Feel My Pain, Writers

Ramblus 12 - I went back and counted

Published on May 28, 2004 By OckhamsRazor In Misc

There isn't much I get upset by or spooled up about anymore no matter what the topic - terrorism, presidential elections, or the importance of the use of real cheese and not just cheese food products in school lunches. I have sort of hit a point of acknowledgement. Acknowledgement and acceptance that largely it is something I can not change. In a presidential election, I have my one vote, but I don't seriously believe that it's all that important because the voting system does not represent (and I use the word deliberately) what it once did. For terrorism, if I see a guy wearing (fill in your favorite generlization about terry cloth headware here) setting down a box and then running like mad in the other direction, I promise to tell the local authorities, but once again, I acknowledge that there isn't much that I can do about terrorism. And what to do about cheese food products? Well eat them, of course...I'm not finicky and anything with even the word "cheese" in it has to have some redeeming value, right? Well of course it does.

I have recently come to the conclusion that its all going to have to hit rock bottom before anyone looks up and says "Hey man...I just noticed that nothing in our lives has any real content any more. We just sort of pat each other on the back and tell each other it's content, but let's face it...we have no idea."

A lot of folks really don't know...probably because they got laughed at for reading books or beat up for thinking and not going with the in crowd. Worse than that...some then grow up and have kids of their own and teach them that the worst thing they can do in their lives (that they bloody well better show some appreciation for) is disagree with mom or dad. What I'm getting at is the predominant message pervading at least the US if not many countries. Stop Thinking.

If you, dear reader, will dare to think and look around you, you will see the results of this everywhere you go. Many people are genuinely frightened to be alive due to all the potential hostility (after all, a bomb exists that can erase a city, and people exist who are happy to detonate them), and if they aren't living in a tiny self made box of ignorance to escape that and all the less dramatic but still deadly potential violence, it might be because they are hiding from the screwed up self esteem that goes along with being innundated every day by images that tell them that to be successful they need to get Hairplants™, or BreastPlants™, or WhiteTeeth™, or StayHard™ and that to find a companion you must conform to the norm as defined by a bunch of people that really don't care if you're successful as long as you send in $19.95 for the shipping and handling on a free trial right away.

That is a generalization, of course, but I am sure you all can see what I'm referring to. Maybe it isn't as epidemic as *I* think it is, but it IS epidemic. If you don't think so, don't forget to watch the commercials as well as the show during next season's American Idol. (And I'll let Muggaz put the BAM!!! on that if he happens by.)

When it comes to music - my friends, acquaintances, random people in lines at the bank, and that bum that lives in the box on the corner will tell you that I can go on and on about my ire over the fact that millions, maybe billions of untrained ears are determining the course of an art that is strictly aural in nature, and they are doing so because a visual element has been added to it which, vision being what it is, is stealing the show. As I once heard Dennis Miller say, and I paraphrase, "Style is beating the sh*t out of substance daily." and being a musician in a world where no one seems to really care about what I or my peers can speak to them musically as long as we look a certain way while doing it, I agree.

But now...an invention has come along. A BRILLIANT invention. And it means that I'm not alone anymore. Writers are going to take it in the shorts, too, (but probably not so much as musicians, because most people these days think thought is bad for you, and reading tends to cause thinking.)

What is that invention? Well, to support my belief that people should think, I'm going to let you figure it out, but I'll give you a hint. It's right under your nose.

No, not your lip, I meant figuratively.

Ock, keeping it simple since 1962

Comments (Page 1)

new-age nomad

on May 28, 2004

You're a musician? wow.....

You know, it really irritates me when another blogger says just as plain as day what I've been trying to say forever. Then again, I guess it's kina refreshing to take that load off.

Thanks.

Trinitie

Muggaz

on May 29, 2004

Damn straight BAM!!!

That was brilliant Ock.

Have another one.

BAM!!!

kingbee

on May 29, 2004

hmmmm you mean theres something worse than movies in store for writers?

Sir Peter Maxwell

on May 29, 2004

I cannot tell whether this is meant to be satire, which is a little dry, or just a moan about life, which is a little dry. Try harder you raving idiot.

OckhamsRazor

on May 30, 2004

Just goes to show...money can't buy ya brains, Peter. Thanks for trying though.

Joe98

on May 30, 2004

well said

MasonM

on May 30, 2004

Don't think. Yep, that's pretty much the goal of modern society. Thinkers are dangerous. Thinkers may actually try to CHANGE something. Can't have that.

Well written and interesting, if one cares to think about it. Ooops, sorry, don't want that now, do we?

BTW I agree that computers are affecting writing today.

Mr_Frog

on Jun 02, 2004

I'm there with you, man. People say that I should be in a band and play guitar for others. I play for myself. Sure I suck, but it's *my* playing. For me. And no-one can take that away, or make a music video of it.

-- B

Abe cubbage

on Jun 02, 2004

Careful with the "Ism" there Ock, it's trying to bite you in the ass again.

Sir Peter Maxwell

on Jun 02, 2004

Two more for the blacklist, Goodbye chaps.

OckhamsRazor

on Jun 28, 2004

Since this article is a little older now, I'll add a bit of explanation. What I was referring at the end there was that the web innovation we call Blog sites has given everyone that can blow their mental noses hard enough to get an opinion out a vehicle to pretend that they are something they are not.

The first appearance of this in music was the "drum machine" which quickly put many drummers out of work. Not because it was better than a real drummer, but because people didn't care that there was a difference. I'm betting the out of work drummers cared, but who cares about them as long as we can dance to it!?

