Now, it seems to me that the left is King Midas in reverse, in that it destroys whatever it touches and reduces gold to excrement, whether it is institutions, countries, cultures, or individuals. I realize this sounds harsh, but I believe it is self-evident, since we can see the disastrous outcome of leftist ideas before our eyes. It's not as if the results are hidden, because whatever the left controls goes through a predictable process of degeneration and decline.
For example, we all know that our educational system is a mess, the reason being that the left has had complete control of it for some 50 years, to such an extent that neither political party can avoid using leftist assumptions to tackle the problem.
I'm guessing that the U.N. probably started out with noble liberal ideals and not completely cynical leftist ones. Perhaps not. But in any event, it was long ago taken over by leftists and has become the biggest and most illiberal institution on the planet. Imagine an even remotely liberal U.N. If such a thing existed, there would be universal condemnation of Iran or North Korea. They would be completely isolated from the civilized world. In fact, any country that sided with them would be tossed out of the U.N. and isolated as well. The big mistake of the U.N. -- which is the universal mistake of leftism -- was having no standards for membership. It is a sick joke that members of the U.N. are given rights and privileges that they would never grant their own people. Among the Saudis, only their diplomats are allowed to vote, drink, and patronize the most expensive blonde hookers in Manhattan.
The left has also controlled most of the major urban centers for the past 40-50 years -- including, most infamously, New Orleans. I frequently visited New York before Rudy became mayor, so I know what it was like when the left was in total control. It's not as if the differences could only be detected in abstract crime statistics and the like. The entire vibe of the city changed. And yet, I well remember liberals routinely referring to Giuliani as a fascist and cretin. Imagine if New York had been allowed to continue sliding down the path it was headed in the early 1990's, with more leftist solutions applied to the problems resulting from leftist solutions.
I am aware of no leftist who has apologized for the vast destruction that has been caused by leftism. The only exceptions are those who are no longer leftists, such as David Horowitz. I was thinking about this destruction last night while watching a very moving documentary on the history of gospel music, Say Amen, Somebody, because what the left has done to blacks and to black culture represents nothing less than cultural genocide.
Because of the thought-control of the left, one can hardly discuss these matters without being regarded either as racist or condescending, but I think that blacks made America's greatest artistic contribution to world culture in the form of the various idioms of music they produced during the 50 years or so between about 1925 and 1975 -- gospel, jazz, rhythm & blues, soul, and various sub-genres of jazz such as dixieland, swing, ragtime, boogie woogie, bop, hard bop, post-bop, modal, and other distinct variants. Not only is my life spiritually enriched every single day by this art, but it is difficult to imagine what my life would be like without it. It would be such a deprivation.
What happened to it? Why did black creativity take off in the 1920s and continue through the 1960s, only to go into decline after the mid-'70s? Speaking only of the music, how could something so beautiful transform into something so barbarous and ugly within a single generation? How do we explain the devolution from Duke Ellington to Snoop Dogg, or John Coltrane to Ludacris, or Dinah Washington to Michael Jackson?
More generally, why did black culture produce such timeless and transcendent excellence before leftists began meddling with their culture? Prior to the 1960s, the black family was known for its strength and stability in the face of adversity, not its fragility in the midst of abundance. I have spoken to many blacks of the older generation (now in their '60s and '70s), and all agree that educational standards have declined dramatically since segregation ended. Obviously, this is not because segregation ended, but because that is when blacks were subsumed into the white leftist educational establishment and designated victims, so that the same standards need not apply to them. This is another fine example of the illiberalism of the left.
Prior to the mid '60s, a major part of the civil rights movement in its original classically liberal incarnation focused on elevating blacks through educational excellence. It was a self-help movement, not anything like its current culture of victimology. Black teachers took a special pride in their role, which was closer to a spiritual mission. I've read a number of biographies of jazz greats, and they all remember this or that teacher who noticed their talent but was extremely demanding of them.
I've read several Duke Ellington bios, and there was not a hint of bitterness, let alone a sense of victimization, in the man, despite the fact that if he were so inclined, he would have had every "right" to have wallowed in victimization. After all, there are blacks today who are far more wealthy and powerful than Ellington could have dreamed of, but it doesn't stop them from having a perpetual sense of anger and grievance -- Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Danny Glover. But in the case of Ellington, he was temperamentally the opposite. He had a natural dignity and nobility, even a sort of regal bearing and demeanor that I am sure did more to mitigate racism than 40 years of undignified groveling, extortion, and poverty pimping by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
And Ellington was certainly no "Uncle Tom" -- in fact, the Jacksons and Sharptons of the world are the real Uncle Toms, doing their little minstrel shakedown dance for the entertainment of white liberals -- to assuage their guilt. The problem with Obama is that he has the deceptively dignified bearing of an Ellington but the same undignified slave-victim mentality of other leftists.
At this point, I am not sure that it is even possible for the left to produce excellence, let alone black excellence. It is no coincidence that the left produces clowns such as Cornell West and Mayor Nagin whereas the right produces Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, Delroy Murdock, Armstrong Williams, et al. It is an unavoidable insult to say that these are first rate minds, and yet, it needs to be said in order to highlight the gulf between them and the wasted minds of the left.
Coincidentally, I see that there is a review this morning on NRO of a silly book entitled Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. The Review starts out with the same thesis I have presented:
"Ralph Ellison always remembered the black jazzmen of his native Oklahoma City fondly: 'Life could be harsh, loud and wrong if it wished, but they lived it fully, and when they expressed their attitude toward the world it was with a fluid style that reduced the chaos of living to form.' This is a beautiful definition of jazz, and a brilliant one of art in general -- for what more could we ask of art than to render human experience, even at its worst, an understandable and even palatable thing? American blacks have long made music of their suffering, and blues and jazz once gave prime voice to a part of black experience in America. As the years have passed, the timbre of that voice has changed, and so has the experience being articulated. We are now in the age of hip-hop, a culture born in the Bronx and bred of the calamities of ghetto life."
