Category Archives: Current Affairs

Love and Garbage: Some Comments

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This is not a review. I have no idea how to review literature, especially Czech lit.

Klíma, Ivan. Love and Garbage.

I finished this book last night, having read it and Kundera’s The Joke over the summer for my book discussion group. I really do not know enough about Czech history to properly place these books, or Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in their proper context. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed them all.

I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being a few years ago for a grad sociology seminar in “lived morality.” It was the first work of literature that I had read in many, many years and I had to analyze the morality on display in it after one reading. I posted my paper to my original blog, reproduced here. [I have no idea what that stupid emoticon is doing in there. One other oddity from my move to WordPress to investigate.]

As I said, no review, but I would like to cite a few of the passages that I found meaningful, if not necessarily related to our discussion group on realism in Western lit. I have not quoted everything that I found particularly meaningful. Some passages are too personal, and even in some of these that I have quoted you will be unable to grasp much of the context relevant to me.

Thus my home became for me both a refuge and a cage, I wanted to remain in it and yet also to flee from it; to have the certainty that I would not be driven out and also the hope that I’d escape one day (14).

There was a period in my life, not so long ago, where I constantly felt like this. Nowadays, it rarely bubbles up, but the feeling does remain buried in me somewhere.

I wanted to achieve this not out of some kind of pride but because I realise that the most important things in life are non-communicable, not compressible into words, even though the people who believe they have discovered them always try to communicate them, even though I myself try to do so. But anyone who believes that he has found what is truly enduring and that he can communicate to others the essence of God, that he has discovered the right faith for them, that he has finally glimpsed the mystery of existence, is a fool or a fantasist and, more often than not, dangerous (16).

The prime context for this was on being a writer and discovering the ineffable and important for oneself. But the second half seems even more relevant in today’s world.

What feelings does a person experience in a place where death spreads his wings more often than birds (28)?

Resonated with me based on much of my other readings for the “lived morality” course, especially Todorov’s Facing the Extreme. As macabre as this thought may be, I wish many more people in today’s world might really be able to consider it seriously. Maybe, just maybe, there might be a bit less wholesale slaughter.

The protagonist on why he writes; possibly why some of us blog?:

Years ago, I persuaded myself that I would be able to communicate these images to someone, that there were even people about who were waiting for them in order to share my joys and sorrows. I did all I could to meet their supposed expectations: I was doing this not from pride or any sense of superiority but because I wanted someone to share my world with me (54).

The following quote struck me as relevant to preservation within cultural heritage institutions, to consumerism, and to mass society, amongst other things:

This is something we are both aware of: that the world is groaning, choking with a multitude of creations, that it is buried by objects and strangled by ideas which all pretend to be necessary, useful or beautiful and therefore lay claim to perpetual endurance (107).

And yes, I realize that this is quite applicable to this blog, along with blogging in general. There is no need for anyone to comment that this is in contradiction to my own practices. For one, I am not arguing that this blog, nor my previous one, need to be preserved. I am also not pretending that this is “necessary, useful or beautiful.” If anyone finds it such, then so much the better. But I am not pretending to think it is, nor arguing that it is. Also, for those disposed to question my sincerity regarding the meaningfulness of this quote in my life, all I’ll say is that if there are no dichotomies or ambiguities in your life then you are already beyond the living and just don’t realize it yet.

Resonates with the situation in today’s world:

…man can behave arrogantly not only by deifying his own ego and proclaiming himself the finest flower of matter and life, but equally when he proudly believes that he has correctly comprehended the incomprehensible or uttered the unutterable, or when he thinks up infallible dogmas and with his intellect, which wants to believe, reaches out into regions before which he should lower his eyes and stand in silence (111).

Views on literature:

I still believe that literature has something in common with hope, with a free life outsde the fortress walls which, often unnoticed by us, surround us, with which moreover we surround ourselves. I am not greatly attracted to books whose authors merely portray the hopelessness of our existence, despairing of man, of our conditions, despairing over poverty and riches, over the finiteness of life and the transience of feelings. A writer who doesn’t know anything else had better keep silent (123).

While I do not fully support the sentiments at the end of this quote, in general, I do agree that literature can (and should) provide some form of hope.

Current world, consumerism, trying to fill the void:

The amount of freedom is not increasing in our age, even though it may sometimes seem to be. All that increases is the movement of things, words, garbage and violence. And because nothing can vanish from the face of the planet, the fruits of our activity do not liberate but bury us (130).

…an inner emptiness cannot be filled even with all the objects in the world (137).

The Apocalypse can take different forms. The least dramatic, at first sight, is the one in which man perishes under an avalanche of useless objects, empty words, and excessive activity (145).

On Hoess and the German crematoriums, and the attempt to “cleanse” the world:

The brooms are becoming ever more efficient. The Apocalypse — that is, the cleansing of the world of human beings and of life altogether — is increasingly becoming a mere technical problem (151).

