Hello Bill,
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 1:02 PM, John Reimer <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hello Walter,
John Reimer wrote:
Walter, I've heard a lot of arguments for defending the expression
of "art", but this one's a doosie.
Ever watch Monty Python? I asked a brit about the accents they use
in their skits, because there are many different british accents. He
laughed and said the accents were a parody of the british upper
class accents.
I suspected that, not being british, I was missing half the jokes
<g>.
There's also Spongebob Squarepants. It's ostensibly a kid's show,
but at least in the early episodes there are a lot of digs at
Jacques Cousteau's 70's tv series "The Undersea World". What kid
would get those jokes?
I tend to care a lot about things and think a lot about implications
and idea and how they affect people, including the manner and
language used when one expresses oneself to another. I don't
particularly care for a lot of the humour available on television
today (I don't watch it anymore, anyway). However, it seems that a
lot of people enjoy lampoons because it acts as a balm to their mind
to help /avoid/ taking most things too seriously. I can appreciate
that, but I think there's also a caution involved there.
The main problem with many of the new television shows is that, like
fashion decides the fad in clothes, someone is deciding for us what
is fair game to be laughed at. The limits are pushed continually.
For all the talk about religion's apparent control of people's minds,
I think there's a whole lot more to be worried about as people feed
on the what the boob tube serves up. With long time exposure, I'd say
there is possibly a strong influence on their tolerance for what they
consider acceptable behavior. Humor, of course, is only one aspect
of this. It used to be that the productions in television tried to
model the real world. I think the opposite is now happening to some
extent as we derive more relevancy from the fantasies and culture
created in the imaginary worlds portrayed to us from television.
Concerning profanity and swearing. I think many forms of expression
should warrant more careful thought. I don't believe profane or
irreverant expression has a neutral effect on hearers. We've already
seen plenty of evidence of that in here. You may think it's cute and
artsy, but I think it does any combination of the following: creates
a language barrier, trivializes the original meaning of certain
anglo-saxon words, shows general disrespect in communication,
demonstrates poor vocabulary, reveals carelessness in thinking of
others feelings, etc and on and on. It's like throwing dirt in
somebody's face and thinking that's a normal way to interact. We can
stamp a "art" sticker on it and call it funny when it is clothed in a
comedic role (or any situation really), but this is just as effective
as sticking an "ice cream" tab on a pile of manure; there's no way to
make it pretty.
It's a very pervasive view that swearing is a non-issue these days,
and a person is just being prudish and silly if he disaproves. But
I've been keenly aware of how the same profanity is expressed with
ever so much force and rancor when a person is angry. Then it becomes
very clear that the words fit the role perfectly with the malice that
expresses them (not to say person should swear when he is angry :) ).
It's no wonder that the expression of them becomes confusing when
they merge back into everyday speech for no apparent reason.
Very thoughtful piece there, John. I agree with you pretty much
completely. I think the issues you speak of are particularly
pervasive in American culture these days. Can't speak for other parts
of the world, but things definitely don't seem as bad to me over here
in Japan. Then again it could be just that my Japanese just isn't
good enough to pick up that level of nuance, but I really don't think
Japanese culture has taken a heavy hit from the sarcasm bucket yet.
--bb
Thanks for the encouragment, Bill. You just might regret it later, though.
;)
-JJR