Of course, "the calamities of ghetto life" should be translated to mean leftist control of urban centers. The calamities were not like some sort of unavoidable natural disaster. Rather, they were fully manmade, a result of disastrous ideas put into action. One nonsensical quote from this ghastly book tells you where the author is coming from. He describes hip-hop as “heir to the Black Arts and the postmodernist and multiculturalist movements, head high amid all of the terms batted about to try to frame the imperatives and urgencies of Now -- such as post-Blackness, polyculturalism, globalism, and transnationalism -- hip-hop is where flux, identity, revolution, and the masses mix, and keep on expanding.”
Say what? I am more inclined to the view expressed by Dirty Harry to the pornographer:
I'll tell you what you are to me, little man. You're just a maggot who sells dirty pictures.
The reviewer notes that "one idea put forward repeatedly is that hip-hop is a form of protest.... Hip-hop is rebellious not only in artistic terms, but in political ones as well.... 'Because of where hip-hop came from in the social base, it already suggested a political opposition and a political possibility for the creativity for the people at the margins of society, socially, economically -- people at the margins in terms of power.'"
But it is naive to say that hip-hip is simply "inclined to politics." Rather, it is specifically steeped in leftism. As I have mentioned before, one of the disturbing things about being a serious music collector is that one must always endure the obnoxious leftist sentiments expressed in the liner notes. The other day I purchased a wonderful Gram Parsons collection, but as usual, the analysis of his music cannot help but get into a dopey leftist political analysis. Here is a man who was another tragic victim of the drug culture, dying of an overdose at the age of 26. But the writer states without so much as a fig leaf of irony or self-awareness that Parsons' musical vision was "a grand design for a sort of white country soul that integrated rootsy forms with the enlightened consciousness of late-'60s rock culture."
You see, to the arrogant left, they are always "enlightened," even if it means dying of a drug overdose, or promoting promiscuity, or celebrating the disintegration of the family, or appeasing evil, or promoting a degenerate soundtrack to cultural genocide.
I am reminded of one of the great black artists, John Coltrane, who was a victim of the drug culture, but was saved -- not by leftists who would vicitmize him, but by God. In the liner notes to A Love Supreme, he writes of his heroin addiction,
"During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD.
"This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say 'THANK YOU GOD' through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor."
Coltrane concludes with a poem that certainly must be obnoxious to any secular leftist, but his music is the aural embodiment of the grace described therein:
A LOVE SUPREME
I will do all I can to be worthy of Thee O Lord....
God is. It is so beautiful. Thank you God. God is all....
It is most important that I know Thee....
His way... it is so lovely... it is gracious.
It is merciful -- Thank you God....
Glory to God...God is so alive. God is. God loves.
May I be acceptable in Thy sight.
We are all one in His grace.
The fact that we do exist is acknowledgment of Thee O Lord.
Thank you God.
God will wash away all our tears... He always has...
He always will. Seek Him everyday.
In all ways seek God every day.
Let us sing all songs to God
To whom all praise is due...
I have seen God -- I have seen ungodly --
None can be greater -- none can compare to God.
Thank you God.
He will remake us... He always has and He always will.
It is true -- blessed be His name -- Thank you God.
God breathes through us so completely...
so gently we hardly feel it...
All from God. Thank you God. Amen.
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Theme Song
77 comments:
I live at the crossroads of time and eternity.
I am a bridge between worlds. I am a bearer of light.
Through me, the cosmos comes alive.
Through me, eternity partakes of time, and becomes the eternal now.
I freely give myself to the eternal will, that I might become eternally free.
And in the process, I become that which I serve.
Long ago, I fell from the heights. But my birthright awaits my return.
Forever I strive towards that which I already possess.
And through this dynamic paradox of my existence, I create the world.
Truly, I was created to partake of eternal life, here and now.
I will not condemn myself to darkness and death.
I will align myself with Truth.
My life is a gift. My actions matter.
This life, now and forever.
I am man.
A noble being, a vessel of divinity, a reflecting pool of God.
And I refuse to be anything more or anything less.
This response is very inspiring; this explains why a turning to God need not be a "choice" at all--it is the very core of the being, the most basic drive of all.
Turning Godwards is always the right move.
Yes, and yet, the adversary works against it with all he has. People do know what they need to do, but not in the sense of 'feelings' or 'rationalizations' - but in the sense of the eternal written into our beings.
Consider:
Faith comes in the hearing.
Faith is a sense of the vertical, perhaps an intuition of God.
The human walks upright- in order to do so he must have a 'vertical' sense in the physical; balance.
Where is the organ that allows us to discern up and down in the physical, and thus allows us to balance?
Oh, its the inner ear.
Faith IS in the hearing, is it not?
Bob, I still don't buy your slam of the Left. Your sound and fury seems convincing on the surface, but underneath I feel uneasy about embracing your views whole-heartedly.
To start with, you have legitimate complaints, but you couch them in the kind of overheated rhetoric that inspires suspicion.
And, most signally, you fail to explain the motives for Leftism. You give plenty of negative reasons for it: pandering to the lowest element in man, weakness, brainwashing, sustained adolescence, ignorance, and just plain stupidity.
But sheesh boss--people just dont' operate from negative motives 24/7. People always positive energy behing their lives as well. The Left has some kind of payoff and until you understand what it is in terms that exclude all of your stock negativity the heart of the matter will elude you.