However, the human spirit has not been idle in this revolutionary age: the flames which the cleaners have at their disposal today are capable of simultaneously incinerating any number of people in their own homes (152).

Modern living and society; the soul; the fate of the world:

We break the ancient laws which echo within us and we believe that we may do so with impunity. Surely man, on his road to greater freedom, on his road to his dreamed-of-heaven, should be permitted everything. We are all, each for himself and all together, pursuing the notion of earthly bliss and, in doing so, are piling guilt upon ourselves, even though we refuse to admit it. But what bliss can a man attain with a soul weighed down by guilt? His only way out is to kill the soul within him, and join the crowd of those who roam the world in search of something to fill the void which yawns within them after their soul is dead. Man is no longer conscious of the connection between the way he lives his own life and the fate of the world, which he laments, of which he is afraid, because he suspects that together with the world he is entering the age of the Apocalypse (194).

On being a writer:

Anyone longing to become a writer, for even a few moments of his life, will vainly weave fantastic events unless he has experienced that fall during which he doesn’t know where or whether it will come to an end, and unless his longing for human contact awakens in him the strength to rise, purged, from the ashes (220).

“Cleansing” and the current situation:

It occurred to me that I put on that orange vest for a time because I was longing for a cleansing. Man longs for a cleansing but instead he starts cleaning up his surroundings. But until man cleanses himself he’s wasting his time cleaning up the world around him (223).

I sure wish many of our leaders would learn to cleanse themselves first. Preemptive “cleaning of the world around him” is not only a waste of time, but often dangerous, and quite possibly downright evil.

Again, you really can’t tell much of my psychology or views based on these excerpts. Unless you had read, seen, and heard all of the same things as me, and knew how they affected me and how I have reacted to them, you will not be able to properly understand any of my choices of passages or my comments.

I have only undergone this exercise in the attempt to reach a very few and to highlight some of this book. Do not mistakenly think that these exceprts adequately represent the themes, or the hope, of this book.

Yes, hope. As dismal as many of these exceprts seem, this book does contain hope. It is up to you to find the hope that it contains for yourself.

Happy Birthday Dorothea!

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I guess the post title really says it all, but for those who don’t know, Dorothea Salo is the witty and learned, "young" [per ALA anyway] writer of Caveat Lector and today is her birthday.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful one and that David’s homemade cake is the best ever!

On a side note, I’m still politely waiting on a reply to TEI is too metadata!  Take your time, enjoy your birthday first.  I’m not going anywhere.  :)

Welcome my son,

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welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?  It’s alright we know were you’ve been.

Pink Floyd.  "Welcome To The Machine."  Wish You Were Here.

I recently (and tentatively) ventured into MySpace.  Although I’ve already said a bit, and I have more at the moment, I still don’t think I have much to say yet.  Senseless, I know.  But bear with me, I’m still working on getting less addled.  But then trying to figure out MySpace is kind of senseless, or at least makes me feel that way.

I opened an account, as I said, because my son posted a comment here that he had commented on something of immense value to me at his MySpace blog.  It seemed I needed an account to see it, so the motivation was finally there. 

I did end up talking to Jeremy about his explicitly inviting me into his MySpace during Sara’s graduation weekend, but I never did get to talk to Sara about it.

I’ve have not been doing much in my MySpace account.  I only wanted it as a way to see the kids’ stuff, if allowed.  But it doesn’t really work like that.  Of course, I do have a choice.  I could completely ignore it and try to only use it to interact with the kids, but that doesn’t look like it’d work well.  Admittedly, not fully tried in practice.  Here’s how I remember my arriving at MySpace went:

"Welcome my son,…"  As soon as my account was live I already had a friend.  I didn’t even want a friend and I already had one!  Seems Tom is one of the co-founders and ‘the face of the Man.’  Within another 2-3 hours I had a request from someone to be my friend.  I was starting to worry.  At first I didn’t place who this person was [how many people do I know in Vermont?], but they were library-related so I said OK.  I finally figured out it was probably one of our LEEP students, but I was still baffled for a while.  I told you I’ve been addled lately.  [Happy Birthday (soon) H-Dawg!  And I hope to see you on campus in the next few days.]

At this point (probably evening), I post on my blog that I’ve entered MySpace.  I woke up the next day to have friends requests from Michael Stephens and my friend and co-worker, the lovely Miss E.  A few hours later, my Boltini Bingo (666-themed) partner and frequent (and highly welcome) commenter here, Jenny, sent me a request.  At some point soon thereafter, planetneutral friended me.  Luckily, it has slowed down.  Counting Tom, I have 7 friends.  [Counting Tom, sounds like a good name for a band.]  Anyway, not sure I get the whole friends thing, but it is cool to be welcomed by folks you are already familiar with from other venues.  No, I am not complaining that you all friended me!  It’s just that my conception of ‘friendship’ goes back a couple of decades and perhaps a millennia or two.  I wonder what happened to the lovely word ‘acquaintance?’  [I see that my Merriam Webster Collegiate Thesaurus (1988) gets it completely wrong.  It says that 'friend' is the primary synonym.  It also has an incorrect defintion (or very loose at the least), but at least they agree.  My Oxford American Dicitionary amd Language Guide (1999) is far better in that it refers to slight knowledge of.]