Since that invention, many electronic devices and software have been created to "dumb down" the music writing process to the point where it no longer matters if an "artist" (pardon while I go throw up at using the word this way) has any creative talent. All that matters is that we like the image of the person mindlessly hitting the "Create Song Now" button.

Blog sites, in a way, give that same encouragement to talentless writers. Come! Be publicized! We won't judge your content by any standard whatsoever, we'll just publish it because why not?

This isn't a slam on Blog sites at all, by the way. I'm just pointing out a parallel in the patterns between the two things.

Human kind seems to be getting far less discriminating. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I see it more as a pendulum swing in the negative direction.

When the resulting upswing occurs, it will occur in the form of the rebellion of the generation that is age -14 to 6 right now. This group will come of age (18) in as little as 12 years and as late as 26 years from now. And when they do...stand by. Those of you that think that the only prerequisite for being "published" should be your ability to maneuver the mouse to the "Submit" button and the only knowledge you need to judge music quality (music, not poetic) is the equivalent of the oh so intellectual "I gave it a 7 cuz it has a good beat and its easy to dance to and he/she is so cute" are in for the shock of your lives.

mignuna

on Jun 28, 2004

please forgive me for letting somebody else express how i feel about this article far better than i ever could:

"if human beings are all monsters, why should i sacrifice anything for them?" ... "because they are beautiful monsters... and when they live in a network of peace and hope, when they trust the world and their deepest hungers are fulfilled, then within that system, that delicate web, there is joy. that is what we live for, to bind the monsters together, to murder their fear and give birth to their beauty."

(from 'wyrms' by orson scott card)

card uses so many "computer" terms to explain the only possible way for peace amongst mankind here ... which is to adapt successfully to the shifting meaning of the word "community" from something defined purely geographically to something entirely indefinable and ever transient.

although i think card had in mind a sharing of ideas and an encouragement of creativity via these "networks", instead of the awful paradox blogs have become, as you say ... (ie: genuine talent that either goes unappreciated due to a lack of a suitable audience, or else gets bashed into silence through "misunderstandings" and thoughtless interactions with others who do not "think" the same).

i really enjoyed your perspective here. this is actually my first visit to your blog, but it won't be my last.

mig XX

MasonM

on Jun 28, 2004

I agree that blogs do provide a means for many talentless writers (myself included) to have their writing read by people who would other wise never see it. But, there are also many good writers out there that are also read who might otherwise never be exposed to an audience.

The feedback can be useful in honing writing skills. That is assuming (I know, bad thing to do) that honest critical feedback is provided. We have some writers here at JU who show real potential and may reach a level of skill through their work on the site that they might otherwise never achieve.

I guess, like everything else, it has it's good and bad aspects.

As for me, I'll keep writing my own flavor of drivel because I enjoy it and maybe, just maybe somebody out there may actually read one or two of them.

Good article btw.

new-age nomad

on Jun 28, 2004

This is something far greater than us, guys. It has numerous purposes for different people. I won't go into listing, but my point is that while we all care about other's reading our works (no denying, you're freaking publishing this shit on a website), not all of us care what people think of it. Not everyone on here had the desire to be a writer.

I once read a book by Mark Salzman called, "True Notebooks" about how he chose to teach free writing classes in a juvie prison of sorts. These boys barely knew their abc's.....but their writing was profound and insightful in many cases. But none of that mattered, it gave them an outlet, it gave them a purpose. It allowed their hearts to take a deep breathe and say that life is worth living.

He didn't so much "teach" the class, as he monitored. He gave no instructions, just told them to write. And that's what they did. I look at Brad (or Joe as I call him) and think of 'ol Mark Salzman. We all in a prison and he's allowing us to write about it.

And for that, I'm grateful.

Trinitie

mignuna

on Jun 28, 2004

pardon my interjection, but i can't help but feel that a major point has been missed here, that being that this article was largely intended to showcase the harm that can be done to the creative mind through unfounded or thoughtless criticism. i cannot see that this article in any way implied that blogging is only for "artists" or "poets", in fact it suggests the opposite.

the internet is a powerful tool for communication, and the author is not denying this. what this article does say, however, is that the very ready access it provides to any person to comment on any subject does allow people who may have any type of objection, reasonable or otherwise, to freely attack creative works based on a desire for sameness or an application of their own standards.

it also quite clearly demonstrated that some criticism is valueless unless it has a base in some knowledge at least. in that way, it implored creative people to ignore "input" from those that would rather the creative process was as automated as everything else in this world.

i myself find this to be very sound advice, and it find it a shame that one minor point became the focus of the comments. if i felt that this article was saying that others had no right to speak, i would also find it repellant. but it doesn't. it advises caution in accepting criticism, and on keeping it's effects balanced based on it's source.

mason and trin, you both have excellent blogs, and you know i visit them and comment, and i will continue to do so. i hope you both come back here and read this. i'd hate for you, or anyone else, to go away from this article thinking that it is being implied that "writing" is an elitist exercise. i'd hate to have to read all uptight shit like my own all the time.

i only need to go into a political or IT blog to know that any comment i make is going to come from a personal opinion rather than any actual knowledge i have, so this point is not too hard for me too accept in relevance to myself, either

i enjoyed this article just as much as i enjoy masons' sharp wit and trins' expressiveness. it's all about balance.

thanks again ockhamsrazor. apologies for the thread hijack.

mig XXX

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