What the Hell is That? (Part 2)
This is not a rant about what’s wrong with kids, today. Kids are amazing. They are sponges of experience and knowledge who will inherit whatever we adults can do for the human condition. It’s never going to be the other way around, at least not as long as we are inextricably bound to the forward progression of time. But, we grown monsters could certainly do better.
I’m increasingly distressed by the number of adults I encounter, who’ve been blinkered against the distraction of most anything that doesn’t serve a certain economic value, that is, beyond the illusion of the utilitarian. I can’t even count the number of times my own works have elicited a judgment of “Useless,” or “I just wasted three minutes of my life watching this.” Should I be mystified that a viewer could sit through an entire three minutes of my video, and then ask, “What does it do?” Jokesters not withstanding, it makes me wonder what, if any, exposure to anything beyond a rote-programmed stumble through existence these folks have had. Where did their sense of wonder go, much less a sense of humor? I should point out that if someone watches a video, like it or not, it is disingenuous to ignore the fact of having been entertained, at least on some level.
Of course, I know exactly where that sense of wonder went. I witnessed the process first hand; children having it adroitly extracted, while in attendance at various so-called learning institutions. Even today, when I visit elementary, and secondary school classrooms, on a mission to propagate the benefits of creative self expression, I am met with blank stares from so many, and astonishment from others; children as young as the first grade. The educational system is not entirely to blame, certainly. After all, what use is being molded into an obedient automaton, if it isn’t reinforced at home?
Still, I’m not intending to enrage you with my subversive screed. I’ll refrain from further direct condemnation of those whose honest intent was, at least at some point in their careers, launching thousands of brilliant bees, prepared and ready to produce the world’s honey. After all, I managed to pupate into something sort of worthwhile, even if a bit worse for wear. And, I know what you're thinking, "Geez! What a cynic!"
Here’s the thing. I worry that people are becoming less aware of, or interested in things that have real impact on the quality of life, especially their own. I believe it's a problem, directly observable in the way too many people regard some of life's most extraordinary encounters, manifest in chance exposures to works of fine art.
Years ago, I installed a pretty elaborate kinetic piece in the entrance lobby of a well-heeled elementary school. I was just finished servicing the piece, putting my tools away, some few yards away, when a pair of eight-year-old boys came sauntering by. One of them, evidently being led on a tour of the place, was drawn in by the frenetic actions of the device, and dumbstruck, asked his companion about the thing. His reply? "Oh, that's just something we have around here." A more off-handed delivery, I have surely never witnessed. My turn to be dumbstruck. In retrospect, I wonder if it was Mom, or Dad, who demonstrated this little coy performance.
I considered intercepting the smug little man, to inquire about how many other items of this sort populate his world. But, one doesn't engage children this way, at least not without first considering how to turn such a conversation into a meaningful exchange, as opposed to a wild-eyed confrontation that could lead to getting whacked over the head with a pocketbook, as wielded by someone's irate mother. Do mothers still carry pocketbooks?
My contemporaries will remember how, at the turn of the millennium, predictions of doom were rampant, based on the idea that so much of our infrastructure was dependent on computer systems, the programming of which shared a common flaw; namely, that the current year was represented by only two digits. In theory, this was going to cause pandemonium, when the date clocks rolled over to the year 1900. Imagine the bankers grinning while indulging that fantasy. Fortunately, the likely consequences of this problem had been recognized a couple years prior. So, most everything was fixed in plenty of time, and the number of things that got missed never amounted to anything serious.
As the year 2000 approached, I joked that I was about to become nobility, the idea being that with a complete collapse of the infrastructure, which has by now been completely taken for granted, people who knew how to improvise, and make things work again, would become in very high demand and greater regard. It was a very silly idea, of course. Had the worst come to pass, things wouldn’t have taken horribly long to put back into service. And, even if not, the notion that civilization would devolve into some miasma of overturned social hierarchies, seems pretty far-fetched.
But, my little mental exercise has its basis in some reality. For whatever reasons there are, we are no longer in possession of what could be some extremely useful, and now, evidently irretrievable information. It’s known that immense volumes of accumulated human knowledge have been forever lost to events as mundane as the burning down of buildings, such as the libraries of Alexandria, Egypt, over a thousand years ago. Today, the erection of the pyramids, Stonehenge, and other surviving artifacts of prehistoric grandeur, remain subjects for great speculation; methods and systems of thought that conceivably were well documented, at one time.
It’s as though the human race just doesn’t deserve to progress beyond a certain point. As a prime example, in my own country, we practically celebrate ignorance and stupidity, especially as demonstrated by our public officials and cultural celebrities. I love a quote, recently encountered and attributed to the venerable science fiction author, Isaac Asimov. “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread, winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” – from Newsweek, January 21, 1980. I mean to explore the origins of this phenomenon, and will be reporting back, as insights may be revealed.