I have done a few minor modifications and finally made 2 blog posts, one of which is a tattoo survey I found at my son’s MySpace.  I chose the appellation Metadater : One who "does" metadata.  Metadater comes from a slip of tongue and mostly fingers a while back.  What are they (we)?  Metadata librarians?  Metadata specialists?  Someone suggested Metalogers to me, and they even tried Catadata… until they hit the same issue I did.  Catadata is a sweet start, but there’s nowhere to go with it and we need a broader term anyway.  So I ended up with Metadaters.  The more uppity type of Metadata Librarians can hold on to their prissy professional title, I was looking for one that covers all who work with metadata whether they have a certified library degree or not.

I’ll just have to see how the MySpace thing goes.  As much as I don’t want to have two blogs, maybe I’ll use Metadater for more of my frivolous stuff, e.g, some of the surveys and so on.  I will not be using it for most stuff, and certainly not for professional writings and such.  I find the appellation humorous for several reasons, but I really doubt many people on MySpace want to read or talk about metadata, or at least in that venue.

I just checked in this morning and I now have an 8th friend.  Yesterday, I decided to check on some of my favorite musical artists seeing as MySpace mostly started with musicians.  I found Haley Bonar and Bif Naked.  I was able to add a Haley song to my page although it looks like Haley may no longer be active in her MySpace.  I asked to be Bif’s friend although she already has almost 23,000.  See?  No one has 23 thousand friends!  I have, at least, met both of these young women and have had short conversations with them.  Bif approved my friend request and is now my ‘friend.’  Can we really talk any sillier than this, I wonder?  Anyway, I do love her music and I can now get a bit more info about her tours and such.

Also, why the heck can’t I be graduated but still attending school?  I know us ‘perpetual students’ are a supposedly rare breed, but damn it, people do graduate and start a new degree at the same school!  I wonder if I can enter the same school twice….

As I said at the beginning, I’m not sure what to say about MySpace.  It is ugly, but can be improved some.  But I certainly do NOT want those stupid ads.  Not those for products, nor those for ‘Cool New People,’ nor ‘Featured Music Video.’  I guess that only the page header ad on my main page shows to others.  I see all that other crap when I’m logged in.  Still don’t like it.  Another issue is that the greedy bastard, Rupert Murdoch, claims to ‘own’ or at least have full rights to anything one posts on MySpace.  It has been pointed out in a few places, and the terms of use appear to have changed, slightly.  This is clearly something to keep an eye on.

For more intelligent discussion of MySpace, one place to look is danah boyd’s apophenia.  Not too likely that I’ll be connecting Habermas and MySpace, but danah certainly will.  A more populist explanation of MySpace is available at the Howstuffworks article, "How MySpace Works."  It has been pointed out at a few places in the biblioblogosphere lately, but I am unable to find the posts of  the few people I saw it from.  I did bookmark it and it is easy enough to find with a search engine.  Sorry for the non-attribution and it is certainly not intentional, but that is one problem with too much information being available  in too many places.

Reference Note: The title and intro for this post was located with the wonderful (*but not perfect) The Green book of songs by subject : the thematic guide to popular music / by Jeff Green.—5th ed., expanded & updated (2002).  [*It says that this song is on The Wall.]  This is a wonderful book when making compilation ‘tapes’, and you can write in it just like you are encouraged to do in, say, your Sears List of Subject Headings.  It just may come in handy for post titles too.

Do research libraries have a purpose?

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"Do research libraries have a purpose?"  That, is the question.  The follow-up question is, "Do educated people in positions of ‘power’ have a clue as to what that might be?"

Yesterday I read Karen Calhoun’s final report to the Library of Congress, "The Changing Nature of the Catalog and its Integration with Other Discovery Tools," and Thomas Mann’s rebuttal, "The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools.  Final Report.  March 17, 2006.  Prepared for the Library of Congress by Karen Calhoun.  A Critical Review."

As much as some people in my chosen profession scare the bejeesus out of me, I am glad that I made myself read Calhoun’s report.  There is certainly some value in her report, but that said, it is a complete abomination.  Here is what I posted on my Cat & Class II’s electronic bulletin board last night after writing and posting the previous entry about Thomas Frey’s futurist view of the "book as experience."

I finally got off my rear and read both of these today after printing
them out. While there is some of value in Calhoun’s report, she has
clearly entered the ranks of "the AntiChrist" in my book. She has
completely conflated the purpose of the research library to that of the
business world. She has also completely equated scholars (you know, the
folks who research libraries serve) with the typical Google using
"information seeker." I am increasingly finding it hard to believe that
people like this have graduate degrees and work at places like Cornell.
Dante did not report on a level of Hell near "good" enough for the
likes of Calhoun and her ilk.

