"An anti-learning culture"

On 6 juil, 20:07, Martha Bridegam <bride....RemoveThis@pacbell.net> wrote:
> Here's something to fulminate about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml

50 years is quite long enough. 70 years is foolish, 95 years is
madness. The *Copyright Extension in Exchange for Censorship* document
will be signed by Mephistopheles...
B.
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

georgeorwell DeleteThis @email.com wrote:
> On 6 juil, 20:07, Martha Bridegam <bride... DeleteThis @pacbell.net> wrote:
>> Here's something to fulminate about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml
>
> 50 years is quite long enough. 70 years is foolish, 95 years is
> madness. The *Copyright Extension in Exchange for Censorship* document
> will be signed by Mephistopheles...
> B.
>

Further reason to support your local public library. The notion of a
place where anyone can just walk in and read the books without paying is
getting to seem more and more irregular.

/M
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

selene1022 wrote:
> On Jul 6, 8:07 pm, Martha Bridegam <bride....DeleteThis@pacbell.net> wrote:
>> Here's something to fulminate about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml
>
> Interesting Martha, though I think it's a silly idea that will never
> work.
>
> I also have doubt that the influence of "performers" is as important a
> factor as is indicated by Cameron. Instead of blaming writers and
> musicians, why not blame stupid government policy, horrible schools
> and inferior educators.

Yep.

>
> The "industry" has one main concern--making money. I personally think
> that much of popular culture is sheer tripe, but obviously many people
> buy into it. Is it a reflection of current taste, or is culture shaped
> by this stuff?
>
>
> I'm just curious to see where it's all going to go next. Snuff movies
> on MTV? Or have they already done that...
>
>

Seriously, my guess is that pop culture appears to be getting worse
because the most widely distributed stuff is no longer a vehicle for
cultural or political change. It's receding to the default status of
background music -- the status it had in, e.g., the 1950s, which, come
to think of it, was the last period when we had such centralized control
of radio playlists.

Meanwhile, a lot of people have grown up with recorded music or voices
in the background all the time. When they leave the TV on all day, or
listen to music all day, aren't obsessed with what they're
watching/hearing -- they're just laying down a background for whatever
they're doing or thinking in the foreground.

Orwell kind of missed this second point with the "telescreen," didn't
he? He presumed ordinary people would focus on what the screen was
saying. In fact people are smarter than that. They just tune it out
unless it happens to fulfill a need in their lives for excitement or
importance.

/M
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

On 8 juil, 17:55, Joe Fineman <j....RemoveThis@verizon.net> wrote:
> Martha Bridegam <bride....RemoveThis@pacbell.net> writes:
> > Meanwhile, a lot of people have grown up with recorded music or
> > voices in the background all the time. When they leave the TV on all
> > day, or listen to music all day, aren't obsessed with what they're
> > watching/hearing -- they're just laying down a background for
> > whatever they're doing or thinking in the foreground.
>
> > Orwell kind of missed this second point with the "telescreen,"
> > didn't he? He presumed ordinary people would focus on what the
> > screen was saying. In fact people are smarter than that. They just
> > tune it out unless it happens to fulfill a need in their lives for
> > excitement or importance.
>
> In very many English homes the radio is literally never turned
> off, though it is manipulated from time to time so as to make sure
> that only light music will come out of it. I know people who will
> keep the radio playing all through a meal and at the same time
> continue talking just loudly enough for the voices and the music
> to cancel out. This is done with a definite purpose. The music
> prevents the conversation from becoming serious or even coherent,
> while the chatter of voices stops one from listening attentively
> to the music and thus prevents the onset of that dreaded thing,
> thought. For
>
> The lights must never go out.
> The music must always play,
> Lest we should see where we are;
> Lost in a haunted wood,
> Children afraid of the dark
> Who have never been happy or good. [Auden]
> -- "Pleasure Spots" (1946)
> --
> --- Joe Fineman j....RemoveThis@verizon.net
>
> ||: What sinners remember best is that they were happy while |
> ||: sinning. |

I wonder if Orwell intended the double entendre in the title? hmm. His
description of the so-called paradises are surely his idea of hell:

a) One is never alone.
b) One never does anything for oneself.
c) One is never within sight of wild vegetation or natural objects of
any kind
d) Light and temperature are always artificially regulated.
e) One is never out of the sound of music

Yup, that's hell.

Especially the part about an endless supply of that Austrian musical
with the handsome psychotic captain and the children dressed in old
curtains.

B.
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

Martha Bridegam <bridegam RemoveThis @pacbell.net> writes:

> Meanwhile, a lot of people have grown up with recorded music or
> voices in the background all the time. When they leave the TV on all
> day, or listen to music all day, aren't obsessed with what they're
> watching/hearing -- they're just laying down a background for
> whatever they're doing or thinking in the foreground.
>
> Orwell kind of missed this second point with the "telescreen,"
> didn't he? He presumed ordinary people would focus on what the
> screen was saying. In fact people are smarter than that. They just
> tune it out unless it happens to fulfill a need in their lives for
> excitement or importance.