I’m increasingly distressed by the number of adults I encounter, who’ve been blinkered against the distraction of most anything that doesn’t serve a certain economic value, that is, beyond the illusion of the utilitarian. I can’t even count the number of times my own works have elicited a judgment of “Useless,” or “I just wasted three minutes of my life watching this.” Should I be mystified that a viewer could sit through an entire three minutes of my video, and then ask, “What does it do?” Jokesters not withstanding, it makes me wonder what, if any, exposure to anything beyond a rote-programmed stumble through existence these folks have had. Where did their sense of wonder go, much less a sense of humor? I should point out that if someone watches a video, like it or not, it is disingenuous to ignore the fact of having been entertained, at least on some level.
Of course, I know exactly where that sense of wonder went. I witnessed the process first hand; children having it adroitly extracted, while in attendance at various so-called learning institutions. Even today, when I visit elementary, and secondary school classrooms, on a mission to propagate the benefits of creative self expression, I am met with blank stares from so many, and astonishment from others; children as young as the first grade. The educational system is not entirely to blame, certainly. After all, what use is being molded into an obedient automaton, if it isn’t reinforced at home?
Still, I’m not intending to enrage you with my subversive screed. I’ll refrain from further direct condemnation of those whose honest intent was, at least at some point in their careers, launching thousands of brilliant bees, prepared and ready to produce the world’s honey. After all, I managed to pupate into something sort of worthwhile, even if a bit worse for wear. And, I know what you're thinking, "Geez! What a cynic!"
Here’s the thing. I worry that people are becoming less aware of, or interested in things that have real impact on the quality of life, especially their own. I believe it's a problem, directly observable in the way too many people regard some of life's most extraordinary encounters, manifest in chance exposures to works of fine art.
Years ago, I installed a pretty elaborate kinetic piece in the entrance lobby of a well-heeled elementary school. I was just finished servicing the piece, putting my tools away, some few yards away, when a pair of eight-year-old boys came sauntering by. One of them, evidently being led on a tour of the place, was drawn in by the frenetic actions of the device, and dumbstruck, asked his companion about the thing. His reply? "Oh, that's just something we have around here." A more off-handed delivery, I have surely never witnessed. My turn to be dumbstruck. In retrospect, I wonder if it was Mom, or Dad, who demonstrated this little coy performance.
I considered intercepting the smug little man, to inquire about how many other items of this sort populate his world. But, one doesn't engage children this way, at least not without first considering how to turn such a conversation into a meaningful exchange, as opposed to a wild-eyed confrontation that could lead to getting whacked over the head with a pocketbook, as wielded by someone's irate mother. Do mothers still carry pocketbooks?
My contemporaries will remember how, at the turn of the millennium, predictions of doom were rampant, based on the idea that so much of our infrastructure was dependent on computer systems, the programming of which shared a common flaw; namely, that the current year was represented by only two digits. In theory, this was going to cause pandemonium, when the date clocks rolled over to the year 1900. Imagine the bankers grinning while indulging that fantasy. Fortunately, the likely consequences of this problem had been recognized a couple years prior. So, most everything was fixed in plenty of time, and the number of things that got missed never amounted to anything serious.
As the year 2000 approached, I joked that I was about to become nobility, the idea being that with a complete collapse of the infrastructure, which has by now been completely taken for granted, people who knew how to improvise, and make things work again, would become in very high demand and greater regard. It was a very silly idea, of course. Had the worst come to pass, things wouldn’t have taken horribly long to put back into service. And, even if not, the notion that civilization would devolve into some miasma of overturned social hierarchies, seems pretty far-fetched.
But, my little mental exercise has its basis in some reality. For whatever reasons there are, we are no longer in possession of what could be some extremely useful, and now, evidently irretrievable information. It’s known that immense volumes of accumulated human knowledge have been forever lost to events as mundane as the burning down of buildings, such as the libraries of Alexandria, Egypt, over a thousand years ago. Today, the erection of the pyramids, Stonehenge, and other surviving artifacts of prehistoric grandeur, remain subjects for great speculation; methods and systems of thought that conceivably were well documented, at one time.
It’s as though the human race just doesn’t deserve to progress beyond a certain point. As a prime example, in my own country, we practically celebrate ignorance and stupidity, especially as demonstrated by our public officials and cultural celebrities. I love a quote, recently encountered and attributed to the venerable science fiction author, Isaac Asimov. “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread, winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” – from Newsweek, January 21, 1980. I mean to explore the origins of this phenomenon, and will be reporting back, as insights may be revealed.
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