I was already impressed with
Thomas Mann, but his rebuttal has made him my current personal hero.
While I had already caught most of what he says in his rebuttal, he
says it far more eloquently than I could or would, AND he has the
status of researcher himself, and decades of serving researchers as a
reference librarian, to back up what he says.

If you have not
yet read either of these, I highly suggest that you take the hour (or
2-3) that it’s take you to read them. If you come to different
conclusions than me, then fine. But if you are only going to read one,
then read Mann. 1) It is shorter. 2) If you really disagree, then he
will have pulled enough quotes from Calhoun to intrigue you into
reading her. BUT. It would be patently unfair to read only Calhoun and
not Mann.

Either way.  Read with an open, but highly questioning mind.

I was teasingly called a "blasphemer" for my use of "AntiChrist."  So be it.  But, personally, I think the term "blasphemer" might best be directed toward someone else in this discussion.

I could say much, much more about the abomination that the Calhoun report is, but Thomas Mann said most of it already, and much better.

But yes, I too want my tax dollars back for this highly faulty "product."

Something stinks in my country

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News from the BBC yesterday:

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali gets 30 years for conspiracy. 

"Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, but Judge Lee
said that Abu Ali’s actions "did not result in one single actual
victim" and no weapons were found in his possession."

Disgraced former US lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been jailed for nearly six years for conspiracy and fraud.

Oh, the horror!  He’s been disgraced of all things.  In his case we’re talking 10′s of millions of dollars and thousands (at least) of victims.

Please don’t misunderstand me, especially you spooks out there.  I am not advocating terrorism nor assassination.  But if Ali deserves 30 years, so does Abramoff.  Honestly, there’s a far bigger disgrace here than poor Jack Abramoff’s.  Hmmm, I wonder how many politicians (on both sides) butts have been saved by such a light sentence.

Remember kiddies, in theocorporate America it is perfectly OK to steal from and for politicians, and even better if it is from those pesky Indians, but you had best not ever even think about assassinating his Highness the President.

Time to kill our children, and sing about it

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Cowboy Junkies – Early 21st Century Blues

This is one hell of an album.  I bought it for myself around Thanksgiving after hearing a song or two on the local community radio station, WEFT 90.1.  It is my 1st Cowboy Junkies CD even though I had been intrigued by Margo Timmins voice many years ago.  I just never got around to picking up any of their CDs.

If you don’t like my political/social views then you might as well leave this post now.  This CD is about "war, violence, fear, greed, ignorance, loss…."  It is intended to "reach out and touch a couple of hearts and souls. Our goal was to create our own small document of hope."  While it is a strange kind of hope, I know this kind of hope very well.

Track listing:

01. License To Kill (Bob Dylan, Special Rider Music, ASCAP)
02. Two Soldiers (traditional arranged by Cowboy Junkies, SOCAN)
03. December Skies (Michael Timmins, Zomba Music, SOCAN)
04. This World Dreams Of (Michael Timmins, Zomba Music, SOCAN)
05. Brothers Under The Bridge (Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, ASCAP)
06. You’re Missing (Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, ASCAP)
07. Handouts In The Rain (Richie Havens, EMI Publishing)
08. Isn’t It A Pity (George Harrison, Harrisongs Ltd., ASCAP)
09. No More (traditional, arranged by Cowboy Junkies, SOCAN)
10. I Don’t Want to Be A Soldier (John Lennon, Sony ATV, PRS)
11. One (U2, administered by Chappell & Co., ASCAP)

For the band’s discussion of these tracks go to this page and choose Song By Song from near the bottom right.

As you can see, these are mostly covers with a couple of traditional songs and 2 originals.  They are all amazing.

License to Kill

Now, they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he’s bound to get ill,
Then they bury him with stars,
Sell his body like they do used cars.

Now, there’s a woman on my block,
She just sit there facin’ the hill.
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?

Now, he’s hell-bent for destruction, he’s afraid and confused,
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill.
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies.

Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music

Two Soldiers

But among the dead that were left on the hill
Was the girl with the curly hair
The tall dark man who had fought by her side
Lay dead beside her there
There was no one to write the green-eyed girl
The words that her lover had said
While Mother at home was awaiting her girl
She’ll only know she’s dead

Traditional – American Civil War Lyrics modifed by the band.

December Skies

This is one of the two original songs on the
CD. It was written in October 2002 and recorded during the One Soul Now sessions. It was inspired by the news of the day and the Timothy Findley novel The Wars. If you have any doubt that "war-is-hell" then read this book. If you feel that war is a sane option to disagreements
between nations then read this book. If you think that war is a noble calling then read this book.

"I was afraid I was going to scream," she said. She gestured back at  the church with its sermon in progress. "I do not understand. I don’t. I won’t. I can’t. Why is this happening to us? What does it mean — to kill your children — kill them and then…go in there and sing about it! What does that mean"? she wept — but angrily.

From The Wars by Timothy Findley (the inspiration for this song)

"Time to kill our children and sing about it.  Let’s all kill our children and sing about it."