The Left must be serving its constituency something tasty, and it can't all be medicine against fear. I'd like to try a bite meself.
I don't buy that into the idea of raccoon spiritual supremacy, either. By their actions, the Leftists seem to be blundering out of misguided compassion, not evil.
A huge army of committed Leftists cannot be explained away by pandering to base human motives. More analysis is needed.
Re: Transmigration/Reincarnation... Paul (IMHO) explains it one phrase:
'I die daily.'
Getting back to today's post, I'd like to throw in my $.02 if I may, (after which you may throw all the pies in my direction that you like).
First, as to the older spiritual music, I agree with you 100%; my first choir in high school was Jazz Choir, and it is one thing I have missed musically since then. In the choir I'm in now, our current concert will be a mixture of Classical church music and older spirituals. (As a side note, the more I'm learning about my own family history and its role in the Underground Railroad, the more these songs actually make me want to weep if I think about them too much while singing.)
(I'll continue this in the next comment so people can skip it if they like)
As to hip hop, I would like to note that there are exceptions to the rule of ugliness and anger, some of them even quite touching, just as there are many blues songs with quite appalling lyrics.
An example of the latter would be "Ain't Nobody's Business," containing the lyrics:
"One day I'm goin' crazy
Get me a shotgun and shoot my baby
Ain't nobody's business,..."
A lot of the older music from which hip hop derived contains the same misogynistic, drug culture, violent content, it's just not always so explicit.
Conversely, these days groups like Outkast include songs on their albums which pay (very well, IMHO) respect to gospel music:
"Life, is nothin but a dream, so peaceful and serene
Unless you're bein evil then you on the devil's team
Well I receive what you want to believe
But soon you'll have to sew those bad seeds
Please, any man can ask, to get a pass
or a cleansing of sin to grant another chance..." - from Church
Of course, all that said perhaps these are the exception that prove the rules; the few diamonds of goodness such as this one are generally hidden beneath piles of utter crap.
(Okay, I'll shut up now, and prepare to be whacked : )
Julie--
Yes I am speaking in terms of large generalizations, which one must do in order to speak at all. I am well aware of the exceptions, but the volume of extraordinary black music between 1925 and 1975 is almost supernatural in its depth and scope.
By the way, it's not as if there hasn't been a similar decline in "white music," or whatever you want to call it. It's just that blacks are the cultural canary in the leftist ghoulmind.
It sometimes amazes me how dense some people can be.
Thank you God, but for your Grace, there go I.
True enough, Bob
And my apologies - I usually don't argue with broad generalizations, so I'm sorry I gave into the temptation this time.
Actually, even in my choir we've had some songs (always from the late 70s on up) that absolutely set my teeth on edge, and made me downright embarrassed to sing them.
Fortunately, the good stuff more than makes up for the occasional stinker.
For about seven years I suffered with an illness described as phonophobia. Music made me ill. All music, and most especially my favorites: opera, classical, and non-secular. The road back to wellness took me through jazz. It is the only thing I want to listen to now; it is the only thing I WANT to listen to now. To say it healed me is understatement. When I compare the musical scholarship of the old black guys to the young "hip" guys, I just want to shake and slap them. They have squandered their legacy, and I weep for them.
woo fat - if you're referring to me, sometime my denseness amazes even me.
I usually manage to keep quiet, but sometimes I can't help proving myself the fool.
Fontessa - What a frightful illness! I'm glad it was Jazz that helped you find the way out.
(Imagine if you could only listen to polka or death metal for the rest of your life - yikes!)
Fontessa:
I know exactly what you mean. I developed the same illness and was cured in the same way, although I'm now able to tolerate some other musical forms, so long as I can intuit some sort of spiritual vibe.
As a musician-- yes and no. He can in the sense that he may play for God without knowing it; but playing for himself is not playing for God in and of itself. There of course may be some confusion in what is meant when a westerner talks about the 'self' and an Eastern Mystic does so.
In the western sense it pretty much either materialistic or soulish; that is either flat or negatively vertical.
My impression (not being such) from the Easterners is they are referring to the Soul as such; and not to necessarily the evil or good capacities.
It is a careful balance, Ricky, for the nonspiritual musician. But if they somehow grasp the Good, True, and Beautiful coming through the music in their own unique idiom, this is the essence of the self playing music.
Anyhow--
Was going to pop a good example of some Hip Hop that takes back the style, a fellow by the name of Knowledge MC - who does Christian rap without being pretentious or silly - but the horiztonal scatter-ring of the internet has claimed the site that had streaming audio of his number, 'Bring it in'.
Fontessa:
Yes, the priceless artistic legacy that has been sqaundered by blacks is just breathtaking. "Black history month" my a**. In the Gagdad house, every day is black history day.
Amen, amen, amen.
I remember when I first got into Joplin - this was music obviously prior to the real Black musical renaissance; I didn't know he was a black guy. I just liked the music. (And I still do.)
I remember my dad- who is somewhat racist- would pooh-pooh Joplin not because he knew anything about the man but because of the idea of Ragtime (which was certainly not what you would call exalted music) and because Joplin was black.
Myself, I could tell from the music itself that Joplin was no fool; and to find out that he was black later, and that he indeed had classical training of a sort made sense to me.
Music it seems is in an internal struggle against narcissism.
eternal... and internal...
einternal?
On the subject of victims' "heroic" enablers a.k.a Leftists (regardless of their race): Booker T. Washington wrote in 1901:
"There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs...There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public."
Yo, MC Rove.
River beat me to ragtime, whose non-mention I was going to protest. Thanks!
