Hi Tori,
Guess I am up to no good again. Misdirection . like a female chimpanzee trying to gain some fool's hard won high hanging fruit with a wink and a Nod.??? Believe it or not even a simpleton like me has learned to do the same thing. A little bit like the old trick for catching Bull Frogs. A piece of red fabric torn from my little brother's undershorts,(sneaking under a barbed wire fence to steal fruit) , a fishing pole and line and hook. Just dangle it into the reeds and voila keep the froggies coming!, because we are going to eat like the Frenchmen tonight. My brothers and I were all simpletons. My father taught us the fine Art of pulling off their Pantalons. My father escaped war torn Europe and his first job in Canada was in a French restaurant. It was quite a change from being a soldier . Lately I just pick chicken feet at Dim Sum when I want to upset the straight laced old white ladies. A little deceit and misdirection and we eat like kings and have a Jolly time. That Bullfrog is a perfect solipsist and very tasty one at that done in butter with a slice of lemon. I think as kids we used an old Plymouth hub cap when they still had them, for a frying pan. I had a charming youth, I built devious devices for professional Magicians and Marijuana Smugglers. They all practiced the Art of deception one right in front of your face and the other flying so low he intruded on grasshoppers (It was a good business supplying Americans for many years, then everybody just got so serious and started shooting even dragonflies. I was perfectly legal because I never asked to know the truth! Ignorance of the fact is a legal defense even if the ignorance is extremely well thought.Odd that ignorance of the law is not acceptable but wilfull ignorance of the fact may still work. I guess it was a compromise situation like a marriage.). Just because a man has an education does not mean he is any less a scoundrel, perhaps more so. Pleading stupidity is also a an Art form itself. The Art of Deception; Nasrudhin and von Clausewitz have both much to say on the matter. But I put myself in closer association with Hasek's, Good Soldier Svec. He simply dyed stray mutts to look like purebred dogs with a pedigree. Later I graduated to Academic research and dangling bits of brightly colored acetate could get you a research grant. Many men are also solipsists but I never tried eating one.. Let no man accuse me of lacking guile. Funny having a scoundrel discussing art and lies. What has the world come to. A self professed unbeliever mingling with the Literati. My My. My daughter once asked why I never believed her, what should I have said? I probably muttered off hand "because she could not distinguish truth from fiction "and neither could I when it came right down to the nitty gritty, I can't believe myself why should I treat her any differently? I have always had difficulty with sincere people.. My daughter is also an artist. That still leaves me an unrepentant scoundrel with bad habits and a taste for the weird. Assemble my lies and tell me what you think I value, I'd like to know myself. Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky Ph.D.(Civil Eng.), M.Sc.(Mech.Eng.), M.Sc.(Biology) 120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd. Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA R2J 3R2 (204) 2548321 Phone/Fax <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Victoria Hughes Sent: October 18, 2010 6:16 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Lying is an Art? How about the word "misdirection"? Lies we tell ourselves are different that the sleight of hand we offer others, with a wink and a nudge, to say things without being held accountable. Art usually (not always) falls into the latter category. Artists who lie to themselves usually get a day job. Tory On Oct 18, 2010, at 5:07 PM, Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky wrote: Peter and Steve I have heard Peter's quote before ( I suspect Picasso was not the first, just the most prominent ) and other slightly different extensions, "Assemble a man's lies and then you will learn what he values" "First deceive yourself then you can deceive others" "We comfort with lies those terrified by the truth" "Bad liars have no inkling of the truth" Perhaps it has never been easy to be truthful in society so we mastered the special art of lying through our teeth. If you have to lie about something it forces you to have a very firm picture of the truth in your mind or you may make a mistake. Writing under oppressive regimes has created marvellous fiction such as Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky Ph.D.(Civil Eng.), M.Sc.(Mech.Eng.), M.Sc.(Biology) 120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd. Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA R2J 3R2 (204) 2548321 Phone/Fax <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: October 17, 2010 10:10 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie Peter - Well said... and in a single short paragraph with a single eloquent quote... - Steve A'propos Ten Best Texts as fiction. I'm sure no one at Friam holds to the techno-barbarian view that nothing valuable can be gained from fiction. In my opinion the important human values can be illuminated only by fiction. After all, the King James Bible (1611) is about the best thing in fiction the English have ever done. When told that his work was "untrue", Pablo* agreed, remarking: "Art is a lie that helps us see the truth". This seems a valuable insight. *Pablo Picasso (1887 - 1968): Sp., Fr. painter. Developed cubism Peter Lissaman, Da Vinci Ventures Expertise is not knowing everything, but knowing what to look for. 1454 Miracerros Loop South, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505,USA tel:(505)983-7728 ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ----------------------------------- Tory Hughes [email protected] <http://toryhughes.com/> Tory Hughes website <http://www.facebook.com/tory.hughes1?ref=profile> Tory Hughes facebook ------------------------------------
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