This song alone is worth the price of this CD.  It is simply incredible.

What does it mean to kill our children and sing about it?  I was raised as a Southern Baptist; do you have any idea how many martial hymns there are?  Onward, Christian Soldiers.  That’s more of a fucking oxymoron than military intelligence.  Followers of monotheistic religions are some of the best warmongerers there have ever been, while organized monotheistic religions and churches are some of the best sponsors of warmongering.  Just what the fuck does it mean to kill our children and sing about it?  Can any of you please explain this to me?

This World Dreams Of (inspired by the poem The Passing of Arthur by Lord Alfred Tennyson)

The line, "more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of" is from a Tennyson poem called The Passing of Arthur. I love the line because it is both hopeful and desperate at the same time.

Now I’ll sit here in the silence wait for all the violence to engulf me
I hate to take the easy way out now people but options are closing down fast
More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of

Brothers Under the Bridge

I love the way that the lyric just ends without warning…much like the
way the lives of veterans sometimes "end" without warning….the battle
that rages on inside can be so much more difficult to survive. I’m sure
we’ll be hearing plenty of stories about a whole new generation of
brothers-under-bridges in the coming years.

I come home in ’72
You were just a beautiul light
In your mama’s dark eyes of blue
I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come Veterans’ Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues
I held your mother’s hand
When they passed with the red, white and blue
One minute you’re right there … and something slips

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP) from Tracks 1998

You’re Missing

Is there a more beautiful, delicate, pointed song about loss? Maybe, but I can’t think of one….

Pictures on the nightstand, TV’s on in the den
Your house is waiting, your house is waiting
For you to walk in, for you to walk in
But you’re missing, you’re missing
You’re missing when I shut out the lights
You’re missing when I close my eyes
You’re missing when I see the sun rise
You’re missing

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP) from The Rising 2002

Handouts in the Rain

You can bomb your foreign brother
You can hurt him until he dies
You can kill him until he never asks you why
You’re on his land…you’re on his land

But we all know that’s all over
And that can only lead to blame
Where we might end up for our country
Taking handouts in the rain

…

Teach your children stories
You can fill them full of lies
You can make them all despise
One another…one another

But when they all find out, find out later
And they call us by our rightful names
And send us shamefully to old age
Taking handouts in the rain
Taking handouts in the rain

Richie Havens

Isn’t It a Pity

We started performing this song last year on the Long Journey Home
Tour. It was suggested by Margo and it, along with December Skies, was
the inspiration for this collection of songs. The lyrics still ring
true thirty years after they were written. And, unfortunately, they
will, no doubt, ring true thirty years from now and then thirty years
after that and so on….human nature is a difficult and unfathomable
beast.

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we’re all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can’t hope to see
All the beauty that surrounds them
Isn’t it a pity

Isn’t it a pity
Isn’t is a shame
How we break each other’s hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other’s love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity

George Harrison 1970 2 versions on All Things Must Pass

No More

No more my Lord.  No more my Lord.

Traditional field song.  Wonderful transition into the next tune.

I Don’t Want to be a Soldier

Another song that I’ve always wanted to cover. The lyrics are about as existential as one can get (not that I’m too sure about the definition of existentialism, but if a lyric can be existential then this one has got to be, doesn’t it?). We decided to have some fun with this one. We set up a drum loop and jammed away. After it was all over we realized that there was a definite hip-hop motion to the loop so we invited a friend of ours, Kevin Bond (aka Rebel) to write and record a rap, based on the themes that were driving the songs on the album. We then dumped the whole mess in Jeff Wolpert’s lap and asked him to make sense of it.

Well I don’t wanna be a soldier mamma, I don’t wanna die
Well I don’t wanna be a sailor mamma, I don’t wanna fly
Well I don’t wanna be a failure mamma, I don’t wanna cry
Well I don’t wanna be a soldier mamma, I don’t wanna die
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

Sometimes my eyes just can’t believe what they see on TV
Young men like me sent overseas sent over greed
…

Just from clickin’ the news giving me the early 21st century blues

This is an amazing funkified version.  I honestly think John would be proud.  This song meant so much to me when I was a kid.  It was one of my favorite songs on the LP, and I felt it down in the depths of my soul. 

How did I ever become a soldier?  For over 20 years of my life?  Why in God’s name did I set that example for my son?  Why did they send him and all the others to this war of theirs?  I just want an honest answer to that last question.  I think I want that more than anything else in the world.  I truly do.  The immensely sad part is that it is something I will never get.

One

I’m not a huge U2 fan, although I have truck loads of respect for them. My wife suggested this song and it had always been one of my guilty pleasures. Once I started playing it the beauty of the chord changes just took over. It is a pleasure to play. John reminded me that Johnny
Cash had covered it on his last record, so we made a point of not listening to his version. Lyrically it is a beautiful punctuation mark (whether it is a period, question mark or exclamation mark is debatable) to the themes that are explored throughout the album…."We are one, but we’re not the same. We got to carry each other, carry each other"…..yup.