Bob- this last week's worth of posts has me thinking "Time for another book deal".
ragtime ivory
the original bar code
play it again sam
Oh, my.
Oh, that's just embarrassing...
I love how he hits that squeaky note at the end, it just puts the icing on the cake.
Gagdad Bob ... I really started out to say that I thought this was one of your finest posts ever. But it's an odd day. Maybe because I've been listening to Maynard Ferguson's 1977 "Conquistador" album, and I'm having "Rocky" flashbacks! gonna fly now ... Fontessa
The nauseating UN.
Julie:
Thank you for being the one to speak up in defense of the (quite vast) array of high-quality pop music--including plenty of hip hop--which has been produced in recent years.
This is the ONE area where I somewhat disagree with Bob. I only partially disagree because I think he is completely right when it comes to "gangsta rap" and related forms. However I also think Bob has perhaps not given many modern artists enough of a chance.
Outkast is simply brilliant, as were the Fugees, Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony, and many others. Are they "better" or "worse" than the sublime black artists of yore? I dunno. I love 'em all.
Moo Slim,
I can't answer for Bob but allow me to try to address your questions since they were asked nicely and in what I detect is a genuine desire to understand. Other coons can add their perspective if they like, or if they disagree with me.
To make what is going to be a long post easier to read, I'll preface remarks with MS (Moo Slim) or BM (that's me "the bulletproof one with teflon interiors"-- no snickering my fellow coons ;)
With preliminaries complete, let's begin.
MS: Bob, I still don't buy your slam of the Left. Your sound and fury seems convincing on the surface, but underneath I feel uneasy about embracing your views whole-heartedly.
BM: It is understandable because you are in the grip of a pernicious fantasy, the fantasy that real evil is an illusion and therefore doesn't need to be opposed wherever it is found. Actually, this fantasy is pernicious precisely because real evil IS a kind of illusion, and therefore easily hidden behind plausible deceits. More properly, we should say that the illusion is itself the evil. As an illusion, evil only has power if we allow it to have power -- evil requires our consent and enablement. This is the true meaning of the Leftist term "empowerment". In other words, the existence and persistence of evil is entirely due to our choices. As such we bear full responsibility for it and cannot hide behind excuses.
MS: To start with, you have legitimate complaints, but you couch them in the kind of overheated rhetoric that inspires suspicion.
BM: Bob's rhetoric is indeed harsh at times, and certainly not politically-correct. This is because Bob and many coons understand the fantasy intimately, having experienced it first-hand in a past life. Therefore coons understand exactly how destructive it is, and also how utterly unnecessary it is. The harshness and anger you perceive is a harshness born of truth and righteousness, a harshness that is ultimately born of love. The experience of Truth is unpleasant for anyone still caught up in the fantasy lifestyle of no restraints and warm fuzzies, because to face truth means to cast off our desire to remain in an infantile state and start growing up. As one film title correctly alludes, Reality Bites.
MS: And, most signally, you fail to explain the motives for Leftism. You give plenty of negative reasons for it: pandering to the lowest element in man, weakness, brainwashing, sustained adolescence, ignorance, and just plain stupidity.
BM: Actually he has, and does, but you are not listening. The motive of the Leftists is just this -- to usurp God. This is the essence of prideful arrogance, the source of Adam's fall in Genesis 3, and humanity's curse which required redemption.
MS: But sheesh boss--people just dont' operate from negative motives 24/7. People always positive energy behing their lives as well. The Left has some kind of payoff and until you understand what it is in terms that exclude all of your stock negativity the heart of the matter will elude you.
BM: You are correct. The vast majority of humanity is a mixed bag. That is why we often feel conflicted, feel pulled in different directions, and have longings for wholeness and interior peace. However, any payoff the Left promises is an illusion designed to trap you. The promise of leftism and similar creeds is peace and warm fuzzies. The reality, as we have seen over and over again, is murder and suffering.
MS: The Left must be serving its constituency something tasty, and it can't all be medicine against fear. I'd like to try a bite meself.
BM: The left and similar creeds serve an eight-course meal, in this descending order: gluttony, lust, greed, anger, sorrow, sloth, vanity, and pride. Pride is the lowest of the low and the source of all the rest. Pride and arrogance is what got Lucifer kicked out of Heaven. It is what led Adam to deny God and get kicked out of the garden. It is what prevents you and all still in the grip of fantasy from realizing that you put yourself above God, and thus cast yourself out of Paradise by your own free will.
MS: I don't buy that into the idea of raccoon spiritual supremacy, either. By their actions, the Leftists seem to be blundering out of misguided compassion, not evil.
BM: Coons are not superior except in this: they know exactly how far from God they are. Someone still in the grip of fantasy thinks (in pride) that he is close to heaven. "I'm basically a good person" is his motto, and he projects this onto others by believing against all evidence that people are "basically good at heart". The fantasist thinks that because he is "basically good" he is "entitled" and "deserving" of a spot in heaven, when in fact he is as far from heaven as one can get. This faux confidence is a pernicious pride and arrogance. You will note that Bob's critique of leftism, particularly of the modern Gramscian forms, focuses extensively on "mentalities", especially the victim mentality and the entitlement mentality. These are the most visible signs of the fallen mentality I describe above, willingly enslaved to the passions.
MS: A huge army of committed Leftists cannot be explained away by pandering to base human motives. More analysis is needed
BM: Base human motives are exactly what is involved. Both the problem and the solution lie within us. The first step is to realize the reality of evil in others. The second is to realize that evil in others does not originate in external circumstance but internally in the heart. The third step (and this is a really big one) is to realize that evil resides within YOUR heart, that YOU are capable of truly black deeds and even blacker thoughts. The forth step is to realize that YOU cannot control this evil within your heart by your own efforts, that you are enslaved to your passions. These successive realizations may come quickly or over a long period, but each step shakes up your concept of yourself, others, or the world.
