Thursday, January 07, 2010

Jiminy Cricket, the Revolution Will Not Be Televised!


Yoinked from Lucianne. Meanwhile, let me determine if I have sufficient mojo to come up with an actual post today. Probably not. "Forcing the slack" is a contradiction in terms, like "compulsive spontaneity."

*****

What the heck. We haven't had an antichrist update in awhile, have we? This is a repost of something I originally propheseen comin' two years ago, by which time the dreary contours of Obama's soul were coming into focus -- all of us, if you bend over and hear what I'm saying. In short, we are now living in the future of which this post was a shadow. Or, to be precise, it was more the case of a shadowy future casting its darkness into the present for any gnocturnal b'atman to see. So let's see if we knew more about Obama than Obama knows about America, shall we?

****

Will brought up a very important point in a comment yesterday. It was in response to my questions, "What great world-historical events are invisible to the jaded elites of the present? What great vertical energies (↓) are entering the world today, undetected by a spiritually oblivious moonstream media?" Will's reflections on this are worth reproducing in full:

"There is a danger here, I think, given that this might be the age when 'Spirit pours out on all flesh,' i.e., the vertical energies actually do become, in a way, more visible, more tangible, even to the oblivious MSM.

"The danger is this: the influx of vertical energies for the most part cannot find suitable spiritual anchoring, do not result in a growth of spiritual insight and wisdom, but rather the vertical energies might be suborned by the horizontal in an entirely unwholesome way.

"An example: hypothetically speaking, let's say... oh, let's say, some political candidate who's running for... oh, let's say, for president of the United States... Let's say this candidate uses the influx of vertical energy in such a way that it does not invest him with any particular wisdom -- in fact, this candidate mouths and apparently believes in the same old amorphous lefty platitudes. Only... this candidate seems invested with a peculiar type of charisma that has citizens from coast to coast virtually swooning in some orgasmystical ecstasy... no one's higher intellect is sharpened, only their *feelings* are set on fire by this candidate in some peculiar way...

"Well, as was said re: the days when the Spirit pours out on all flesh, one must be very careful not to fall for false messiahs and whatnot... meanwhile, there are those who indeed are spiritually anchoring the vertical energy influx and are doing so invisibly and with a certain amount of travail, as is necessary at this time."

***

First of all, let's get this out of the way at the outset. Are we calling Obama the antichrist?

Yes, of course.

Nah, just kidding. Let's just say an unwitting vehicle of the antichristic principle, which anyone can be at one time or another. Please, let's be mature, and discuss this in terms of abstract cosmic principles, without getting polemical or personal. No need to demonize someone just because he's an instrument of satan. Besides, he's just the vehicle, not the driver. The surfer, not the wave.

Now, what do we mean by "antichrist?" I would say that, as Christ is Word-made-flesh, the realm of the antichristic would analogously represent the "lower principle" made flesh -- the instantiation, as it were, of the energies of the Fall.

So first of all, to go along with our analysis, one must believe that man is in some sense a fallen being with a built-in -- or at least inevitable -- design flaw. You certainly needn't be a fanatic about it, since this comports with common sense and with virtually infinite historical examples.

You have only to know that "something ain't right" with the earthlings, however you wish to conceptualize it. Being aware of this principle is one of our greatest inoculations against utopian leftist schemes to perfect mankind, which always result in unanticipated cosmic belowback, or "hell on earth."

Secondly, you would have to believe that it is possible for the energies responsible for the Fall to be personified -- or, let us say, both focused and dispersed like a beam of darkness through the concavity or convexations of man's heart. As Christ is a blinding light, antichrist would be, oh, a hollow darkness.

Thus, to those who live in spiritual darkness, it would appear as a false light -- as, say, a single match is brighter than the sun in an enclosed room, cut off from the real source of light. And the hollowness would be mistaken for fulness as a result of its receptiveness to primitive projection. Thus, a spiritually normal person sees Obama as unusually empty while others project all sorts of wonderful things into him -- intelligence, wisdom, sophistication, prudence, courage, temperance, etc.

The Serpent -- to paraphrase our best Unknown Friend -- sssymbolizes advanced intelligence ("the most cunning of the beasts") turned wholly toward the horizontal. Thus, it is a perversion of man's intellect, as it represents a self-sufficient naturalism and total (small r) realism that betrays -- literally, for it turns against it in rebellion -- the vertical source of human intelligence. As such, we would expect one aspect of the antichristic to be high intelligence combined with extraordinary vapidity, at least for those with spiritual discernment.

But this cannot merely be the philosophical vapidity of the doctrinaire atheist or scientistic materialist or ideological Darwinian, or it could never gain traction in the human heart, which always hungers for Spirit, even (or especially) if it is the false and meretricious kind (otherwise, Balthasar or Schuon would sell more books than Deepak or Marianne Williamson).

Rather, it would have to come cloaked in some sort of seductive or hypnotic faux verticality. It would indeed have to be charismatic and charming, bearing in mind the root meaning of former, which is "divine gift," and of the latter, which is "incantation" or "magic spell."

A spiritually normal person would be alarmed and even deeply creeped out if he possessed this kind of influence over others. At the very least, it would be an occasion for the deepest humility, combined with concern over the precarious state of the spiritually famished souls under his influence.

Most people, if they knew the implications, would not want this power, because they would know that they are neither worthy of it nor competent to deal with it, any more than they are competent to perform brain surgery. But a person with narcissistic issues will be too intoxicated by the feelings of adulation to care about the souls with whom he is toying. They are just props, part of his psychic furniture.

This power is a serious responsibility and is not to be taken lightly. The spiritually normal person knows that this charis is only on loan to him (or courses through him locally from a nonlocal source), and that he is not free to use it as he will. At the very least, one could not purposely lie to those who place their trust in you, let alone on the grand scale committed by Obama.

Rather, one is only free to use this power if it is aligned with its vertical source and with vertical principles, i.e., Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity (not relativism, idiot compassion, aesthetic barbarism, and fractious pseudo-diversity).