Did I ask too much more than a lot
They gave me nothing now it’s all I’ve got

I got this and the Johnny Cash CD with One on it on the same day.  Johnny’s version is good, if a version of this song with almost no emotion at all can be considered good.  It almost has to have emotion of some sort to give it meaning.  So, for me, the jury is still out on the Johnny Cash version.  This One is beautiful.

Oh great, now I find this all in one place.

This is one excellent CD.  While I can speak for no one else, I’d say that with me they reached their goal to "reach out and touch a couple of hearts and souls. Our goal was to create our own small document of hope."  And as I said, I fully understand this kind of hope.  As long as songs such as these can be written and performed there is, at least, a small bit of hope.  Will there ever be a day when we won’t need them anymore?

By the way, Onward, Christian Soldiers was composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan.

More militant music.  And an example from an early Salvation Army songbook:

To save the world is our desire,

For enemies we pray;

We’ll never tire, we’ll stand the fire,

And never, never run away.

We’re marching on to conquer all,

Before our God the world shall fall;

We’ll face the foe, to battle go,

And never, never run away.

What, never run away?

No, never run away.

What, never run away?

No, never run away.

We’ll face the foe, to battle go,

And never, never run away.

My question is are they praying for enemies, or for their enemies?  I can just see Georgie and the boys sitting around the Oval Office singing this song.  Hell, I think it’s their freakin’ theme song.

Big Music has lost its mind

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I first saw this this morning at Sivacracy:  BOYCOTT AND GIRLCOTT COLDPLAY!

My initial thought was I’m glad I don’t listen to Coldplay, but then thought, but which misguided label is this?

Here’s more from later in the day:  IT’S NOT JUST COLDPLAY (also from Sivacracy.net)

Be sure to check out those links Ann provides.  The rocknerd link is an article that discusses testing various of these CDs for playability in various CD and CD-like players and thr ripping of them from various players.   The Hot Buttered Death link is to a long list of discs that are copy protected in this manner.

Now take a minute to notice in that 1st link I provided to Sivacracy (which points to the BoingBoing post Ann got it from) some of those rules.  You have been denied the use of a product that you’ve bought in many of the devices which are designed to play products of this sort.  The notice is internal so you cannot know before you purchase it.  And the kicker is that the labels say "Too Bad."  The only reason they’ll take them back is for a "manufacturing defect."  I guess it will depend on who’s defining "manufacturing defect," but it certainly qualifies in my book!

Take a close look at that long list of titles.  Many are re-issues, e.g. Syd Barrett, The Madcap Laughs / Barrett, or for those less into drug-induced madness, Norah Jones, Come Away With Me. 

I have at least 3 CDs on that list: 

  • Ben Harper, Diamonds on the Inside
  • Emmylou Harris, Stumble Into Grace
  • Van Morrison, What’s Wrong With This Picture

I bought them all a fair while ago and they all have a legitimate Compact Disc Digital Audio emblem on them, so I think they’re OK, but I’ll be checking them in my assorted drives soon.  For whatever reason, these have only been played on the main stereo CD player.

I actually have a few other discs on that list (both Norah Jones…) that I got long before this madness.

When will this madness end?  I will not buy these discs!  If I mistakenly do and the retailer won’t take back these defective discs then I will ensure that I make it clear that I will never purchase another product from them.  Best Buy, I sure hope you’re listening.  You get an awful lot of my money each year, especially for movies and computer products.  I can easily go to Circuit City or shop online for anything I buy from you.  Maybe if we put enough pressure on the retailers about these defective products they will have no choice but to either stop carrying them or at least ensure that they are so heavily marked/segregated from the normal CDs that only complete and utter idiots will buy them.

There is more than enough good music being put out every day on Red Book-standard CDs.  The only trouble is finding it, but that is a small inconvenience.

Only you are responsible for your own soul and conscience, but at least try and support your local artists.  Go to live shows at coffee houses, clubs, bars, wherever and buy their CDs.  Order direct from small and/or independent labels.  Make a decision to start the new year off right.  Otherwise.  "Welcome to the future."  And a very bleak one it’ll be indeed!

Radical Militant Librarians Unite!

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My boss’ husband set up some cafepress schwag for all of us Radical Militant Librarians.

Just doing our small part to educate (and clothe) even more of them.

So, do your part.  Buy some and wear it. 

What, not a librarian yourself?  Then buy some for your own favorite RML.

Personally, these are the pieces I want:

As much as I hate commercialism, this is the time of year for it.  :->

As Jill (my boss) says, "The little cartoon guy may look bookish, but you can tell by that growl he’s radical! And militant!"

On moral authority and civil servants

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Current events shed light on the extent to which language games are played in our society and by our government, and  how the denial of wrongdoing can be based on accusing the the questioner of "inappropriate … second-guessing."