At this point you are very close to a deep realization of God's presence. It would be good right then, in your shaken state, to cast off pride and ask for help from above. For once you allow pride to loosen its grip and call genuinely for help, even for a second, God will surely rush in to begin healing you. In that moment you will get a foretaste of heaven, the veil will drop, and you will feel an overflowing rush of indescribable love and compassion, accompanied with true tears of repentance. These are some of the signs that the spirit of Truth has begun to abide within you, and from that time you will be able to recognize the diabolical fantasy as the sham it always was.
From this point your journey will have truly begun, though it is not nearly complete. You can count yourself a kit, ready to undertake the journey from death to life and into divine coonhood. All of us here are on that journey. Some have gotten further than others but we don't concern ourselves with comparisons or "stages". For the further one goes the more one realizes how far there is still to go. Coonish standards are continually raised so that we come to seek infinite transcendence. This is another mark of true coonhood, standards so high that those still in the grip of fantasy simply can't fathom such perfection even being possible. This is another reason why leftism and all fallen creeds seek to bring everyone down with low standards. This is another sickness one unfortunately sees in today's black community.
The path of the coon isn't an easy path, but it is a path filled with light and life, purpose and meaning, goodness, truth, and beauty, and adventures galore! Most of all it is a life full of faith, hope, and love, and the promise that even you, yes you, a fallen coon, can become perfect and divine. If that doesn't sound remotely attractive to you, then you know the horizontalist fantasy has a death grip on you, and we can only pray that the inevitable sufferings of life shake you from your condition before you get tenure or attend too many flag burnings or "poo-ins". I wish mere words were capable of bringing the answers you seek, but the nature of the game is that you have to sink before you swim.
Enter the narrow gate and take the red pill, if you dare. The rabbit hole awaits the adventurous coon. I hope to see you at the tea party. Don't be late.
Smoov - I'm totally with you. There are some discussions here I'm usually wise enough to avoid, simply because my personal aesthetic is not the same as many others here, and it's not my blog. Thanks for piping up, though - it's good to know I'm not the only deviant 'coon ; )
Smoov--
We'll know in 100 years if you are right. I am quite sure that people will still be listening to Coltrane, Monk, Mingus, Ellington, MIles, Rollins, et al, in 100 or 1000 or 10,000 years, but I have some doubt that they will be listening to the Fugees and Bone Thugs. Of course, I could be wrong. Just my opinion.
And don't forget, I have Fontessa's disease. I am sickened by certain sub-jazz forms of expression.
Musically for me the question isn't 'Is good music being made?' the question is, 'Is the good music being publicized?'
Not to coarsen it; just to get it in the public consciousness. If it isn't, we've got some 'people are sheeple' and 'novelty' issues taking command of public music.
And that mah friends, sucks.
Fellow Racoons, you know I have no desire to seem to be on the same side as grintebeard, but...A gentle nudge,
It's been noted the possible sopophoric affects that belief in reincarnation might bring upon ones virtous aspirations, the desire to improve ones understanding, even standing, with the One Cosmos.
I get two responses to this popping up in me. One is, of course if someone took the view that "it doesn't matter what I do, I'm coming around for another sequel soon... what, me worry?" sure, that wouldn't do much for standing or understanding.
But I would also add that someone could easily take the view "Hey, I'm saved, I was dunked or ate the wafer, I'm good... what, me worry?"
Point is, the decision made, the life led, has less to do with a persons basic framework conception of Life, the Universe and everything in it, than it does with their understanding, relation to and ...mmm... aspirations towards the Verticle.
The person satisfied with some equivalent of Bart Simpson, dime store schlock 'art', 'who knows, who cares', are not going to be the ones to seek any relation or reverence towards the Good, the Beautiful and the True - no matter their basic metaphysical assumptions.
And for myself of course - as I've said before, there's no 'Made in Sol System' stamp that I see visible about me, I don't know in the materially verifiable manner what came before or what comes after. If there is a God, he's probably got a decent reason for that - my hunch is that if we knew for a fact one way or the other, it would become as anyother 'answer' we know (assume) to be true - filed and forgotten, with no striving, no faith, no reverence further to be undertaken.
IMHO.
Here's a piece by one of the greatest soul-men, David. Deep calls unto deep...
Psalm 42
[To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.]
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.
I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
Great stuff, BM (hmmm... I think we should use a different shortening of your username).
:-)
They say you may return to the fountain...
The problem I have with reincarnation is, that no man may Reach God; I.e. become good enough to 'earn' heaven; but on the other hand, we know that a person who considers themselves 'saved' but does no else... are they really saved?
We are saved UNTO works, I think that is the key. Recall what Jesus says to Peter regarding John:
"What would it be to you if I will that he remain alive until I return? Just follow me."
We're wrangling about reincarnation or once-for-all saving, when we're supposed to doin'. Which of course includes thinkin' and slackin', mostly its just about living your life for God as he wills, instead of for yourself. And there are as many different lives to live as there are people...
River,
'Is the good music being publicized?'
That's an excellent point - 80% of what I listen to never gets played on the radio; often, the best tracks on an album are the ones you've never heard of.
Bob,
"I am quite sure that people will still be listening to Coltrane, Monk, Mingus, Ellington, Miles, Rollins, et al, in 100 or 1000 or 10,000 years, but I have some doubt that they will be listening to the Fugees and Bone Thugs."
True, that.
(Wow - there are so many good comments here today, my head is spinning)
wv: oakzeog - good name for a bad band?
Will?
