
Instead of accepting the fact that we are all human beings, trying to get by in life, with all of it's daily problems and solutions, some of the media and its fans try to find the real secret behind someone's actions, the real "dirt." What a waste of time and effort!
Wrong, sensationalized reporting of people and events has caused much misunderstanding and trouble in the world from the condemnation and death of Socrates up to the recent health care debate. Facts are brought out and interpreted one way or another. Other facts are ignored.
Socrates made history. If he hadn't mentioned his accusers by name we would probably never know who they were.
Before I lessen or insult anyone's efforts I want to assume that there are responsible, intelligent journalists in our society. There certainly are. They may be hard to find because their reporting is not intended to tantalize us with outrage or scorn. It's much easier, it seems, and more interesting, to have an emotional reaction to people and events than an intelligent one.
(That said, one of these days, soon I hope, I will write about the New York Journal American and the Mad Bomber.)
We have freedom of the press in this country, and thank heaven we do. That it is often misused or poorly applied is no excuse for denying that freedom. That there is a dumbing down process to much of what we are given by the media is an undeniable fact. Given that fact it is up to us as individuals, the world over, to resist it and to hold the media accountable for it's actions just as we should our governments. The press is very powerful. Just as honest reporting has been able to topple tyranny, dishonest, or even just irresponsible reporting has helped to establish it.
No matter what the story there is always another side or other sides to it. Don't stop watching the news or reading the papers, but always have that handful of salt ready to fling in the face of the reporting if you are not hearing all the sides.
DB
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you can but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
Dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
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