European ministers may be satisfied by Secretary of State Rice’s statements that "US interrogators are banned from using torture at home and abroad," [BBC] but I am not.  I have to say that listening to her statement on the radio only makes me even more convinced.  She lies as badly as I do; clearly transparent.

But even more important is the practice of extraordinary rendition.  It is bascially the kidnapping of someone and taking them to another country to be imprisoned and interrogated, and most importantly, to be removed from any international oversight.

There are several ethical problems with this practice, as I see it:

  • Kidnapping.
  • If someone is to be arrested and charged with a crime then that is what should happen.
  • They should be arrested and detained by local authorities, until we can legally extradite them.
  • It should not be legal to forcibly remove someone from one country to another without some legal protection for the accused.
  • Why are we rendering people to countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria that we know torture?
  • If this is an acceptable and necessary tactic in the war on terror, then why are these people not rendered to the US?

One answer is that people of little conscience, such as Secretary Rice, can address the world with a straight face and say that "US interrogators are banned from using torture"  Because we are paying others to do it for us.

The practice of extraordinary rendition is a moral failure of the highest kind.  And while it may in some sense be legal, if it is, it is only through a supreme act of extra-legal perversion.

I also love how US Ambassador to the UN Bolton can say that it is "inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we’re engaged in [in]
the war on terror, with nothing more as evidence than what she reads in the newspapers" [BBC].

Keep in mind that this "civil servant" is none other than the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.  Well, Mr. Bolton, according to my understanding and my dictionary, you are also no more than a civil servant.  So hurling what was no doubt supposed to be a disparaging epithet will do you no good.  This is not a 2nd grade school yard.  You may supposedly be a diplomat, but then so is she, along with being a former Canadian Supreme Court Justice.

If Louise Arbour claims that America has lost its moral compass and that "the global ban on torture was becoming a casualty of the US-led "war on terror"" [BBC], then I for one am agreeing with her Mr. Bolton.

Another interesting aspect of Mr. Bolton‘s claim that it is "inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we’re engaged in [in]
the war on terror" is the fact that this is exactly this international civil servant’s job.  If the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is not going to question US policy on these issues, who will?  Please, tell me who will.

And somehow I doubt her comments are based solely on "what she reads in the newspapers."  Mr. Bolton, we already know your views on the UN—that is one of the main reasons you were given the job by an administration that is also hostile to the UN.

So this administration and its flunkies can keep spinning words so that they mean nothing except what they want them to mean and they can defuse questions of the utmost moral concern by attacking the questioner, even when the questioner does so in the performance of their official duties.

I don’t know if any of the rest of you are bothered by any of this, but I am deeply ashamed of my country.  I sure hope Microsoft gets their Xbox 360 production and quality issues resolved in time for Christmas.  There’s an awful lot of people needing an awful lot of distracting.

 

"all i want is some truth
just give me some truth"

The Unbearable Lightness of Forgiveness

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Heaven
is a disaster.
And you won’t get there
any faster.

Wagner, Kurt. “the saturday option” on Lambchop’s what another man spills.

In case you weren’t up to reading all of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and morality and A Nation Beyond Forgiveness, or you can’t see the connection, I am going to try to tie them together for you.

Lightness is associated with freedom, escape, and a lack of commitment. It is attractive, but also “unbearable,” largely because lightness is so fragile, and so threatened by the weight of existence. Weight is associated with the idea of eternal return, and the weight of unbearable responsibility. (From the section on Lightness and Weight (Heaviness) of Unbearable)

In this part, Kundera makes a blistering attack on sentimentality, hypocrisy, and humanity’s desire to avoid the unpleasant, in other words, kitsch. Kitsch is an aesthetic ideal. “It follows then that the aesthetic ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist.” (Kundera, 248)

Kundera links kitsch to totalitarianism, calling the Russian May Day ceremony the “model of Communist kitsch.” (Kundera, 249) In “totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.” (Kundera, 254) Sabina, the artist, the “person who asks questions,” is the real enemy of kitsch. “My enemy is kitsch, not Communism,” Sabina claims. (Kundera, 254) She most clearly speaks out for individualism and beauty against conformity and kitsch. (From the section on The Grand March of Unbearable)

For Kierkegaard, the aesthetic and the ethical are “domains of culture,” or “existence spheres.” The aesthetical approach involves living in the pleasure of the moment, and involves the impact of things on our senses. The ethical approach involves a struggle with the self to achieve a consistent, coherent, unified self. According to Kierkegaard the ethical sphere is a higher existence sphere, which involves more freedom.

…

Questioning, as well as an activity, is a form of existential being. “A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies behind it. In fact, that was exactly how Sabina had explained the meaning of her paintings to Tereza: on the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth showing through.” (Kundera, 254) Thus, Sabina’s art is aesthetic. (From the section on Aesthetical / ethical (as “spheres of existence) of Unbearable)

But he didn’t think that war should be viewed as just another business, or as any sort of “business” at all. This psychologist, and the entire apparatus of our government and military today, find no problem with this approach. They embrace it enthusiastically. Today, it is “a flaw” to think that “monetary values” should not “outweigh moral ones in a war.” This is where we are now.

