Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Aesthetic-Moral Blindness

Note--I apologize in advance to my readers.  I am not able to choose every punctuation mark I would like to choose on the computer I am currently using...

I would like to suggest a sort of equivalence between:

"that film is no good because it hasnt got enough --any?---action...."

and

"I can listen to any music.......except opera."

The first person is expressing a preference for movies which feature violence.  It is not actually action at all which they are favoring.

It is not hard to imagine that in a country where an enormous amount of the social surplus is devoted to killing foreigners, or threatening them with death, and where an enormous amount of money is devoted to propaganda, the preference for violent films is fully in harmony with the preferences of the rulers.

But, of course, actions may include mental actions, and violence itself can be psychological.  However, all of those psychological skills that can be developed by engaging psychologically with others are not developed in the course of viewing violent films. 

I am reminded of an interview that Catherine Deneuve gave when Belle de Jour was re-released.  A USA commentator suggested that French movies were boring because they laced "action".

--parenthetical remark:  At the time, I seem to recall, he also seemed rather smug about it.  And that smugness itself is part of the confidence which comes from knowing that one is on the side of the rulers......

back to the main point:

Deneuve said that in this respect the French differed from Americans.  They like not merely to act, but also to talk about what they are doing.  --or words to that effect.

opera?

This morning I briefly enjoyed listening to a few arias from Dido and Aeneas.  I cannot imagine a life without that sort of beauty....

After-thought
Of course, the depiction of violence itself in so-called 'action' films is not at all realistic......

Monday, September 17, 2012

Amazing things.......

An amazing thing I heard...

Recounting recent incidents where Afro-Americans had been murdered by the police,
I met with astonishment from one educated European.  Therefore, I offer the following links below:

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/11/grand_jury_probes_killing_of_kenneth

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/19/headlines/report_110_african_americans_killed_by_police_security_guards_and_vigilantes_in_2012


Comment:  I neglected to explain to my sceptical audience that the police do not deny that shootings have occurred, but they try to find reasons to justify them.  I myself find the police explanations implausible.  Also it seems to me that the depth of racism in the USA is not recognized by Europeans with whom I have spoken.  Of course, by racism I do not have in mind explicit attitudes --although they do exist--but largely implicit structures, institutional factors, as well as attitudes which need not lead to overtly racist language.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

What strange ideas you have!

El Pasoans have strange ideas!

E.g., Today I spoke briefly to a lady who remarked that some parts of the Czech Republic
were "still poor".

Of course, what they call "Communism" never did mean poverty.   It did mean a certain
dull grayness, but not exactly poverty.

On the other hand, I regard El Paso, Texas as a very poor community.  Moreover, I believe the average household earning is well below the USA average...

But I think El Paso is poor because the over-abundance of vehicles and businesses selling unhealthy food, not to mention an over-abundance of churches together create a certain atmosphere...

And then there is the absence, let's say, of bookstores.......

So, I really don't know what someone who lives in El Paso might possibly mean when they describe parts of the Czech Republic as poor.  (I assume they did not visit a Roma settlement.)

Perhaps they mean there is an absence of the technology that USA-ans seem to regard as essential.
I don't know.  But I shall be glad to leave El Paso, and live in the Czech Republic instead......

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Arrogance of Privileged Classes in USA Society

The arrogance of the Privileged in USA capitalism; chapter 2043:  Doctors


Recently an arrogant doctor kept my mother, my father, and myself waiting for two hours.
We arrived on time for our appointment.  And, that, in itself required a lot of effort.  I've got to arrange two walkers in the ungenerous space of my parents' car, and I've got to help my father arrange himself into the not overly generous space of the front seat, after helping him get dressed, etc.

Now, we've often had to wait at this particular doctor's office.  So, my mother became annoyed and expressed her anger to a woman who happens to be this particular man's wife.

The woman's response was to SHAME my mother!  To speak to her as if she were a child, telling her that she should not feel anger.


Well, excuse me!  ***!!##!!  If someone keeps three people waiting for TWO HOURS, and makes no excuse, no apology, that is a reason to be angry.