In very many English homes the radio is literally never turned
off, though it is manipulated from time to time so as to make sure
that only light music will come out of it. I know people who will
keep the radio playing all through a meal and at the same time
continue talking just loudly enough for the voices and the music
to cancel out. This is done with a definite purpose. The music
prevents the conversation from becoming serious or even coherent,
while the chatter of voices stops one from listening attentively
to the music and thus prevents the onset of that dreaded thing,
thought. For

The lights must never go out.
The music must always play,
Lest we should see where we are;
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the dark
Who have never been happy or good. [Auden]
-- "Pleasure Spots" (1946)
--
--- Joe Fineman joe_f RemoveThis @verizon.net

||: What sinners remember best is that they were happy while |
||: sinning. |
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

Joe Fineman wrote:
> Martha Bridegam <bridegam.DeleteThis@pacbell.net> writes:
>
>> Meanwhile, a lot of people have grown up with recorded music or
>> voices in the background all the time. When they leave the TV on all
>> day, or listen to music all day, aren't obsessed with what they're
>> watching/hearing -- they're just laying down a background for
>> whatever they're doing or thinking in the foreground.
>>
>> Orwell kind of missed this second point with the "telescreen,"
>> didn't he? He presumed ordinary people would focus on what the
>> screen was saying. In fact people are smarter than that. They just
>> tune it out unless it happens to fulfill a need in their lives for
>> excitement or importance.
>
> In very many English homes the radio is literally never turned
> off, though it is manipulated from time to time so as to make sure
> that only light music will come out of it. I know people who will
> keep the radio playing all through a meal and at the same time
> continue talking just loudly enough for the voices and the music
> to cancel out. This is done with a definite purpose. The music
> prevents the conversation from becoming serious or even coherent,
> while the chatter of voices stops one from listening attentively
> to the music and thus prevents the onset of that dreaded thing,
> thought. For
>
> The lights must never go out.
> The music must always play,
> Lest we should see where we are;
> Lost in a haunted wood,
> Children afraid of the dark
> Who have never been happy or good. [Auden]
> -- "Pleasure Spots" (1946)

OK, sorry again. I clearly have to do some rereading.

/M
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

On 8 juil, 17:01, Martha Bridegam <bride....TakeThisOut@pacbell.net> wrote:
> georgeorw....TakeThisOut@email.com wrote:
> > On 6 juil, 20:07, Martha Bridegam <bride....TakeThisOut@pacbell.net> wrote:
> >> Here's something to fulminate about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml
>
> > 50 years is quite long enough. 70 years is foolish, 95 years is
> > madness. The *Copyright Extension in Exchange for Censorship* document
> > will be signed by Mephistopheles...
> > B.
>
> Further reason to support your local public library. The notion of a
> place where anyone can just walk in and read the books without paying is
> getting to seem more and more irregular.
>
> /M

Yay libraries! I pester everyone I know to use the library. For a
small fee you can get just about any book, cd, movie, magazine or
newspaper - and database and computer access too. And they are always
selling off old books very cheaply.
B.
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

"Martha Bridegam" <bridegam.RemoveThis@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:npaki.8677$Rw1.3137@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net...
> selene1022 wrote:
>> On Jul 6, 8:07 pm, Martha Bridegam <bride....RemoveThis@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>> Here's something to fulminate
>>> about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml
>>
>> Interesting Martha, though I think it's a silly idea that will never
>> work.
>>
>> I also have doubt that the influence of "performers" is as important a
>> factor as is indicated by Cameron. Instead of blaming writers and
>> musicians, why not blame stupid government policy, horrible schools
>> and inferior educators.
>
> Yep.
>
>>
>> The "industry" has one main concern--making money. I personally think
>> that much of popular culture is sheer tripe, but obviously many people
>> buy into it. Is it a reflection of current taste, or is culture shaped
>> by this stuff?
>>
>>
>> I'm just curious to see where it's all going to go next. Snuff movies
>> on MTV? Or have they already done that...
>>
>>
>
> Seriously, my guess is that pop culture appears to be getting worse
> because the most widely distributed stuff is no longer a vehicle for
> cultural or political change.

Permanent revolution eh? I don't buy it. It's got worse for a number of
reasons, but the biggest is surely the fact that people's taste and
knowledge are degraded. The ironic and inevitable end result of the 60s. The
Beatles advised us to Dig A Pony, because you can celebrate anything you
want. Rubbish and charlantry has flourished in all the arts since it was
decided that to be discerning was to be a tory.

I see bands all the time who would have been booed off years ago. Punk was
the will to power for the talentless.

ROBBIE
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture" 

"Martha Bridegam" <bridegam DeleteThis @pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:r1eki.4131$rL1.1787@newssvr19.news.prodigy.net...
> georgeorwell DeleteThis @email.com wrote:
>> On 6 juil, 20:07, Martha Bridegam <bride... DeleteThis @pacbell.net> wrote:
>>> Here's something to fulminate
>>> about.http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/06/1236230.shtml
>>
>> 50 years is quite long enough. 70 years is foolish, 95 years is
>> madness. The *Copyright Extension in Exchange for Censorship* document
>> will be signed by Mephistopheles...
>> B.
>>
>
> Further reason to support your local public library. The notion of a place
> where anyone can just walk in and read the books without paying is getting
> to seem more and more irregular.
>
> /M

You should look at what the democratic socialist government of Great Britain
is doing to libraries.

Dumb down, dumb down.

ROBBIE
 >> Stay informed about: "An anti-learning culture"