Life and death, torture, suffering, unendurable loss and agony — it’s all a matter of profit and loss. Anything that improves the bottom line is permitted — even the slaughter of innocents. We are a nation of
mercenaries — and we have lost our soul, perhaps for good. (From Forgiveness)

Lightness / Heaviness. Aesthetic / Ethical. Forgiveness / Non-forgiveness.

Kitsch is an aesthetic ideal. “It follows then that the aesthetic
ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit
is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist.” (Kundera, 248)” Kitsch and an aesthetic ideal is exactly what plagues America. How else is one to understand the almost complete lack of caring regarding the massive wrongs inflicted on this world by our government? If it were only a lack of caring, that might be explained in other ways. But the lack of caring coupled with the complete indifference to even knowing the truth is the clincher—a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist.

“Kundera links kitsch to totalitarianism[.] In “totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.” (Kundera, 254)” Exactly.

The aesthetic of profit and loss. The aesthetic of “life and death, torture, suffering, unendurable loss and agony.” Where are the ethics?

“Sabina, the artist, the “person who asks questions,” is the real enemy of kitsch. She most clearly speaks out for individualism and beauty against conformity and kitsch.” “Questioning, as well as an activity, is a form of existential being.”

“A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies behind it.” And, yes, I explained Sabina’s art as aesthetic. Life requires a balance of some sort. And art may, in fact, be ethical. I intend to ask questions. I, too, will try to clearly speak out for individualism and beauty against conformity and kitsch.

Note: You may also want to see my post, Todorov on totalitarianism.

He claims that the societal trait that allows such crimes is totalitarianism. He also claims that totalitarianism has three main characteristics which are important in its influence on individual moral behavior. The first of these traits is that of the internal
enemy. If the individual is not with the state, then he is against it. This leads to dividing humanity into two groups of unequal worth. The inferior beings are usually punished or even exterminated. This, in turn, leads to a certain form of moral behavior. One comes to the
enjoyment of power over one’s ‘enemies.’

The second characteristic is that “the state becomes the custodian of society’s ultimate aims.” (Todorov, 127) The state places itself between the individual and his values and as such, “the state replaces humanity as the standard by which to distinguish good from evil and thus determines the direction in which society will evolve.” (Todorov, 127-8) This leads the individual to the feeling of relief from personal responsibility for decisions. The state restricts its subjects to instrumental thinking and the treating of all actions as means. This is precisely how such “ordinary people” are capable of such evil. The state accomplishes its goals without disturbing the individual’s moral conscience; it is simply replaced with a new one.

The third characteristic is that “the state aspires to control the totality of an individual’s social existence.” (Todorov, 128) The state controls who works, where they work, what kind of job they get, if they can travel, where they can travel, whether they can own property, whether they can live, and so on. Almost all aspects of life are under the control of the totalitarian state. This leads to social schizophrenia. The individual must exhibit public docility at least. This social schizophrenia is a weapon in the hands of the state though. “[I]t lulls to sleep the conscience of the totalitarian subject, reassures him, and lets him underestimate the seriousness of his public deeds. Master of his heart of hearts, the subject no longer pays much attention to what he does in the world.” (Todorov, 129)

Three main characteristics of totalitarianism:

  • the internal enemy
  • the state becomes the custodian of society’s ultimate aims
  • the state aspires to control the totality of an individual’s social existence

Clearly, the first exists. “We Stand United.” “If you’re not with us, you must support the enemy”. “America, love it or leave it.”

The second. Almost as easy. Between all of the instrumental thinking and the treating of all actions as means, and the theocracy the current powers are trying to establish, I do not think there is any valid argument that this government is not trying to be the custodian of society’s ultimate aims.

The third. A bit harder. If one is white and male, and especially if one is wealthy then one’s actions are little restrained. But be anything other than white or male, or simply be poor (or even middle class) and one’s actions become highly constrained. Many of the members of our society are afflicted with social schizophrenia and they have been lulled to sleep. “Master of his heart of hearts, the subject no longer pays much attention to what he does in the world.” It is a sleep I once knew well. Never again though for me. Never again.

do not want

do not ponder

what goes on here

goes on up yonder

ghastly mask

shape undone

a human pile

of hair and gum

this wicked man

has become unwise

Wagner, Kurt. “n.o.” on Lambchop’s what another man spills.

The unbearable lightness of forgiveness? “Lightness is associated with freedom, escape, and a lack of commitment. It is attractive, but also “unbearable,” largely because lightness is so fragile, and so threatened by the weight of existence. Weight is associated with the idea of eternal return, and the weight of
unbearable responsibility.”

The weight of unbearable responsibility. That of choosing to judge the “psychologist, and the entire apparatus of our government and military today” morally. To not forgive. Make no mistake. It is an unbearable responsibility. But try I must.

I think we are beyond forgiveness now. Forgiveness is not possible for what we have let ourselves become. (Silber)