Over the weekend I hit Artomatic, a semi-annual massive group art exhibit that goes on here in the DC area.
It was pretty awesome.
There was a ton of very impressive art (some of it by people I know). Over the course of the few hours I was there, I had the chance to talk a little with people about the different ways different types of art are consumed.
Just about all visual art can be consumed actively or passively. The written word, though, can only be actively consumed. You have to put in effort to get anything out of it, even light entertainment.
That struck me as interesting on a number of levels.
So it’s what I talk about a little in today’s vlog.
Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).
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All feelings we’re far too familiar with these days. We’re told again and again and again that we should be afraid of everything and everyone. Well, everyone who’s different, at least.
They’re out to get us, we’re told. We need to be vigilant and “if you see something, say something.” They’re monsters, seeking to destroy us, and the implied idea is that we should do it to them first.
Terrorist seek to disrupt and destroy the lives of those who disagree with them. They’re willing to die for their beliefs. There’s not much that can be done against someone willing to die for what they believe in. Once someone’s to that point, and ready to take action, there will be death and destruction.
How do you deal with that?
Some, especially right now, are calling for massive amounts of violence against thousands–if not millions–of people who are trying to get away from the same terrorists who have just struck again. Stop “them” by killing them before they decide to kill us. Or, at least, keep “them” all away from us, so it’s harder for us to be killed.
That’s… dehumanizing. That’s, at best, barely better than the view ISIL has of the people they’re killing on a daily basis.
It’s also the most surefire way to encourage more people to see you as inhuman and worth dying to eliminate.
Compassion. Respect for life. Freedom. Those are things that aren’t safe. They never have been. Each of those opens us up to being hurt and, yes, sometimes killed. But they’re also the things that can change the minds of people who’ve been told you are an inhuman monster that deserves to be eradicated.
They are humanizing things.
So, right now, as has been the case before, people are clamoring for immediate solutions that will make them “safe.” Most of those solutions, in the long term, do just the opposite. Harsh retaliation, which inevitably involved indiscriminate killing of many peaceful, innocent people, only gives our enemies more to use against us, more recruitment collateral, more reasons that others will buy into their hate.
Be angry. Be upset. Be afraid. But then get past those feelings.
Don’t let the disruption of your life persist. Don’t let fear or anger lead you to dehumanize large swaths of people who genuinely mean you no harm–people who are just as scared, angry, and sad as you about what’s going on.
When we stand together, we all stand together. There’s risk in that. But there’s also strength.
(And, no, I’m not advocating not going after the perpetrators of this nor am I a pacifist… it’s the dehumanization of “the enemy” that I have a big problem with, and being too broad about who “the enemy” is.)
There’s a vlog today. It’s somber… yet hopeful. I think.
Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).
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Trying to keep everything moving without anything hitting the floor and breaking. (Sometimes things bounce… that’s okay… as long as you knew it wasn’t something that would break.) Just got to keep it all flowing.
That’s the dance between consuming stuff and creating stuff. Zero sum game, so lots of dynamic equilibrium going on. Spend too much time reading articles (like I did last night), you don’t have as much time to crank out a video (and if that video needs to be done, well, then some other area of consumption or creation suffers… like, y’know, sleep).
That’s what I’m talking about in today’s vlog. So, take a few minutes and consume it. Then let me know what you’re creating and how much attention you pay to what you consume.
Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).
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Figured I should do something vaguely related to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
Of course, I’m keeping to this daily schedule by the skin of my teeth and I have a busy weekend coming up. Meaning, this is one of two videos I cranked out tonight.
It’s been a busy week–websites conspiring against me at the day job, other things going on after work a few times this week, and whole lot of TV to catch up on–so I’m not at all ahead of the game here. Running on less sleep than usual, too, just trying to get more stuff done.
But! I’m sticking with this production schedule and realized about halfway through shooting this one that I can pretty easily spin it out into a second video, too. (Not that I shot that one tonight… saving it for next Thursday and I need something for tomorrow.)
Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).
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Ever since I discovered it was “a thing” I’ve been kind of happy to be a member of Generation X.
I relate to “our” movies and music pretty well, even if my life doesn’t quite epitomize the Gen X dream. (But, really, who’s does? And what is that dream, anyway?)
Once dismissed as “slackers” I think we’ve pretty much proven that, if nothing else, we’re survivors. That’s due in no small part to having so many promises to us broken and so many pie-in-the-sky dreams come crashing down.
One of the big things, of course, is the ongoing disillusionment of the American Dream we were raised on.
That steady diet of “You can do anything!” and “Endless opportunity” was fed to us by our parents (who, at least most of the time, truly believed it–those Baby Boomers were doing very well back in the day, so it seemed sensible) and the media we were soaking in.
Good old Gordon Gecko and his “Greed is Good!” mentality, echoing what we could see on the news nightly. Michael J. Fox showing us The Secret of My Success as he worked his way up from the mail room to a corner office right quick. Even the creeping directionlessness in Reality Bites and the teenage angst turned aggressive nihilism of Heathers had hints of hope and a brighter future if we’d just apply ourselves.
All of that was part of the media culture that targeted us and what helped make us what we are, for better or worse.
I have a feeling you should consider today’s vlog the first part of a series of musings on this. (Though I’m not going to explicitly schedule that out…)
Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).
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