Now the Obama vs Romney match is on, we may get an opportunity to see a national debate about the role, scope and intent of the federal government. Though both are Harvard men and technocrats, they apparently possess different visions. It would be nice if the campaign remained focused on that. Sadly though, it appears big money, super pacs and huge advertising budgets will steal the plot and establish the tone and probable shallowness of the campaign.
It would be nice if the media would forego being manipulated and spun by the ad dollars and their masters. Better if they'd stop the pundit pontificating and over zealous devotion to the "horse race" and odds sequences and shape the discussion about visions of America's future and how we get there via the Romney or Obama route.
Wouldn't it be nice?
DAY BOOK
BUILT TO LAST I was impressed by what I call "Federal Style" grandeur evident in the building at the Hoover Dam. Buildings constructed in the 1930's remain impressive today in their stateliness, sense of artistic design and that little touch of deco.
Someone makes sure, but even today those
brass doors shine like new.
And after 70 years the marble with brass inlay "signs" are
as classy as anything new.
SOME TIMES OLD CAN'T LAST Here's a quick tribute to a tree that was a young windbreak about the time of the Hoover Dam construction.
If you spend a few minutes with this video, your day will
be richer and you will feel better about, well, a lot.
As a journalist I was repeatedly surprised by the inherent wisdom and or goodness of people. Often these qualities emerged in the darkest or more challenging circumstances.
As you will see here, there is nothing quite as uplifting as
a smile in expression of arigato, merci, obrigato, gracias, thanks.
ASKING THE PUZZLING QUESTIONS
As the California coast enjoyed a good soaking, helping to alleviate what has been a sparseness of rain this year, I just had to ask....
Enjoy your weekend.
Think about water, and say thank you to someone.
See you down the trail.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
THE CONSEQUENCE
"The voice of the intellect is a soft one,
but it does not rest until it has gained a
hearing. Ultimately, after endlessly
repeated rebuffs, it succeeds.
This is one of the few points in which
to be optimistic about the
future of mankind."
Sigmund Freud
Analysts of the social scene, sociologists, psychologists, theologians and others have noted the apocalyptic nature
and almost obsession of film, games, literature and other
cultural symbols designed for and sought by people 18-35.
To mine the deep implications and causes can fill books. But a shorthand version is an attitude about the future that is not all sunshine and roses. Some of those reasons may smack us in the face if we look closely.
Think of the impact on younger minds of just these events:
THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF KATRINA
WITNESSING THE WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE SINCE
THE DEPRESSION
FUKISHIMA
I chose those three because they are linked by a seemingly helpless situations played out large and in detail in a media saturation. But there are multiple such examples and other complexities of modern life that also work to destroy optimism.
Bringing it back to Freud then, is the soft voice of intellect being heard? Or is it being drowned out in a world of social media where Kim Kardashian has 9 to 10 million "followers?"
REEL THOUGHTS
THE HUNGER GAMES
We became two of the most recent of the millions who are making this film a box office smash. Talk about dystopian! The Suzzane Collins young adult novel which was a sensation, is even more so in the hands of Director Gary Ross who wrote and directed Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and Big. Ross is a very good film maker and his screenplay with Collins is of a world that is a continuation of the bleak future theme.
Lana is more enthusiastic about the film than I am. It is an entertaining, big budget action adventure thriller focused on kids surviving a decadent societies' game. She sees the hope expressed in the story line. I see a clever portrayal of a society that becomes increasingly self indulgent, hooked on cheap thrills and riven with a wealthy elite controlling poor, working masses.
And it is probably just me, but the brilliance in the film
is the parody of our obsession with "reality game shows." How far will we go? When I was ceo of a television production company we'd joke about how outrageous game shows could become. This film is a punctuation point.
Stanley Tucci as the television host, Caesar Flickerman
is delightful. Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine continues to show remarkable talent, first seen in Winter Bone. Elizabeth Banks as vacuous Effie Trinkle is superb. She captures the empty values and superficiality of a society that can enjoy watching children kill each other. Woody Harrelson as the burned out former hero provides a nice nuanced and textured performance. And Donald Southerland as the contemptible president Snow is a poster boy for legalizing assassination.
I'm struck by how this is a film for and about youth and even in a kind of victory there is an uncertainty and looming shadow.
"Have I not reason
to lament what man has made of man?"
William Wordsworth
REALITY CHECK NOW
MORE OF THE SAME
A new public awareness campaign has been launched.
It is the most recent voice in the escalating fight over
fracking.
There may be places where fracking has not done harm.
But clearly, there are places where it is doing severe harm.
"A simple child,
That lightly draws its breath.
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?"
William Wordsworth
I've been accused of looking on the bright side of things. Not sure about that, rather I'm a pragmatist who understands the value of doing something. In engagement is opportunity, and hope. That attitude was honed in Paul Hamori's class on Hegelian dialectics.
I heard from readers after my Monday post onMike Wallace. Some of you took me to task for my praise of his contribution to American broadcast journalism. Here's a portion of an email-
"You forgot to mention how he set back gay rights with his 1967 special The Homosexuals. By the time he was done with the special which featured a doctor who stated the homosexuality was a choice and that they could never be happy....a number of parents stopped supporting their gay children, threw many of their own kids out and many gay adults lost their jobs. At the time Mike Wallace associated socially with gay people including long time partners. This was a news man who used sensationalism at the time to gain viewers.
He never countered that original show. Later he said that he had made a bad judgment call. That was it."
And another:
"The old toughie is probably laughing
that he's getting a pass on some of his
outrageous sensationalism. Look at
how he bashed gays. Think you could
broadcast that kind of stuff today?"
