One of my favourite artists and an acquaintance of mine, Tycho, scores this exemplary video. The site needed some multimedia. why not start with this.
Came across this program recently representing a viewpoint that I feel is worth examining. Many important messages have been lost by the overwhelming, and misdirected method by which they’re delivered. The “what” never gets past the “how.” Utilizing the proverbial shell game, the decision-makers spin, misdirect, or simply fabricate to further their respective goals, whatever those may be. The observation that public relations is more important than public policy has serious validity.
Unfortunately, no one seems to be immune. The case made in the program regarding the escalation of the perils of Martha Stewart over that of Ken Lay is a poignant one if nothing else. More recently the American Democrats have recently employed the same tactics, focusing the upcoming election on “emotional revelations” and “camera presence” rather than legislative platforms.Unfortunately charisma as a major factor in society is nothing new (see section A.1.d). The distinction being a factor as opposed to the entire basis for the process of making a determination. The need for substance behind the façade has all but disappeared. Ultimately, once this ethical ‘gold standard’ had been removed, the fluctuations and potential outcomes become noticeably more volatile. The rationale that, one could argue, guided the intellectuals to making the greater good possible has been overridden by popularity and charm.
The program presents the view that it is in fact the rhetoric surrounding the current dialogue in American politics that is in fact most dangerous. Not the stances themselves.
Being that I have often shirked at involving myself in this new fad that is the internet, I’ve come to the conclusion that as the only form of honest exposure left, however fleeting, I want to stop simply talking and being doing. Now, I absolutely appreciate the fundamental contradiction I’ve created in making that statement; when the only change in my daily habits would be to be documenting my rants, my sermons, in this archive but I’ve recently found myself becoming increasingly interested in passing along the little knowledge that I have been fortuitously able to accumulate.
As someone who feels that for an individual to believe they are capable of instituting any measurable amount of change in the universal sense is laughable, if not borderline delusional, and that my general outlook on existence can be summed up as a blip on some cosmic radar screen, the only real impact that can be made on an interpersonal level is information. Information to cause as little friction as possible. Using the homo-centric example of a society, a la a group of humans living in close physical proximity, the larger it becomes, the more organic the energy that flows through it. Humans, on an individual level, are a contradiction in most contexts. A human being is at odds with most everything surround it and only when it acknowledges this and makes an informed decision to begin fighting against the very basis of how it defines itself, will it start the journey towards knowledge.
My endgame is not to elevate my soapbox, turn up the volume on my microphone or attempt to climb to a higher mountaintop. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. By creating this electronic instance of ones and zeroes, I hope to give thoughts, ideas, perspectives that I think are beneficial to the greater Integral one tiny, insignificant conduit to as many of the Greens, Blacks and Whites as possible.
My equation begins…
Seems like a good a place to start as any.