There is something coming through the charismatic, not from him, and as soon as one realizes this, it is an occasion, yes, for gratitude, but also fear and trembling. It is analogous to the power to send men to die for their country, only on the vertical plane. It is the ability to inspire selfless martyrs, but for what purpose? Our satanic Islamist enemies are clearly selfless idealists under the influence of charismatic leaders. So what?

Our Unknown Friend asks the questions, "Can one produce artificially intellectual, moral or spiritual inspiration? Can the lungs produce the air which they need for respiration?" No, of course not: "the very process of breathing teaches the laws of obedience, poverty, and chastity, i.e. it is a lesson (by analogy) of grace. Conscious breathing in of the reality of grace is Christian Hatha-yoga. Christian Hatha-yoga is the vertical breathing of prayer and benediction -- or, in other words, one opens oneself to grace (↓) and receives it."

Unknown Friend goes on to say that the antichristic represents "the ideal of biological and historical evolution without grace." This is a key idea, for what is a progressive? A progressive is someone who believes fervently in progress while fanatically denying its possibility, since progress can only be measured in light of permanent truths and transcendent ideals. Absent the transcendent, there is only horizontal power.

The antichrist "is the ultimate product of this evolution without grace and is not an entity created by God," since divine creation is always a vertical act or descent. Yes, all things ultimately "come from God," in the same sense that all light comes from the sun, but think of all the infernal uses to which man may put the light, darkling! For the light falls on the righteous and tenured alike.

Now, in this circular dialectic, Obama is ultimately a creator of those who created him. Unknown friend writes that, just as there are spiritual beings who reveal themselves "from above," there are what he calls egregores, which are "engendered artificially [and collectively] from below."

Thus, "as powerful as they may be," they "have only an ephemeral existence," the duration of which "depends entirely on galvanising nourishment on the part of their creators." [As Obama's projected power begins to fade and the illusion is punctured, we'll see more and more of his former supporters publicly asking, "what was I thinking?" in empowering this intellectual cypher. The answer is, "you weren't. You were fantasizing." Of course, others -- the true believers -- will "dig in."]

As such, the really frightening thing about these kinds of amorphous demagogues is that they are given life and nourished by the rabble they nourish and to whom they give life, in a spiritually barren cycle. The result is either spiritual asphyxiation or starvation, or probably both. And starved and suffocating men are capable of anything. [So in terms of the future psychic weather, look for a kind of blinding "psychic frenzy" from the left, much of which will be carried out in the dark.]

Ultimately, the antichrist is the shadow of the totality of mankind, as Jesus was the immanent shadow, so to speak, of the transcendent Divine Principle. The antichrist represents all that man is, and can be in the absence of divine grace. It is he who transported Jesus to the highest earthly mountain "and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" and said to him All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

The secular extremist or fanatical progressive worships his own creation, and in so doing, gives birth to the antiword. Materially, it results in a lefthound Tower of Babel (i.e, the all-powerful state), whereas spiritually it results in a gelatinous tower of leftist babble (i.e., the vacuous but seductive demagogue who will lead the people in the direction of their most base impulses and envious desires).

Again, please bear in mind that we are simply discussing abstract meta-cosmic principles. The events depicted in this post are fictitious. Any similarity to any biologically living or spiritually dead person is merely coincidental.

99 comments:

walt said...

We come for the prophecy, and stay for the jokes.

But believe me, even us rubes -- who only know what we read on the internet -- saw this guy coming! After all, wasn't his campaign slogan, Vacuous Hope for the Hopelessly Vacuous?

walt said...

...we'll see more and more if his former supporters publicly asking, "what was I thinking?"

Oh, like Senator Nelson of Nebraska, perhaps -- who, after a *quick* 30-point drop in the polls, now says "We should'a waited...." on HealthCare.

I thought Arnold's speech was great yesterday. First, "The HealthCare bill is just a public trough, full of perks and bribes!" Then later: "If our delegation isn't going to oppose this bill, at least 'get some of it' for Kahleefornia!"

Anonymous said...

You should post this somewhere else so that people can laugh at you.

Gagdad Bob said...

But then they won't be able to laugh here.

Anonymous said...

People here laugh with you.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, but that's because they know my yokes are easy.

Rick said...

Since it's been established that people should do what they're told, I think Anon should get a blog and show us how it's done.
Big talker.
RR

Petey said...

No can do. He's an infertile egghead.

walt said...

The "om a lot" yoke was *poofed*, and I defer to your judgement.

But OC is nothing if it's not food!
Just sayin'....

Rick said...

Walt,
Your Arnold translation reminds me of this guy Doug over at Gil Bailie’s place. On a daily basis, he basically accuses Gil of being insensitive, disingenuous and intellectually dishonesty by omission of Doug’s super important topics of import. I recognized Doug’s self-promotion to Executive Editor of Gil’s blog this morning. The really funny thing is, nearly all of Doug’s comments include at the end a link to his own blog, which to me says, hey Gil you suck, but please come over to my place when you have a chance! k?
RR

Gagdad Bob said...

Walt--

Yes, it came out a little scrambled. I should have said that if you want to crack the cosmic egg, you have to om alot.

Van Harvey said...

"As Obama's projected power begins to fade and the illusion is punctured, we'll see more and more if his former supporters publicly asking, "what was I thinking?" in empowering this intellectual cypher. The answer is, "you weren't. You were fantasizing." Of course, others -- the true believers -- will "dig in.""

Yep.

"The result is either spiritual asphyxiation or starvation, or probably both. And starved and suffocating men are capable of anything. [So in terms of the future psychic weather, look for a kind of blinding "psychic frenzy" from the left, much of which will be carried out in the dark.] "

Double Yep.

walt said...

Rick-

There's no end to the good work a narcissist thinks needs doing!

Van Harvey said...

