tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post2789171353075154415..comments2024-03-29T14:45:32.326+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: TaxidermyDr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-55671298946134193922006-12-19T09:30:00.000+13:002006-12-19T09:30:00.000+13:00You're a spammer, aren't you, "vicoprofen"? I thou...You're a spammer, aren't you, "vicoprofen"? I thought I'd got rid of the likes of you by turning on the word verification, but apparently you've found a way around it -- how very ingenious of you.Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-19109015909252077602006-10-27T01:21:00.000+13:002006-10-27T01:21:00.000+13:00I know you are not cynical (being self-interested ...I know you are not cynical (being self-interested is not the same as cynicism - it is essential (or at the least it is very healthy) to "push" oneseelf)(what happens to film stars etc is they get sucked into what I feel is a kind of terrible machine - poets can keep to one side of that..) - I never doubt your integrity. (Sometimes I think you are too concerned about these things - but I know where you are coming from).<br /><br />Just at the moment I have great temptation to dive away from it all.<br /><br />Understand the weapon - yes.<br />I think we agree in most areas - but not in the details. <br /><br />Re fighting for freedom a la Cornford and Orwell* etc - for me that is always a job for someone else -that may sound cynical but ther can always be found someone who is "brave" and wants to rush off to war to save the world - so there is no need for me to get hurt myself - someone else can do it for me).<br /><br />Here some aspects or ways of twisting postmodernism or philosophy come to my rescue! <br /><br /> Postmodernity I was suggesting -nothing new here- is a double-edged weapon - Foucault is able indirectly to attack the "system" (even if all his premises are not "logical" (logic per se can also be a negative weapon)) but in some interpretations - what I understand of Baudrillard is either a cop out or it is illuminating...Derrrida is so complex as to be ambiguous - but I am not an expert in these people - they are all good: a counterweight to say - well certain Marxists or "Positivists" or whoever - I hadn't read any Chomsky. He seems very astute - I am going only by the video clips on Scott's Blog.<br /><br />But I recall Kendrick Smithyman commenting on how Mason stopped writing (much) poetry after he became political...this was (in 1968) before I got caught up in political stuff myself the next year. Now I am thinking of Yeat's poem (line of a) - "The best lack all conviction/and the worst are full of passionate intensity" (however it goes) - a bit too tidy perhaps but memorable and quite insightful - if a bit dubius outside the poem.<br /><br />And Scott once wondered - half to himself if Smithyman really cared about people. The thing is - how much do we actually care about anyone apart from ourselves?<br /><br />My friend Jim "The Ant" Dollimore believes Capitalism is great stuff - that it will gradually get better (everywhere) as science spreads its benefits and advances & technology reaches more and more people - hence we dont really need to worry about much - but we do have to attack terrorism so he supports the US and Britain in Afghanistan etc. What do you say to him? ...(He doesn't use a computer). His view will be quite common amongst many Liberals. ('Islamo-fascism' is a favourite word of his). <br /><br />*Cornford etc aside - to have the ethical attitude that it is right "save humanity and so on" doesn't mean one has to do anything. lack of action therefore is not thus immoral - however 'morality or integrity' is defined.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-74800655228320907052006-10-26T09:14:00.000+13:002006-10-26T09:14:00.000+13:00http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/archive/30/p02i...http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/archive/30/p02i02.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-43923104992186951702006-10-26T08:37:00.000+13:002006-10-26T08:37:00.000+13:00"Understand the weapon -- understand the war." Tha..."Understand the weapon -- understand the war." That was Jophn Cornford's dictum from the Spanish Civil War. TV is influential to a degree it's difficult to exaggerate. People watch it rather than living -- without understanding that, it's hard to make any sense at all out of postmodernity.<br /><br />It's not cynicism that makes me want to engage with the larger implications of Martha Stewart (google her and see the three trillion sites that come up ...) Understanding the weapon is, in this case, I believe, our only hope.Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-35747799204816813732006-10-25T22:22:00.000+13:002006-10-25T22:22:00.000+13:00Jack - sorry but my comment is going to sound rath...Jack - sorry but my comment is going to sound rather inane - I expect 'everyone else' knows who these people are but I don't know any of them - who are they? - are you talking about film stars? <br /><br />I am not interested in these people (if you are) as these 'stars' (I hate them) -in my view are mostly very hollow people - a lot of them are worse than hollow - they are evil even - I see they have something about Paul McCarthy and so on on TV - I am completly uninterested in him. (I always found the Beatles music to be very simplistic and at best inane - however I have a dim view of most pop music and culture). (I know the post modernist views etc and I agree somewhat but I am not in that kind of a mood).<br /><br /> The US especially seems to have produced this kind of - this strange almost psychotic nation that is corrupt and violent and criticises other countries for developing weapons to defend themslves against them (and they themselves have created the fear that produces the 'monstors' they then tell everyone they are afraid of and this process spirals) (when they have millions of the same weapons) - I see the US as a dangerous fascist country - but it is a kind of surreal fascism. Where you can say what you like and no one takes any notice so there may as well not be any democracy or "freedom" as the rich rule - not only the minds of the people but the state itself. (Orwell and Kafka et al come to mind here...). And where telvision and film etc rules peoples' minds and mostly assists the fascism. <br /><br />If I get the gist of what you care saying right - it is as if Nero was in charge of the West and various other maniacs are running the rest of the place. None of it really matters - that is why we do poetry and art - these are highter things that will last. Conceptualy at least - it doesn't matter if are all immolated somehow as we are all going to die anyway - so I am very happy! I have "ceased to care" - <br /><br />But keep on blogging - when you win a big poetry prize or get a "name" like Silliman you will get lots of people reading your Blog. Now THAT kind of fame and kudos and recognition / respect etc is based or would be based on real talent - most of these "stars" etc (in contrast) lack real ability. If they are "sexy" and stupid that is good enough for pepe - who become fixated on someone esle besides themslves and hence do nothing much with their own lives - live through others - ('The immense tragedy of the peasant's bent back -' at least Pound had a passion) ..nothing fundamental ever changes (re-read King Lear)(not "you" -I am being rhetorical) in the world -but in the world of art - high art -real depth is produced. Think of Bach -<br /><br />(cf to film stars of today or "pop" stars)<br /><br /> - he was hardly known - that is good.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.com