Bob,
I'm not particularly interested in whether pop bnads today are around in 100 years. The good ones are here today, and that's what counts for me right now. I like to read Shakespeare (which will definitely be around in 10,000 years), but I also go throw-away romantic comedies now and then.
I don't listen to pop music the same way I listen to Bach or Beethoven. I enjoy a glass of Domaine Bellegarde Jurancon, but I also like a Dr. Pepper now and then. There is room for variety in life. I don't think it profits most people to define and adhere to such a rigorous aestehtic hierarchy. I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need to kick back a bit and listen to a bit of fluff, snarf some pizza and suds, and play a bit of poker with the boys. The next night maybe I'll put on the Grosse Fugue and re-read Genesis. It's all good, as they say.
Part of my attitude comes from having been married to a spirited and lovely African American woman (my second wife) for 7 years. I learned a lot about how to live from her.
Bob,
Also, for someone who admits to a fondness for the Carpenters (which I share) I think it might not hurt to lighten up on their 21st century equivalents.
And where are the country artists in your list? Whither Hank Williams?
Bob,
Also, for someone who admits to a fondness for the Carpenters (which I share) I think it might not hurt to lighten up on their 21st century equivalents.
And where are the country artists in your list? Whither Hank Williams?
I really, REALLY get a lot out of your reading recommendations. I already have almost all of your musical recommendations in my collection already. There's a difference though between recommending great things to people on the one hand, and implying that the list is exclusive on the other. No one man can ennumerate all the ways in which Beauty manifests, great and small. As much as I love America and American culture, there is a world out there and it isn't all just shit. If you've ever heard an entire Ghanian village worth of children sing spontaneously from their hearts you've known heartbraking Beauty. Godly Beauty.
There have been thousands of records made since 1980. Many of them are very beautiful indeed (Paul Simon--Graceland, Lucinda Williams--Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Outkast--Stankonia).
I wonder what your take is on such abominations as the Sex Pistols? Their putrid non-music represents the nadir of Western music for me far more than does, say, Kanye West, who at least writes songs about his beloved church organist grandmother instead of songs glorifying fascism and nihilism. Kanye's bling may be crass, but at least he won't puke on your head.
Smoov:
I am primarily talking about what I perceive as a cultural decline and the music that both expresses and embodies that decline. You are talking about a different subject.
I don't think blacks are doing all that badly. Quite a few of our young men get locked up for awhile, but they tend to do alright once they get out.
Most stretches go 2-4 years or so.
Music? All posing and anger when done by young people, always gets better the older the musician gets.
Young people like the crappy young music. Old people like the better old music.
I'm old, can you tell?
The long commentary earlier today by the bulletproof monk struck me as direct, precise...and very rich. A real stand-out, among many fine ideas expressed here since this morning.
We must be discriminating. Seek to avoid support of and participation in those activities that are denigrating our culture. Just because the decline often seems inevitable, we still must stand against it - not in some self-righteous way, but in such a way that what little light we offer as an alternative attracts.
I believe we are creating something every moment we draw breath - whether seen or unseen. The real value of what we create can only be measured by the degree to which it honors the One Who created us.
Bob - Very strong post today.
I'm probably way behind everyone on this, but has anyone read Francis S. Collins' "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief"? He once headed the Human Genome Project and was an atheist who became a Christian. I heard an interview with him on, of all places, public radio, and thought it might be one to check out. Thanks for any input.
BTW, good stuff today, BPM.
Bob,
Have you ever attended the John Coltrane church in SF? I went to their website. Something didn't feel right about it, but I was just wondering what it was like.
Debass--
No, never have. I'm guessing it's an afrocentric deal that Coltrane would have abhorred. His wife, Alice, became a guru of sorts and has an ashram a few miles from my house. Never visted there, either....
Where do declines start? from Mozart? From wagner? i don't know. I think that jazz etc. is in the very low vertical. I abhor anything that sets out from the start to be emotional and frankly most of the jazz, blues, pop, rock, gospel you name it of the 20th century has that as its only aim.
Gagdad, have you ever happened across Tamar Jacoby's book Someone Else's House? The subject is the corruption of the civil rights movement, as exemplified by three mayors: John V. Lindsay in New York, Coleman Young in Detroit, and Andrew Young in Atlanta. I use "corruption" in its Scholastic sense: the departure of a substantial form, and the resulting collapse into disorder of the material governed by that form. Jacoby does not use that term, but she describes the process in detail.
Mizze,
Booker T. was indeed far ahead of his time!
BM,
Eloquent!
That's the feeling I got from their website. Whenever I get in a playing situation like that, it really locks me up.
btw-someone was questioning your criticism of the left. Maybe you should lighten up.
Remember, the trains will still run on time.
How such a smart guy could call the US response to 9/11 "a withdrawal into an ethnocentric, imperialistic stance" (paraphrasing) is beyond me.
http://www.kenwilber.com/blog/show/245
Watch the video for some apparently reasonable thinking that, in reality, is very scary.
Where or where is integralist to fight the good fight.
At least he doesn't go as far as Rosie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0JBpJA6k4s
Jeez, has he jumped the shark or what? Lame.
If he thinks Buddhist values are so great, why are Buddhist countries such crappy places to live?
The more he talks, the worse it gets. What a condescending ass.
Wilber: Republicans are blue meanies!
I think he's Definitely living in a Yellow Submarine!
ok, aristocracies were blue, liberals were orange... queer eye for the philosophic guy?
ken wilbur who cares
rosie I really don't care
egos run amok
It's not surprising that in the recent total collapse of any possible defense of neo-conservative ideas and fundamentalist dogma, our author has to scramble so far across the landscape to find things to lay at "Leftism's" door, as though that is the current gripping intellectual conflict of our time. Bush/ Rove etc have laid bare the intellectual bankruptcy of the wierd Fundamentalist Christianity/ Free Market Neo-Conservative mind meld. That's a story.