"Ultimately, the antichrist is the shadow of the totality of mankind, as Jesus was the immanent shadow, so to speak, of the transcendent Divine Principle. The antichrist represents all that man is, and can be in the absence of divine grace. It is he who transported Jesus to the highest earthly mountain "and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" and said to him All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me."

That an aninnymouse should be unable to see the meaning and relevance of that, shows the difference between wisdom and wisdum, and the narcissistic perils of replacing an "O" with a "U".

Warren said...

>> to those who live in spiritual darkness, it would appear as a false light

As the fire of God's love is perceived by those self-confined in Hell as torturing flames.

Gagdad Bob said...

As I learned back in graduate school, the malignant narcissist is a true shit-for-brains, in the sense that they unconsciously imagine they're giving you milk when they're actually feeding you BS. And the supply never runs out (although the demand gradually diminishes).

Gagdad Bob said...

.... except for that 15% of truly coprophagic leftists...

Anonymous said...

Irony meter explodes

Cousin Dupree said...

Don't worry -- it's covered under Obamacare.

Cousin Dupree said...

It's under the heading of "unhip replacement."

Anonymous said...

OTHER people who like to post about how smart they are are narcissists. But not you, no never.

RR

Rick said...

I'd never take anything that belongs to you.

RR

Anonymous said...

Well, you certainly tried to change the subject.

Rick said...

I'm sorry. I'm still recovering from my signature being stolen.
RR

julie said...

This musical interlude brought to you by Sippy.

julie said...

The demand for BS diminishes by leaps and bounds.

Jack Cafferty: "Here’s hoping the voters remember some of this crap when the midterm elections roll around later this year."

Aquila said...

Speaking of malignant narcissism, check out this monumentally stupid and vicious attack against ISPs, publishers, librarians, and anyone else using digital-based media. This is the end result of what happens when you describe anyone you don't agree with as a Nazi, and any phenomenon you don't like as "genocide."

Anonymous said...

Barack Obama is the Antichrist and wants to destroy the world, you know. I read that here.

Thom said...

The following seemed to speak of a part of non blue anon's attitude towards the B'observations:

"Indolence renders any real penetration of the object impossible and prevents any collaboration with the meaning and essence of a thing"

"...indolence, which is anchored deep down in the concupiscence of man and involves a passivity, a strange, dull insistence on remaining rooted to the spot one is accustomed to, closes whole stretches of reality to the intellectual vision. As long as we remain in this attitude of central indolence, no intellectual acumen, no abundance of erudition, no merely formal capacity of apprehension can open our eyes to the understanding of the deeper strata and connections of existing things, or of higher kinds of objects of knowledge..."

-Dietrich von Hildebrand, "The New Tower of Babel"

He goes on to say that even the most convincing of arguments will not convince a mind gripped in such an attitude, but only a conversion, a relaxing of the grip of their pride, can give them sight and lead to a liberation of their intellect.

Gagdad Bob said...

Very well put. One way or another the grace must break in, or a man is condemned to his own puny sliver of reality.

Anonymous said...

Stay on target, folks. Right now you're trying to accuse *others* of narcissism.

Rick said...

Anon actually (partially) has a good point. Narcissists don't bug me. I mean, I have a remote control. It's when they start telling us what to do; taking away our property and wealth.
Trimming the hedges. Riding off on the women.
RR

Amigo said...

Don't forget, raping the horses...

Rick said...

And ruining our lives, and eating all of our steak.

Uncle Rico said...

Knock it off, Rick, and make yourself a dang quesadilla!

Rick said...

Who is that masked fan?

mushroom said...

walt said: There's no end to the good work a narcissist thinks needs doing!

I couldn't resist that one. In Josey Wales, just before the "Missouri Boatride", I think, Fletcher protests that Wales is the last of the hold-outs, and that killing him will mean the end. The Redleg Captain says grimly, "Doin' right ain't got no end."

Even if the progressives were right, for them to ever be content would be death.

Rick said...

Aquila,
What is "the end result”?

walt said...

Mushroom -

Heh ... er, bingo! My recollection was that he said, "No end to the good work that needs doing!" But you may be right.

What's that? You say I swipe all my lines? But of course!

slim pickens said...

Don' nothin' chap my hide like uh gol-derned horse rapist. There ain't nothin' lower'n uh horse rapist, 'speshly if he's uh Shetland rapist.

Aw right, well, maybe a dachshund rapist.

mushroom said...

Why it's no more "swiping" a line than catching a fish is "swiping" fish (unless the uninvited are fishing in my pond). They're there to be caught.

TOJW is starting to look more prophetic all the time.

Aquila said...

Ricky Raccoon: The "end result" is a human being so consumed with fear and loathing that he'll spew paranoid, abusive nonsense like that on his readership, and justify it by morally equating his personal dislikes with the most horrific event of the 20th century.

I've always thought that narcissism and angst-ridden self-hatred were two sides of the same coin. Both are the result of intense, obsessive self-involvement. Both also show a distinct lack of any sense of proportion or humor about one's own life.

Van Harvey said...

"TOJW is starting to look more prophetic all the time."

Heh... my favorite quote, off the top of the head and un-fact-checked with the movie or script (I'll leave that to future scholars), to a kid asking about Josey, he asks him if he's a bounty hunter, and the kid replies he's gotta make a living.

(spit) "Dyin' ain't much of a livin' boy"

The kid wavers & leaves... everyone else takes their eyes off the door but Josey, the kid bursts back in and is loudly aided in assuming room temperature.

A veritable I-Ching of a movie.

;-)

Rick said...

Aquila,
You mean like BDS?

Here's what I'm thinking. If he's wrong, the end result is we've got this article he's written. If he's right, we're headed somewhere very unpleasant, again.

I don't know the guy but he has some interesting observations, and if he's not making up the part about his mother, he gets lots of extra points from me.

I don't disagree with much if what he says about video games and technology consuming people's slack. I'm no tech nerd although a lot of people think I am. I don't want it unless it's does some thing better and easier than what I'm already doing. Plus I'm a big fan of physical books for similar reasons in addition to others.