And, it is insulting to be told otherwise.

Now, the fact is that I suspect that Herr Doktor has the manana-syndrome.  Being born in Mexico, he prefers a certain way of dealing with time.  However, even to say he "prefers" it would be to credit him with more self-consciousness than is accurate.

Let me say that I can't deny there is a certain attractiveness to the thought that punching a time clock and being always a hurry is not the only way to be.

However, waiting in a doctor's office (even one, thankfully, without a TV) is not a pleasant activity.  It tends to slow down the motion of the grey matter.  It makes one sleepy and lethargic.  It is like taking a tranquilizer.   And, then the rapid change to a situation of tension and difficulty ---which is what happens every time we meet with this doctor----is stressful.

So, yes, I am angry.  I think this doctor and his wife enjoy undeserved privileges  They are no better than kings, queens, and factory owners as depicted in Darwin.  Of course, this particular doctor wants to shroud it all in his generosity----his imaginary generosity, as he lets his patients say any nonsense that pops into their heads.......

No, when I leave EPTX, I will not think fondly of this man or his wife.  Nor shall I utter a good word about the USA system of medical non-care......

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Capitalism: Obscene and Annoying Pretensions of Plenitude

As promised, but, regrettably, still in rough draft form....

dissecting the ugliness which is capitalism....

describing the ugliness which is capitalism-in-the-USA...





Draft:  The False Fecundity of Capitalism

Recently I wanted to take a Yoga class.  I was faced with the following choices:  Hatha Yoga, Rocket Power Yoga, and Rehabilitation Yoga.




 Sports and the military are connected.  Both teach men and women to be “tough”, and both make me want to reach for a barf bag.

As I understand Yoga, it’s precisely not to be done with the acceleration of a rocket; if it is, then it’s not yoga. And ‘power” and “yoga’ don’t mix because power is too aggressive, whereas there is nothing of aggression in yoga.

How is it that a licensed physical therapist could tell me, with a straight face, that “power yoga” is “more aggressive”?  That’s indicative of the true level of culture in this country; advertising and or marketing categories have replaced reality in the minds of the citizens.  (I understand that you can have, e.g., "aggressive" cancer therapy; but again I can't see aggression (even a relative increase thereof) in any way connected to yoga....)

Sorry, but, I must repeat myself: aggression is no part of yoga.  But aggression and militarism are unspeakable omnipresent aspects of daily life in the USA.....As in, we don't speak about the murders committed by Obama with remote controlled air-gunships, the killing of women and children at funerals and wedding parties, the presumption that any man of a certain age must be a potential or actual enemy--itself a war crime, a criminal policy........

Behind all of this is a disgusting capitalist disease:  the proliferation of phony categories, an attempt to puff things up and create the illusion of abundance and choice were there is none.

Yoga?  It would be enough if we had three categories:  beginning, intermediate, and advanced.  Further complications are unnecessary.

So, too with “Kumquat”, the designer of technology products.  If Kumquat did not exist, some other designer would take there place---and the world would not be a worse place.
“ Oh I love my Kumquat phone!”---Excuse me while I look for my barf bag.....


Americans (citizens of the USA) are unaware.  Like fish who swim in an ocean of pollution, they can't see what's in front of them........It is very disheartening.

NO, That's not quite it either.  There's an additional factor.  There is a way  that USA people talk about "work outs" that turns my stomach.  I can't explain.  They get into this "good mood" voice, and they seem very phony.
And the actual content of their words strikes me as very mechanistic, and, ultimately unclear.

As if deep breathing could be converted into a competitive sport........

There's something wrong about the whole approach, something I can't put my finger on.  But it turns me off, and makes me want to board the next jet heading out of here......

Maybe this is it:  neither physical health nor mental health are commodities.





Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Is El Paso really unfriendly?