It's interesting for a white social conservative to attempt to claim some sort of lineage/responsibility for Black free-jazz from the Sixties. It's certainly safe for you to claim him as your own now, isn't it? Now that the rough veneer of actual rebelliousness has been polished to a safe and genteel shine? Glad you and your golf buddies are so musically progressive out in the suburbs. Would you and your caddie been so accepting hanging out with these same heroin-addicted, frequently crazy and passionate poor black folks' when they were alive? Of course not. It would be Lawrence Welk all the way. Once dead you can gussy them up and try and make them belong to you. Coltrane's Christ is not your Christ and his Christianity is not your Christianity. Don't demean his work by attempting to lump him with your other half-baked generalizations. By the by, if you discover that you are unable to make a point without resorting to weak generalizations, you should sit down and think about what it is you believe.
The sad fact for many modern conservatives is that they have allowed the faith-based voodoo talk of the fundamentalists to replace any vestige of the reason-based ideas and discourse of the old conservatives. We've ended up with a generation of Republicans unable to put simple ideas together.
It's sounds as though you have a nice collection of music created by people who would despise your politics, which is perhaps why you have such an odd tension between your musical tastes and your social conservatism. Interesting.
jonwo said... "...blah-blah total collapse of any possible defense of neo-conservative ideas and fundamentalist dogma ... blah-blah laid bare the intellectual bankruptcy of the wierd Fundamentalist Christianity/ Free Market Neo-Conservative mind meld ... blah-blah... faith-based voodoo talk of the fundamentalists to replace any vestige of the reason-based ideas ...
"
(wait a minute, Golf buddies?)
"...blah-blah ... We've ended up with a generation of Republicans unable to put simple ideas together"
Well, thanks for illustrating the point.
....in the recent total collapse of any possible defense of neo-conservative ideas and fundamentalist dogma...
jonwo,
How about you flesh out and describe your view of it for us, before and after the collapse, without the bile, condescension and weak generalizations of course.
Jonwo:
Now you tell me. I've got to stop looking for drug-addicted black folks on the golf course, and seek them out elsewhere. Thanks for the tip!
By the way, you can be excused for not knowing this, but my cousin and house guest Dupree is black (half, anyway), and has had his share of chemical struggles. I have a hole in my garage to prove it. We also have reason to believe his father was the jazz musician Peanuts Hucko, but that's never been proven. That was Auntie Cile's story, anyway.
jonwo:
Come back and write properly formatted paragraphs after you pull your head out of your ass.
Beethoven would have disagreed with my politics. Welcome to the real world.
You want to know who is losing? Who's always losing? Who's losing ON PURPOSE? Oh yeah, leftists.
Subversive and idiotic. You call us 'faith voodooists' but yet where does truth and the understanding of reason come from except from the traditions of religion?
Your first step for reasoning should be to put more than one line break after a complete set of ideas.
Ass.
jonwo's take on the way things are reminds me of the muslim mojo that tell us you can't read and understand the Qur'an unless you been born, bred and weaned on the arab tit.
jonwo's blallah ain't my blallah.
wv: mojzry - now that's what I'm talkin' bout.
Jonwo makes a valid point: we on this blog are white and have money, and that twists our political sensibilities.
But, he misses a point. You don't have to like a musician personally in order to like his music. The music is a separate entity.
>>"Jonwo makes a valid point: we on this blog are white and have money, and that twists our political sensibilities."<<
Speak for yourself about your money, skin color and twisted sensibilities. (sounds like a guilty white liberal) The choice of slack before money has a way of making an individual monetarily challenged. The only thing that we may all have in common is a degree of intelligence which, by the way, doesn't take money to obtain. Nor is it allotted to a particular skin color.
Money, the almighty dollar?
I don't serve that fucking god (spit)
an admitted golfer said... "Jonwo makes a valid point"
Actually, his only valid point was that he was " unable to put simple ideas together"... I'm sure he appreciates your company.
The reason Tibetan society didn't benefit one way or another from Buddhism IMO is because Buddhist scriptures are so abstract and so hard to understand. Imagine reading Kant. Plus unlike other religious practices, there is normally no room for hypocrisy. Understanding Buddhism is living it. It is meant to transform one's heart, from Ignorance and Darkness to Knowledge and Lightness. But it's also very elitist. It has zero tolerance for BS. At least in the past. It was meant to attract the highest minds -intellectually/spiritually. And I am not saying Richard Gere is your perfect disciple.
The notions of Reincarnation, Interdependence, Impermanence, Detachment, Love, Compassion, Tolerance, Humbleness, Karma are powerful tools for individuals to apply in their daily life. I say teach all the mothers of the world to understand these values and then to practice them. In order to transform from possessive, control freak narcissists to enlightened loving detached rocks.
I heard or read years ago the dalai-lama say that the positive consequence/outcome of the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese Army was that such elitist and closed tradition had been forced to open up to the world and share her precious Treasure/Knowledge. I think they were as close and selective with their own people than they were with the rest of the world.
Nothing like crossing borders and exchange and spread Knowledge.
Nothing like traveling and melting. That's why Jews have been so successful and Arabs not. Beside their Holy Books.
I think that Richard Gere has a very bad influence on the dalai-lama too.
I still believe Jesus is higher than the Buddha since Jesus was a man and not a monk (somehow coward). But I am sure Buddhism has greatly influenced Jesus in his learning years.