I either forgot about the broadcast, or never saw it. The piece, which aired in 1967, has a legacy and even has
One source has edited portions of the broadcast and
posted a short YouTube video.
A virtue of this means of communication is the quickness of response, the depth of research accessible with only key strokes and the value of conversation. So I amend my thought's on Wallace by expanding it to include this post.
I hope this now broadens the view and achieves more balance.
It will be interesting to see how CBS handles it on their
60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday.
DAY BOOK
RIDING OUT THE STORM The birds have created an interesting profile.
For years my WalterMitty imagination kicks into high gear while in the shower. Not sure of the connection, but it's a place for great creative thinking.
So, today I became the perfect presidential candidate, or conjured the qualities of one. What are the characteristics?
A person who says the election is really about judgement, facility of mind, integrity and clarity of vision.
It is OK, absolutely OK to say that a mind can be changed. It is a sign of higher human reasoning, to do just that, reason, think about and even change your mind on an issue. That is not flip flopping. Flip flopping is prevaricating or obfuscating. Reasoning is a good thing, this perfect candidate would tell the press and voters.
It is asinine to presume to look for a man or woman "who has all the answers." Those answers can come only through study, deliberation, consultation and a sense of history. So, as perfect candidate, I'd say so. I'd outline general principles, a foundational construct of values and delineate the names of policy experts, scholars, historians, political scientists, economists, military strategists, philosophers, theologians, artists and entrepreneurs whose advice and counsel I'd seek and who would shove back at me, while testing and forging my ideas.
I'd also be upfront with the voters and say, despite what my grand goals or visions might be, the reality of my Presidency would be determined by what happens in the world and through a kind of dance and/or wrestling match with the US Congress. I can propose, but the truth is, what really happens is a result of the process of working and living with the other branches of government while confronting what ever nature, fate, Providence and other humans as individuals or as nations foist upon us all.
So, the heck with gotcha games, playing to opinion polls, letting speech writers and strategists put words in your mouth, or worse, in your mind. The heck with fanny kissing the big dollar fat cats or super pacs. We'll tell Americans what they are really doing is choosing a human being, who evinces qualities of leadership and judgement, who is ready to sacrifice for the common good of all, even those who will hate and vilify you. They will have a chance to vote for someone who is steadfast, honest, candid and wants to see a better day for all.
Yea, you go boy! Then I turned off the shower.
MAKE MINE PURE
Have you been to an Oxygen bar? I caught this one on a
recent odyssey through Las Vegas. They are all over the place and in some communities are as popular as coffee shops.
You pay the "bar tender" and you get a few hits of Oxygen, in a flavor or color of your choice. Just in case
the air you are breathing is not enough for you, you can
buy some. Yep, we can now buy and sell the air we breath.
I was lucky to work in the same area as Mike Wallace, when he was still one of the CBS Convention team correspondents. I was covering the campaign for a radio group, but it put me in the same press room and general neighborhood. Back then I thought it odd to see Wallace in that kind of role, because I thought he was best as an interviewer or interrogator and that is the point of this.
Mike Wallace had the ability and skill to talk to anybody about anything. He rarely, if ever, pulled punches. He could get into places and talk to people in a way that amazed us all. If Wallace was scheduled to do an interview, the 60 Minutes audience was sure to be even larger.
The original 60 Minutes team was superb, but Wallace and his pointed, rapier technique was indeed the point of the spear that took that show into the heart of America.
Wallace was a performer on a news magazine, an experimental approach to journalism, that took broadcast journalism into the Top 10 most watched shows. It created a new heft for broadcast journalism, proved to network executives that news was not only good for people, it could be good for business.
Wallace's style and punch also put people on notice. There was an old joke "You know you are going to have a bad day if, when you show up at the office, Mike Wallace is waiting for you." He helped "out" a lot of villains, confronted power, made it entertaining and he worked hard. He stayed much longer than most and television and broadcast journalism were bigger and better because of it.
You know how you get one of those "ah hah" brain bumps when you see or hear something that brings you to a recognition of a new thought or insight? I think I did it to an artist who had studied neurochemistry and photography. His paintings were extraordinary displays of light. I asked him "Do you think the renaissance could have occurred further north where there was less light and Mediterranean climate?" His eyes and crinkling smile indicated he was genuinely delighted by the question. "That is a good question. That is a very good question?" Being a professor, I sensed, he was going to give it some thought. Well, this non professor has given it much thought since something theatre professor Gilbert Bloom said, in passing, years ago. He noted the Greek Festival of Dionysus probably wouldn't have happened in something other than a warm spring or summer climate. That was probably the ah hah bump that put me on a bridge to the idea that great creative efforts can often be charted to places where the light is good, the sun abounds and where in the spring there is a festive spirit of rebirth. Paganism of several variety, certainly partied hearty in the spring. It is also the time of Passover and Easter, both of which derive from sunny climes. Who doesn't feel a bit of a charge when a warm sun sweeps across spring blooms? Renewal is spoken.
WHERE THERE IS A COAST
THERE ARE WAVES
Local experts say this past week brought the biggest waves to the Central Coast in a few years-up to 16 feet with an 18 second period. There were some big walls of water, hanging up there for long moments. It is thrilling to watch the planet forces at work in the Pacific.
SPECIAL VIEWING THE WEEKENDER's :) featured video this weekend has been around a bit, but I thought it would be a good fit for this weekend when Jewish people observe Passover and Christian's celebrate the resurrection. For that matter it's perfect if you are neither and just simply a living biped. This is a 3 minute film that no less than Ridley Scott celebrated. It is very good.
And then, a less celebrated film, but a little Central Coast tribute to the weekend. Music by Ma Muse from Chico.