He may be right about where we're headed but we part ways on whether it's some planned out thing.

Rick said...

Oh, I'm not sure what he suggests we should do. There's a lot of that going around. Anyway, I read it fast so maybe he did say.

If he thinks we need to chuck technolgy, I think that's quite unrealistic and dangerous. The bad guys won't follow our lead.

julie said...

Having skimmed over the first page, I have to agree with Aquila's assessment. I love books; I don't know that comparing the emergence of electronic media as an alternative to physical books with genocide and holocaust is the proper way to defend them. Also, in all honesty I don't think the market will support their eradication. Barnes & Noble is probably my most frequented non-grocery store, and I think most of my friends and family are the same way (even if much of the selection lately tends toward "sucktastic").

My point is, the big books stores don't look like they are hurting for business. No matter how attractive electronic media can be, people still love books, and reading them affords numerous possibilities that are unavailable on a glowing screen. And vice versa. I think there is room for both. Comparing the dwindling appearance of books with the slaughter of millions of humans diminishes the seriousness of the holocaust, and makes the author seem, well, hysterical.

Rick said...

I should read it again too. I didn't think he was equating the two. Although he sounded unnecessarily over the top.

Cousin Dupree said...

I love the sound of leftist heads exploding: Gitmo Detainees Will Likely Fight Extradition to Illinios Because Club Gitmo Is Nicer.

Susannah said...

Yep, I'd agree that fella is pretty hysterical at Aquila's link. Now *books* are the victims! I figured this post would drive the anon(s) buggy. Whatever you want to label him, this President shrugs at infanticide. That's certainly anti-something, and I really don't think it's what Christ meant by, "Let the little children come to me." And Dupree is on a roll...

Rick said...

Yeah, I don’t think he’s equating dwindling books with the holocaust. The link was to page 2 of 2 so I didn’t read page 1 wherever it was. Anyway, I thought it was reaction to that incident where Amazon removed people’s copies of 1984 (of all books) from their Kindles because they didn’t have the license to sell them in the US, or something. I’m trying to remember this article I read the other day about what copyright really means. According to this writer/reader he was arguing its as much if not more to protect who actually owns the book when it’s purchased as much as protect the author who wrote it. Neither ownership is temporary.
But this guy Kaufman may be right where we’re headed…essentially the manipulation of the written word. This is not a new warning. I’m not certain he’s saying this is some master plan. Maybe he is. I can be pretty dense. However, that doesn’t mean we are not headed where he says we’re headed. We may be, whether it’s a planned thing or not. I personally don’t suspect a conspiracy. I think those developing electronic media – such as ebooks (such as people like me :-) is to save the tremendous production costs, save paper, etc. And I think his initial complaint is how he’s being told to “shut up.” That’s a subplot to the story that’s perhaps taken on a larger life of its own. Like the Danish cartoon thing.

OK so all the Raccoons don’t agree… certainly not what we’re often accused of.
:-)
Somebody mark the calendar.

julie said...

I didn't/ don't have time to read pg. 1, so I'll concede your point Ricky. As to this:

But this guy Kaufman may be right where we’re headed…essentially the manipulation of the written word.

True - and it happens with books, too. All those books we loved as kids, the classics? Have you seen the comparisons to the latest versions? Updated up the wazoo to fit PC sensibilities. Granted, it's still possible to find old copies, but the change takes place nonetheless, in print or electronically. To me, that is of far greater concern than the media format.

Joan of Argghh! said...

One way or another the grace must break in, or a man is condemned to his own puny sliver of reality.

Worth the price of admission to this blog, right there. I mean, that's ALL there is and everything after that is just for the joy of it.

Van Harvey said...

I read/skimmed page 2, couldn't find page 1 either, not that I spent a lot of time trying... leafed through a couple other pages & didn't grab my attention... and some repulsing... but that's neither here nor there.

The point that it'd be a mistake to abandon books, I agree with, but like Julie, I don't think there's any evidence people are or will head towards that. Whenever possible, I like to have a physical copy of a book, an eBook for my PocketPC, and a audio version to listen to, either CD or on my PocketPC.

He's got a point with the central eBook store being a bad idea, and the incident of the Kindle repo'ing books is a prime example of why... it'd be just as easy for Big Brother's Books R Us to occasionally 'tweak' the content of such centrally stored & networked books. But those, like I and most others, who keep local copies, have nothing to fear from that sort of thing, and if it ever became possible to do such a thing out of the cover of darkness, we'd be in a Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 situation for the physical books anyway, and the fate of eBooks would be the least of our worries.

The benefits of having eBooks, the ease of researching and browsing back through for snippets of info & quotes, etc, not to mention the ability to have, as I do in my non-kindle, non-Nook, non-iPod, non-SonyReader, PocketPC, to have several hundred books literally in my pocket... priceless.

Anonymous said...

Anon:

GDB writes as if he were a narcissist.

Look at the comments he made in response to his wife when she commented on Chopra's red glasses about a month ago.

"Only I can use the glasses. They would be useless for you."

(!!) Would you want to be married to this character?

He doesn't want people stepping on his messiah complex.

Still- If you can stand the personality glitch, the writing here is good. Bob can be a wanker and STILL sling good philosophy.

However, how high on the vertical axis can this guy get unless he drops the "I am smarter and better than thou" schtick?

He will be better for everyone when he states "I have been a wanker but now I will admit I don't know all that much."

Then he can exploit whatever mystic talents he has better.

So sayteth a real wanker, a bad man, and not always right, Mr. Tasurinchi of S.A.

Godspeed.

Rick said...

No question about the benefits, Van. I enjoy them as you know. I'm part of the problem if there's a problem :-) having made an eBook. But I fixed that impermanent thing by making a hardcover. Fixed it for a bit longer anyway. And even I can’t change that print copy now. I like that too. It commits you.
Like you Van, if I enjoy an eBook, I buy the print copy. As a person who also makes his living with a computer (who doesn't); working on things that can “go poof” so easily and for good, I’ve developed a sixth sense for when my computer is about to crash. Maybe that’s why I’m maybe overly sensitive to this topic. That and these strange times of words changing meanings and “living Constitutions.” These topics all seem related to some degree.