What does it mean to say a city is unfriendly?
I suggest the following:  If we were to take the question seriously, it would, in part, be a matter of comparison.  If you find some way to decide a city is/is not friendly, then the judgment is comparative.
If I say El Paso is unfriendly, I am comparing it to other cities.  Now, the truth is that my judgment depends more upon the infrastructure of the city and its basic physical set-up.  That alone suffices to make the city an unpleasant place to be.  Too many hours inevitably spent in vehicles in a competitive relationship to other human beings who are inevitably invisible (black tinted glass is unfriendly) in and of itself makes a city unfriendly, no matter what else happens.

In my own case, one background assumption is that using public transport is less irritating than driving a personally steered monstrosity of climate destruction.  Driving is unfriendly.  (No matter government officials say.....)

A city which makes no real effort to encourage pedestrians or bicycles (and I think that describes El Paso) is unfriendly.

A city where people drive very close (unsafely so) on the (so called) "freeways" is not friendly.

A city where the road signs are unhelpful is not friendly.  (If you have to drive a road three
times before you can drive with the confidence that you won't take a wrong turn, then driving
is not friendly....)

A city whose every road is full of bumps and cracks is unfriendly.  (There's only one exception to this:  the recently paved parking lot of a nearby bank ........Now, that tells you something about what this society is really about.....)

A city where drivers flip off pedestrians (just for the hell of it) is unfriendly.

A city where anyone who is " naked" after dark....(Oh yes"naked" here means walking
without a car nearby.....) is suspicious and will be watched by the police is unfriendly.....(All normal citizens do not appear in public without a vehicle.---or, more simply:  A respectable individual always appears in public with his or her vehicle.  Persons without a vehicle are automatically suspicious.)

ETC.

So, yes, in sum, I stick by my original assessment.  El Paso is unfriendly, and I shall be very happy to leave it.......

Are there individuals who, on occasion, smile and exhibit helpful behavior?  Of course, occasionally
there are.  But one swallow does not make a summer day, and one isolated bit of friendliness does not suffice to make a city friendly.......

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Žižek in a moment of weakness

Clarification: The moment of weakness belonged to me, not Z.  (It was weakness that led me to listen to Z.---and, perhaps, to write this comment)...

Apologies:  I had typed a comment on my mother's IPad, but, as happens too damn frequently,
the thing mal-functioned.

I shall try to reconstruct the comment tomorrow.

I'm starting to think Z. is historically naive, and needlessly misanthropic.
We can learn something about how real changes happen by consider the history of science and technology---which Z. does not.
Also, in the snippet I saw on "Youtube", Z's audience let him talk without interrupting and
failed to ask the most elementary and obvious questions......

recommended reading:  "Not by Genes Alone", Boyd and Richerson, U. Chicago---on how it takes time and many failures to achieve technological progress.....

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APDGh43VCxs

further comments forthcoming

Reconstruction:

Rough over-view of my comment:
1.  What makes Z. so sure that any movement /attempt at revival is doomed to fail?
Pretty comparison to sex/romantic love/Hollywood---but that's not an argument.

Why think that the specific constellation of events called "Prague Spring" was doomed
to fail?

Is it mere "pessimism"?  That's no argument and is historically naive given the nature of
progress in technology. --Esp. the need for many false starts before success is achieved.

Secondly, we know from the history of science that a bad theory can persist with problems.
The problems can be known, and no one can see a solution.  Until one day, a new theory arrives.

2.  Why is no one asking Z. hard questions?  ---.e.g., "What is your reason (other than loudly labeled but undefended "pessimism") for thinking the Prague Spring would have failed?

3.  Why is Z. dismissive of worker-owned businesses?  He mentions a few cases where they failed.  A famous counter--example is Mondragon, in the Basque Country.  Why did no one ask him about that obvious counter-example?

In any case, Richard D. Wolff claims there are lots of worker-owned businesses in the USA, and he thinks it is an idea whose time has come.  To be responsible, Z. would need to address that suggestion in detail.  To be fair, at the time of this interview, Wolff's book had not yet appear.  On the other hand, Z. does not give a real argument or explanation, he only registers his doubts. But doubts are not identical with reasoned argument.  Someone should have asked him to say more.  It is a failing of his audience that they did not.

to repeat:  Someone should be asking Z. questions, but no one does.  Very disappointing on the part of L.N........