For me Buddhism is very close to Science. The Science of the MIND! Psychology. How to heal crazies in few sessions. Teach them the ultimate Truth. But I'm a dreamer too. Because I connect very much with their explanation of the universe (first class philosophers IMO). God included even though they don't call 'it' that way.
And it all comes back again to a Right vs. Left philosophy/battle. Some like to believe Jesus was a democrat, they do the same with the Buddha. I think there are some issues the dalai-lama wants badly to avoid, like taking position on the Iraq war. Even the Church believed Jesus would have opposed the Invasion. Or at least the Pope thought the Vatican must oppose it. They are too afraid of their followers' reactions. That's what you have when an idea, the Divine, becomes an Institution. It loses its freshness and it loses its meaning. Unless that Pope or that Dalai-lama is a true incarnation of the divine. In other words, simply not such a "humble" monk. In that case he wouldn't be there in the first place. By the way we were all against the war. We hoped the UN and the international community called the Allies would put pressure on the UN to depose Saddam without sacrificing any American Blood. That's in an ideal world were leaders are true Kings, not Bad Players such as Chirac etc. They are the first who would benefit from Buddhist Teachings. Not to become pacifists, but to purify their corrupt hearts and become transparent like Bush is. Transparent and Courageous.
PS. One benefit in the belief of reincarnation is that it may help to let go greed and stress. Theorically anyway. How about improving our Positive Karma. It also teaches you tolerance. Imagine Palestinians learning that they were Jews in a past life - not any jew but you know Seymour Hersch etc. That could transform them!
By the way, reincarnation wont mean in one life you are a thief and a jerk and in another a hero. It's your soul, in a new body. One unique archetype, different adventures, all recorded by this thing called God, one day all these movies of our lives will be envisioned by us, each time we die and visit paradise, beside us our loved ones who shared those lives with us. Can't be that bad.
dreamer
By the way, cousin dupree, I understand this Ken Wilber guy made you very angry, I personally couldn't last: once he tried to prove that Buddha is a democrat, I quit! Or was it just after he began demonizing republicans? Anyway f**k KW, one day, when I'll be famous, I'll humbly ask the dalai-lama himself his position on socialism etc. I wonder if he ever lost time reading Marx. I guess not...
love,
dreamer
I read that entire thing in search of a coherent idea that I could critique, and couldn't come up with a single one. Still, I love it when empowered people decide they're experts on the culture of those whom they oppress.
What I'm trying to get at is: You're a racist, and not a particularly bright one. Sorry to be blunt.
I read that entire comment in search of a coherent idea that I could critique, and couldn't come up with a single one. Still, I love it when self-styled victims decide they're experts on the culture which they fantasize is oppressing them.
What I'm trying to get at is: You're a leftist race-baiter, probably a stoned one. Now pass the blunt!
Ha! Bob, it's worse than you think -- another intellectual cluelesside:
"I am a queer student at the University of Chicago concentrating in Fundamentals: Issues and Texts, an interdisciplinary major that will me allow to apply a variety of fields to a study of social theory. My specific academic interest is in critical theory, so I hope to take a good knowledge of that from numerous disciplines. But I like to think of myself as a well-rounded (or just listless) person, so I'm just as likely to write about art or literature as pop culture or my breakfast as Marxist philosophy or postmodernism."
Professional college student?
daniel, whether gay or straight, a marxist is still a marxist, i.e. a true bore.
I would let go the whole intellectualization thing if I was you.
(from dictionary.com)
Intellectualization:
n. (Psychology)
An unconscious means of protecting oneself from the emotional stress and anxiety associated with confronting painful personal fears or problems by excessive reasoning.
T R Y L O V E, instead of POLITICS. You don't need to punish yourself and blame your neighbor in the process. Life deserves better.
Who cares about Simone de Beauvoir anyway? Her only talent was to speak well. Her ideas were off. And I mean really OFF. She had no sex life if you ask me. That's a fact and it says it all. Loveless sex. Hell on earth. Hell dreamt for all. Her true peers are the religious fundamentalists, she after all did support the Ayattollah Khomeini and his dark backwards no vision. Should be clear to you by now. Same with Sartre. All appearances. Inner life is pure Illusion. She has a name: 'Bourgeoise libérée'. Only she was "going wild". As to completely confuse Good with Bad. Hell with Paradise. Nothing fresh or tolerant about those views. But very popular indeed. Popular to clueless snobs. Who end up associating with their only true oppressors and ignore their Friends. It's called Sado-Masochism. It's also called (Materialist) Intellectuals.
Our only true symbolic oppressors are our parents, if one truly free himself/herself from them - "kill" them to "accept" them -, he or she becomes a free man/woman and would deserve God's Respect. One step closer to the Truth. The whole process is hellish but the outcome is a true transformation of the soul. The Power of Liberty. It can't happen with a weak mind or personality. My guess is that you are still a slave.
Unless your dad is God, we were all surrounded by ignorants. Often we are an ignorant ourself.
The purpose of life is to unveil the Mysteries of Life one after the other to empower ourselves by becoming Lighter and happier as we get brighter and stronger. The answer to our freedom and liberation is definitevely not to be found in Marxism, nor Feminism. Those are frustrated people, not oppressed. Plus control-freak in search of POWER of the worst kind. Impose their imperfect intolerant ego on others.
Stick around, maybe you'll be able to find your own answers here. I hope it's possible. That would be real good news.
Conservatism is not anti-gay-people, it's against uncool ones, fascist ones, pushy ones.
For a theory to be true, it has to be flawless. Perfectionism of ignorants is a true waste of Life, and Money.
Choose your friends better. God doesn't Betray. He is not an Imposter, He Empowers, Free, Rewards.
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