Rick said...

"I have been a wanker but now I will admit I don't know all that much."

Bob actually says this all the time. And means it. This is unavoidable for the serious seeker.

Gagdad Bob said...

Anon:

I'm the only one that knows how to use the ruby glasses. They're of no use to you, to Deepak, to my wife, or to anyone else. Now run along, or I'll stuff a mattress with you!

yumpin' yimminy said...

"...but that's because they know my yokes are easy."

Make that over easy, Baaa'b. Only a yerk can laugh a yoke without realizing he's getting egg on his face.

Anonymous said...

I kind of like Obama. He's seems to be a good president.

the real anonymous said...

And I kind of like yo mama. She seems to smell like Pepsodent.

Amonynous said...

Here's the link to Kaufman's original rant, which makes his point much better than trying to pick it up from his "rant fallout response" (page 2) which Aquila linked to in the first place.
Where's the club for those of us who can appreciate both this blog and that magazine? Neocoons?

Magnus Itland said...

Back on the farm, if we heated one of the less used rooms on a winter day, a goodly number of flies would come out seemingly from nowhere. I can only assume they had been hibernating in cracks in the walls during all those long, cold weeks and months.

fuelzfuel said...

I notice the same thing around a fresh dung heap.

Magnus Itland said...

That's true, you cannot imagine flies complain about too much dung. They love it, they lap it up, and then they fly off still smeared with the stuff, perhaps to your kitchen next. There they seamlessly integrate dung and butter.

Susannah said...

Magnus, I had the very same thought, only here it's stinkbugs, and they are chased out hiding by the heat of the wood stove. They like to hide by the dozens in the folds of cloth (like my aprons!--shudder) or between books on the shelves. The filthy things let off a horrible stench when you try to corner them.

Rick said...

RE the Kaufman article, I read page 1, and he continues to go too far while making valid points of his observations. I cringe more than page 2. He may be his own worst enemy. However, what if the truth comes wrapped in a crazy person? I subscribe to Schuon’s (extreme paraphrasing now) a fissure in a mountain is just a fissure. In other words, this Kaufman may bring 90% true and 10% crazy. I still think John the Baptist gives me the creeps. (I’m not equating Kaufman and JTB)

I’m certain Kaufman is not equating the value of books with people. He’s making the argument that the devaluation of “the book” is similar if not linked or leads to the devaluation of people. He says “book burning” in the way perhaps Palin used the expression “death panels.” It was supposed to shock you and make you remember something else. Something that did happen. Burning he uses as a metaphor for devaluation of something we shouldn’t so easily dismiss if that is what we are doing. I think that is what we are doing. Publishers are doing it. The degree of devaluation, of course, is important to weigh here.

When Kaufman uses words like “relic” and “sacred” when talking about “the book” I have to agree with him. He doesn’t say “books” or “a book”. He is talking about “book” the archetype. The very separate and distinctly important thing that carries the written word. It says something about the level of regard or value that is placed on the written word. Such as how you frame a masterpiece.

Here are a couple of examples, maybe they need more narrative to connect them, but they were brought to mind and I don’t want to beat a dead horse and your valuable time.

I have some copies of the Bible I purchased when I had no idea what the Bible was compared to now. I will never open these copies to read them as I prefer the NSRV and King James. But I’ll tell you, I cannot bring myself to just throw those other versions in the recycling bin. I couldn’t do it.

I was in NYC this week for a couple days and brought my brother who’s never been to the Met Museum and the Modern. Without equating Van Gogh and anyone’s favorite Saint, it was a tangible sacred thing to stand inches away from, but simultaneously “in”, the “place” Van Gogh stood the day he painted that masterpiece. And the thought that while he sat that same morning eating his breakfast he had no idea he was going to paint anything worth keeping.

The Starry Night is at the Modern Museum and it is just there like any of the other stupid paintings in that cold, sterile building. Even the lighting on it is poor (IMO). I am not suggesting this is intentional. But there is a huge difference in the experience of "being" in each building.

Susannah said...

I'm the same way, Ricky. About any book, but especially the Bible. It seems almost sacreligious to throw a book away, and certainly to burn it! I will admit, however, to throwing away Rabelais. I'm female...might have something to do w/ it. Great book of the WW? I think not. No more so than South Park would be.

Van Harvey said...

From the start of Page 1,
"In the past few years I have witnessed in San Francisco a sudden epidemic of bookstore closings that has turned my city into a bookstore graveyard.
Staceys, on Market Street, a once iconic, tasteful and sumptuous 85-year old book emporium rises like a reproach, vacant, unrented, a ghostly shell."

Here's a completely unfair comment, made without reading much past the first paragraph (but I think I'll finish it), but... you know what this reminds me of? A favorite unmanly guilty pleasure "You've Got Mail"... have seen it uncountable times.

"Birdie Conrad: [reading from Frank's article in the Observer] Save The Shop Around the Corner and you will save your soul.

Frank Navasky: Kathleen, you are a lone reed. You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce.
Kathleen Kelly: I am a lone reed.

