> The consequence of this is that we have an increasingly illiterate
> society, where "illiterate" include categories like "mathematically",
> "musically", and others. (And I point this comment as much at
There was just a piece on a debate, showing that some kinds of music
boost kid's IQ's at least temporarily. The schools are debating whether
this suggests we ought to teach music in school or not. Many say that
there isn't the time, nor the money to do so in this increasingly complex
society, that we must concentrate in teaching facts to the children.
Music or computers? Which would you have them learn?
Well... being a computer geek of sorts, having built my own
computers, invented a few things now and then, written an occasional piece
of science fiction... I would have to say MUSIC!!! -- If the mind can't
soar beyond the here and now, learning to walk isn't worth it; for you
won't Want to walk, much less know Where!!!
> myself as anyone else: I can tell a Picasso from a Pollock, but only
> because I had a S.O. who took me to the Philadelphia Art Museum
> on several occasions. I've often asked myself how the heck I was
> allowed to get out of college without knowing that. And I actually
> tried to diversify my coursework...not hard enough, obviously.)
Most of the time, I think that most art is utter crap. I see it in
some of the galleries, the bad plaster busts of old Roman busts, or the
bright contrasty or dull colors of some Artiste' without a clue. Or the
absurdist stack of logs or pile of dirt here or there. (Qizecotl coiled
dog-dung like snake statue in San Jose comes to mind...)
Yet I've some prints on my walls, and one stupid sketch of an owl
that I made, scanned, and improved to death, hanging on my walls. On some
contracts, I've bought and hung some art in my office, as the relaxation
means I will work longer and more than make up for the cost.
> So what? So we have a society full of people who can't participate
> in decisions affecting their lives, because they don't understand
> the mathematics involved in the risk analysis of a possible landfill.
> A society that doesn't support the fine arts because they find them
> inaccessible. A society that buys into health fads (today's trend:
> dietary supplements) because they don't understand basic physiology.
> A society subject to manipulation by demagogues/mass media/advertisers
> because they haven't learned critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking skills... (face in hands...) does anyone even think
those are relevant, given Madison Avenue advertising and senseless TV
shows???
> We *all* pay the price for this.
While I think most art is crap, the occasional gem makes life worth
living! You and I will probably NOT agree which ones! I won't even agree
with myself, from mood to mood, which ones! But... without the expression
of art, without the justification of expression itself that good art
brings to our own selves... without the freedom to at least try to express
ourselves... without the inspiration that there is Something beyond the
here and now, as art occasionally brings to us, life just isn't worth
living. It is like that Apple 1984 ad, the shlarbs all shuffling along in
their beyond-drab outfits before that girl in the red shorts runs in,
throwing her hammer and smashing that face on the screen. I hadn't quite
thought of it before, but I suppose the real difference (in that fake
picture,) is that she has seen art; they have not. Till her suicidal
act!
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