Re: (OT) REJECTING MASS MEDIA CULTURE (Was Re: Epic OctatrackPerformance Sampler Teaser....

[Doc Rossi <docittern@gmail.com>]

What I find interesting, and also sad, is that the 60s was all about subjectivity, that is, being an individual by turning one's back on the regimented way of life that dominated suburban America and elsewhere. "The Prisoner" was dead on target. However, this was a respectful individualism, an open attitude that quickly got co-opted into selfishness and the whole I me mine trip Ted is talking about.  Think of The Beat Generation, which was a bunch of individuals who did not necessarily think of themselves as a group - the grouping was a media invention that actually served to condemn them en masse.  The idea of being an individual has been similarly co-opted.

Doc

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 4:57 PM, tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net> wrote:

Hi ho,

While we're on this important (if very off-topic) topic . . .

I have to say that it is so refreshing to hear these sorts of thoughts being expressed on this list.

I may be reading a lot more into these statements here than is really being expressed there.

And, they might not even be particularly widely-held opinions.

However, just the fact that some of my esteemed creative colleagues here also feel like "enough is enough" with the self-absorbed, self-focused, self-actualized, self-stimulating, navel-gazing, orgy of it's all about me-me-me-me-me 24/7 (and violence), that the western world has been in thrall to in for the past 2-3 decades (since the demise of '60s activism), it gives me hope.

Even though the forces arrayed against us (and our children) are great, it's encouraging to find that other "creative types" see something of it too.

It's all happened because global commercial interests have deliberately warped the initial idealism of the '60s era - because they've found out that it's a million, million times easier to sell unneeded goods and services to hyper-selfish people with obsessive, addictive needs for personal "actualization" and gratification of every imaginable (or often even unimaginable) want or desire, than it is to sell to people who still have that "little moral policeman" in their heads saying "wait, hold off, maybe this isn't the best choice."

Why are our children becoming more and more addicted to ever more realistically depicted violence (and remember that video games don't just show you the stuff, they make you participate in it and make choices).

Why can't little Johnny or little Suzzie read, but still know every intimate detail of every online game and YouTube meme out there?

Why do so many Americans drive monstrous vehicles that are not even remotely practical - and likely as not own 2 of them.

Why is Christmas all about the materialistic goodies and presents and hardly about "spiritual" matters at all?

Why is America struggling with massive debt and even more massive obesity?

Because we can't say "no" to ourselves.

People who can't say "no" to themselves make better consumers . . . and better soldiers.

People who can't say "no" to themselves will buy themselves into deep debt.

People who can't say "no" to themselves will always "super-size" it (and go back for more).

People who can't say "no" will argue less when comes the time that their true masters want them to invade another country in their interests.

They'll be more inclined to see it as in their own interest, and those other poor people "over there" as just images on a screen and explainable (and even tolerable) as "collateral damage" - and, besides, they existentially "don't matter" because they're "not us".

"Enough is enough" I say.

Turn the TV off, read a book (preferably and old one).

Buy local (or better yet second-hand, used).

Make your own.

Grow your own.

Barter.

"Tune out" to mass culture and fashion.

Read a "real" newspaper.

Eat less and do more.

Do things with people, starting with your own family.

Join a community of some sort (be a part of something larger than yourself, find something good).

Learn to look for good, value/comment/celebrate it in others, cultivate virtues in yourself, and teach them to your children.

Be kind, be patient, be others-aware (more than self-aware) . . . and above all, be self-critical.

If just a few of us do that, we'll be okay (I think).

Cheers,

Ted

On Dec 20, 2010, at 1:47 AM, mark francombe wrote:

Anthony, I COMPLETELY agree with that point you were making... sorry if I didn't respond to THAT, its a very important issue, and one that means that my kids do not get to watch ANY TELEVISION OR COMPUTER without me or my wife being present, and I expect this rule will continue until they are teens.