Joe Fox: [on the new Fox Books superstore] Hey, you know what? We should announce ourselves to the neighborhood. Just let them know, here we come.
Kevin: Oh, no, this is the Upper West Side, man. We might as well tell 'em we're opening up a crack house. They're gonna hate us. Soon as they hear, they're gonna be lining up...
Joe Fox, Kevin: - to picket the big bad chain store...
Kevin: - that's out to destroy...
Joe Fox: - everything they hold dear.
Kevin: Yeah.
Joe Fox: Do you know what? We are going to seduce them. We're going to seduce them with our square footage, and our discounts, and our deep armchairs, and...
Joe Fox, Kevin: Our cappuccino.
Joe Fox: That's right. They're going hate us at the beginning, but...
Joe Fox, Kevin: But we'll get 'em in the end.
Joe Fox: Do you know why?
Kevin: Why?
Joe Fox: Because we're going to sell them cheap books and legal addictive stimulants. In the meantime, we'll just put up a big sign: "Coming soon: a FoxBooks superstore and the end of civilization as you know it.
"

I love small book stores, especially ones that sell used books... but if I'm looking for a book, I go to Barnes & Noble or surf to Amazon. They will have what I want, the small one is unlikely to. I love to browse through them, and I rarely leave without buying something... but they are not where I go to buy a book, and unless they adapt, figure out how to fill some other unmet need for value... they will continue to be shuttered.

Change is a bitch. Still happens.

But I still choke up in the scene when Kathleen Kelly is closing the shop for the last time, turns and sees the memory of her mother dancing with her in the shop. Chokes me up... eyes water. And the scene at the end when they meet and both know each other to be each other. Love it.

Then I watch Braveheart or something with heads being chopped off to replenish the testosterone stores.

Rick said...

"Here's a completely unfair comment, made without reading much past the first paragraph (but I think I'll finish it), but... you know what this reminds me of? A favorite unmanly guilty pleasure "You've Got Mail"... have seen it uncountable times."

Never seen it.
Not a gunpoint.
As far as you know.

julie said...

Ricky, re. changing the content, the Bible is an excellent case in point. If I'm not mistaken, there have been a few PC versions put out in recent years, with the language carefully washed of any reference that might make someone feel bad - in other words, feminized and made more palatable for gays and environmentalists. And in making those changes the publishers do violence to the very Word they presume to transmit. Again, it's less a matter of paper vs. screen than a matter of who chooses and controls the content.

Re, "You've Got Mail," I liked it for a while but lately I find it sours with each subsequent viewing. Couldn't say why, though.

Susannah said...

Julie, funny, I've only seen it once, but that was enough for me. I'm not an excessively sentimental person, though, and have never been partial to romance novels or romcoms. It's definitely better than your average romantic movie, but that's not saying much. Jackie Chan is more my style of brain candy. Braveheart was good, but can never watch it again. Too gut-wrenching.

Susannah said...

Can you tell they canceled our tutorial program today? Time to tackle the laundry.

Van Harvey said...

Finished. From further paragraphs rewordgitating the same notions,

"But the truth is, Nourrey, like Bertelsmann, like most American book publishers, are linked to twenty first century, late-stage hypercapitalist imperatives predicated entirely upon ceaseless expansion, the inherent belief in Darwinian obsolescence and succession as the lifeblood of successful economics and societal advance."

Seems to be little more than an anti-capitalist (meaning anti-free choice) paean to bemoan the fact that their pet whim (more precisely, the 'right sort' of books) isn't adored by all, but they most certainly should somehow be forced to.

"While mid-list authors drop in the snow, blockbuster thrillers and middlebrow memoirs and diet books huff their way forward. Soon, though, they too will drop. The idea is for no one to be left standing. All physical books must go up the chimney stack. Such was the methodology of the SS who forced their prisoners to run naked races round and round the barracks yard in the Polish winter, a race that no one was meant to win."

Sorry... but... such equivocations make my stomach churn and my blood boil. You can bet that Thomas Sowell's new book Intellectuals and Society (just started it, but so far, quite good)) and other conservative bestsellers are lumped into that same 'middlebrow' category.

Equivocating the choices of buyers with the violent, murderous force of the SS... is... disgusting.

Van Harvey said...

"... funny, I've only seen it once, but that was enough for me..."

Oh! et tu Brute?! My soft underbelly has been exposed and torn out! OHHH! Where are those monolithic raccoon mind melds when you need them!

gasp.

Want some more belly? "Runaway Bride".

Love it.

Oh... the shaAame of it all.

(Runs off looking for the nearest a Dirty Harry movie)

;-)

julie said...

Van, if it makes you feel any better, I think the point you made with "You've Got Mail" was spot on.

But "Runaway Bride"? Uhm. 'Kay. To each his own... ;)

"The Princess Bride" was more my cup of tea. Even if I do want to kick her in the ass for being so damn helpless all the time.

Rick said...

Susannah,
Thanks. I don’t know the Rabelais book…
I have the NRSV Bible as an iPhone application as well as print (yes it’s true!)
I’m not sure I could delete that either :-) which I realize doesn’t exactly support my point about an electronic version being a lesser thing than the printed. At least doesn’t support it well. The guy that developed it did a great job. The application has several versions in it including KJ and you can compare the same verses between them which is very convenient. I’m not sure I’d do that as often between paper versions.

Rick said...

Julie,
One of the older print copies of the Bible I have I think is called the Living Bible. Not sure if that’s like the ones you’re talking about. My copy is about 20 years old. It was recommended to me by a Baptist minister, if I recall, when I told him I was having difficulty with, I think, a KJ version. My impression at the time was that the language was so different than the KJ that I dismissed it quickly thinking, man, this can’t be right. I could be wrong about the name Living Bible..so no offense to anyone if that title is actually for a good translation..

Rick said...

"Sorry... but... such equivocations make my stomach churn and my blood boil."

Yeah. Those would be the parts I said go too far. I don't agree with his conclusions. If anything, some observations.

This reminds me of something that happened, I think it was a couple of summers ago...
Be right back..

Amonynous said...

Interesting comments re: electronic book hubbub. I can allow Kaufman hysterical license because I agree that books are, for me, also sacred. Just not to the degree that life is sacred. But as Flannery O'Connor said,(paraphrased from memory): "For the hard of hearing one must shout. For the nearly blind one must draw large and startling pictures." The guy accomplishes his purpose: he gets us to thinking about things we've all taken for granted.

Puzzling to me however is that no one addressed one of Kaufman's lynchpin beefs: that digital books can be taken from us on a whim. This aspect of digital literature bothers me much more than a man comparing killing books to killing humans. One is a really zealous opinion. The other is a fact.

Further, the idea that he's on an anti-capitalist rant is a simplification. He's on an anti-digital rant, and digitizing our world happens to be a cash cow for many large corporations. To give a seller the power of instant recall is just plain scary, and unprecedented in an analog world. We have handed this power unchecked to the soulless entity of a corporation. And that is, unfortunately, a fact.

Rick said...

Amon,
It was mentioned:

"Anyway, I thought it was reaction to that incident where Amazon removed people’s copies of 1984 (of all books) from their Kindles because they didn’t have the license to sell them in the US, or something. I’m trying to remember this article I read the other day about what copyright really means. According to this writer/reader he was arguing it's as much if not more to protect who actually owns the book when it’s purchased as much as protect the author who wrote it. Neither ownership is temporary."

I wish I could remember where I read the copyright article..

Rick said...

I changed my mind about what I was going to say about what happened a couple of summers ago. I don’t think it will come across as well as it should, plus too chatty. It had to do with me and another parent, a father, who I’d never met, seeing the flag at half-mast at the police station across the street from us at the high school on the day of a parade. I was surprised we weren’t at all seeing the same thing.

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "Puzzling to me however is that no one addressed one of Kaufman's lynchpin beefs: that digital books can be taken from us on a whim."

Puzzling to me that you can claim that no one addressed what Ricky and I both addressed it. Speaking for moi, I said "He's got a point with the central eBook store being a bad idea, and the incident of the Kindle repo'ing books is a prime example of why... it'd be just as easy for Big Brother's Books R Us to occasionally 'tweak' the content of such centrally stored & networked books. But those, like I and most others, who keep local copies, have nothing to fear from that sort of thing, and if it ever became possible to do such a thing out of the cover of darkness, we'd be in a Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 situation for the physical books anyway, and the fate of eBooks would be the least of our worries."

you said "Further, the idea that he's on an anti-capitalist rant is a simplification."

Which I'll go you one further and say that you are on one also. Evidence: "He's on an anti-digital rant, and digitizing our world happens to be a cash cow for many large corporations. To give a seller the power of instant recall is just plain scary, and unprecedented in an analog world. We have handed this power unchecked to the soulless entity of a corporation. And that is, unfortunately, a fact."

I'd say the antipathy towards Ownership, capital and business in your comment, is clear - as well as the ignorance of the buyer/seller contract, entered into by free choice.

I, understand, as I mentioned earlier, that "it'd be just as easy for Big Brother's Books R Us to occasionally 'tweak' the content of such centrally stored & networked books.", and I for one will have none of it. I use Microsoft Reader, which runs on my PocketPC as a stand alone app, and with a free addon template that runs in MS Word, I can convert any .txt, .htm, and unsecured .pdf's to eBooks which are mine, kept and run locally, on my memory card, and backed up to a gajillion locations. Plus, where ever possible, I've got them in paper book form, or printed out on paper, or as audio recordings. IOW, they'll come and take my books (no matter the format) when they can pry them from my cold, dead, fingers.

Rick said...

You guys know me well enough to know I’m no anti-capitalist.
That article I read about copyright, the author was suggesting (strongly) that it protects the buyer of the book as much as the writer. His point was that, if you buy a book, you own it. Period. You want to give it to someone. Even sell it. That’s what the copyright is for. Sounds like lawgwash to me – the law part. But I suppose if it didn’t have the copyright thing on it, you could be selling someone else’s work or purchase. Like filing off a serial number on a gun. I don’t know. I’m no law-talkin’ guy. But he’s right about buying a book is permanent. No one ever thought differently. Well, will ebooks expire? Maybe eventually. The author said there was some group trying to get the copyright law changed. Or something. (Law-talkin-guys feel free to jump in) I know my printed books can’t expire. So there’s that.
Time go..

Susannah said...

I still have the entire GBWW set in my basement (inherited from my dad), so let 'em try and tweak that. It's missing Rabelais, though.

amonynous said...

Ricky,
I did read your comment and felt that you were responding to page 2 rather than his original thesis (page 1).

Van,
I did miss your comments. Sorry for the oversight. We see the book issue from the same perspective.

Rick said...

No prob. I just figured you missed it or something.
I wasn't upset. It's the comment window thing.

Rick said...

Van can't come to the blog right now.
He's watching a Bosom Buddies marathon.
Probably.

Van Harvey said...

Ricky said "Van can't come to the blog right now. He's watching a Bosom Buddies marathon. Probably. "

Don't I wish. I watched "the watchmen"... worst piece of @#$! I've seen in a while. Bunch of ramblin pomofo leaching off a rip off of super hero's to push an ends justify the means... arghhh... sometimes you just got to watch it to the end... I don't recommend making the same mistake though.

Van Harvey said...

The gist of the law thing is talking about Google's digitizing books that are still under copyright without permission & trying to ok it by getting in under the sample quote allowance... which the publishers say, and probably correctly, is still an abridgment of their copyright's (Like record albums, the artist/writer typically doesn't hold the full ownership rights).

That's for them to battle out, doesn't affect our ownership of either the physical or eBook.

If the eBook expires... or it's technology becomes too outdated to be powered up anymore... that's a real issue to be concerned about... for those who rely entirely on eBooks.

My advice would be - don't.

Van Harvey said...

Susannah said "I still have the entire GBWW set in my basement (inherited from my dad), so let 'em try and tweak that. It's missing Rabelais, though."

Yep, got it here too...it's still got Rabelais... but I haven't bothered reopening it. It's got Rousseau too, which, personally, I see as far more obscene, from a different perspective, but then it's got Montesquieu on it's better half, so there's that.

Can't really banish degeneracy though... remember it's there... leave it closed.

Euripides had a bit of a disquieting tale about attempting to banish them... "The Bacchae"... but I hear ya.

Anonymous said...

Van: You don't give Watchmen enough credit. In the book, at least, there's enough evidence that we're not supposed to side with the ends-justify-the-means people. Rorschach is a looney, but he's also the only one who manages to make a stab at doing the right thing.

Rick said...

I saw Watchmen about a year ago.
I can't remember a thing about it.
Iron Man was good I thought. Thought the acting at times was good. I don't expect that in these movies.
Anyway, The 300 was great and I think was made by the guy who made Watchmen, and that's why I watched that one.. I'm not sure I cared for anyone in it. I mean the characters. I see that in movies these days. I think this is a basic requirement for a story. Otherwise, I leave the theatre thinking, who cares?

Rick said...

The Departed is another one. The best I could do is try to care for Leonardo’s character.
But (SPOILER ALERT)..











But he gets killed like 20 minutes before the movie ends. Same thing for No Country for Old Men (which at least was different) The guy I’m hoping makes it, gets killed well before the movie ends – not in any heroic way.. This is a trend I’m not crazy about. But what’s the ultimate point? There are bad guys out there? The bad guys are getting badder? There’s a mob and the cops are in on it? Sometimes cops have Irish accents? Mr. S can’t stop making the same movie over and over?

Rick said...

Good news, though. Mel Gibson has a new shoot-gun movie coming out. He makes a scary face in the poster and he’s holding a gun and everything.
I wonder if it’s about pay-back?
Maybe he's playing a guy who's sick of all the shoot-gun movies and finally snaps...
If they're going to keep making the same movie over and over, I should be able to use the same ticket.

Rick said...

Van,
RE the copyright, it doesn’t sound like the issue I read about. I can’t prove it of course. Bad thing about President Bush is, I can’t seem to remember where I read things.
As you know, this excuse has no expiration date.

Yep. I buy actually books too. It’s almost time for a new bookcase.
Here’s the thing. Or, what I think. If publishers and printing houses start falling away because of the popularity of digital forms, the price of print books should go up, proportionally. And they will be harder to find. I’m talking way way down the road here. Pick a time until it makes sense. That's what the AGW guys do. It's easy.
Of course, companies like Lulu.com couldn’t do what they do if not for digital production. I think it will settle out. Like coffee didn’t go away when Coke was invented. The market settled out over time and even expanded. Maybe people will appreciate printed books more when they’re harder to get. Like antiques.

It’s something to keep an eye on. Like I said, I don’t think there’s a conspiracy. Doesn’t mean it’s not happening naturally. But there’s a good chance eBooks will expire whether we like it or not. The stand alone eBook apps on my iPhone may/will go away if Apple doesn’t feel like supporting some of them 5 years from now with their OS. This iPhone won’t run forever. Sure, same with print books. But I saw some at the Met from like the 13th Century. So if you take care of them…there’s no need to pay/force someone to recode them.

I realize this thread’s gone on probably way too long, gone off the deep end, and it’s mostly my fault. I’ll stop here: I think we are becoming more and more accepting of this idea of renting books. I’m not sure that overall it is entirely a good trend. It seems to be progress in one respect and not in another.
The End.
:-)
PS Thanks everyone for their input and (Bob too) for the digital space and patience.

Van Harvey said...

Ricky said " The 300 was great and I think was made by the guy who made Watchmen, and that's why I watched that one"

I got it for the same reason, & looks like what I got from NetFlix was an extended version, so it may have been doubly bad than in the theater.

"If they're going to keep making the same movie over and over, I should be able to use the same ticket."

Heh, agreed.

Van Harvey said...

Anonymous said "In the book, at least, there's enough evidence that we're not supposed to side with the ends-justify-the-means people."

Well... I didn't read the comic book, so maybe I didn't get all the nuances of no motion, but the actual message of the movie is that the Ends not only justify the Means, but that that works, and that Rorschach is a looney because he won't compromise with lies, insists on doing the 'right thing', and that by ensuring that the truth will come out, it will likely destroy all the 'good' which the Lie brought about.

Double vomit.

Van Harvey said...

Ricky said "RE the copyright, it doesn’t sound like the issue I read about."

I haven't followed it that closely, that was the gist of what I got from it, and they were quibbling about whether and how much royalties should come from digitizing and providing excerpts on the web... but I very well could be missing something.

"If publishers and printing houses start falling away because of the popularity of digital forms, the price of print books should go up, proportionally."

Well... couple things. Publishers, it seems to me, are in danger of making a similar mistake as the music biz - they think that they are in the business of printing and distributing paper books, just as the music biz thought it was in the business of printing, distributing and selling LP's/CD's.

As the music biz has found out, that's a big mistake.

Publishers are in the business of earning a profit by locating interesting authors, assisting them (editing), and promoting them to the public - if they concentrated on that, and on maximizing the profit from whichever format the 'book' was sold in, they'd be way ahead of the game.

The other thing is, I remember several years back, there were lots of kiosks popping up where you could have your 'book' ...scrapbooks, diaries, etc, printed and bound while you waited... and I think some bookstores were providing that in their stores on selected books, at a discounted price - and that makes a great deal of sense. No huge printing presses needed, no warehouse costs, no transportation costs, etc. We just bought a movie that includes a Blue-Ray disc, a DVD, and an e-format version of it (haven't tried it yet, not sure whether it's copyable from the disc, or a license to download, or what), and that seems to me to be a likely form of what will happen with books and bookstores.

I can foresee a development of the Barnes & Noble store, sitting & browsing areas, coffee shop, discussion zones, even lecture/presentation/classroom facilities, with books sold, at your option (and price) of leather bound, hardback, paperback, with or without eFormats, with perhaps some pre-printed for browsing, and vastly more browsable on in-store eNook readers (I haven't seen these physically, but the sales blurbs seem far more open, less Borg like, than the Kindle).

In short, I think the announcement of both books, bookstores and publishers, is just a bit premature.

Rick said...

Thanks, Van.
I hadn't considered the music industry...which I know even less about.
Also, agreed that the books and book stores won't be going away in our lifetimes.

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