December 26, 2006
December 19, 2006
December 18, 2006
I did it!
I finally did it! I pierced those suckers!
I went to a very reputable piercing parlor on Sunset and it was over in a flash. A slight pinch, soreness for a few hours, and now it looks completely normal. The whole affair was very stringently hygienic, too.
Well, it only took 3 yrs of agonizing over it to actually do it.
December 12, 2006
December 11, 2006
December 7, 2006
December 6, 2006
art stray
Had a great discussion in class yesterday about art. That class has been feeding and tempting me all term artistically, and I’m sad to see it end.
It has amplified my dislike of abstract, high-concept art. If it only speaks to 2 or 3 people who understand the complex theory behind it, then what’s the point? The domination of the fine art world by this kind of approach has driven truly talented artists into the commercial world, which turns out creative & beautiful advertisements which further commodifies our culture. Which drives consumption and makes it even more irresistible. So while those high-concept artists complain about capitalism, they’re the ones who are partly responsible for its power. Their counterparts (who are actually talented) do commercial work because they have no place in the fine art world, often because their style is judged to be too “representational” and “panders” to what people want to see.
On the bright side of things the class has made me draw more. Also, I’m definitely signing up for a photography class through ucla rec. so I can have access to a darkroom again. Hey Xine, remember when we got trapped in the darkroom at Trinity? I thought I might have to pee in the sink.
On the bad side of things it makes me want to drop out of grad school–not out of hate, just apathy, perhaps–and open up a coffee shop/used bookstore. And line the walls with art. And have a cute little kid’s section with twinkle lights and potted plants!
Maybe in a few years. For now, I’ll just have to feed myself by sketching and ambushing people with my camera, predator-style.
December 4, 2006
And one more…
A few more thoughts on the issues of science and faith:
Basically, I believe that science is neither good or bad. It is not ennobling or degrading in and of itself. Science, like dogma, is a means to an end. You can use science or religion to destroy or to create.
My personal belief–apart from my discussion of the place of science/religion in the curriculum–is that knowledge is neutral. We can use it to help ourselves and others, or we can use it to injure.
Hence Pinker’s elevation of “the educated person” seems moot. If you are educated but use your knowledge to benefit yourself only, or use it to hurt others, what good are you for all your knowledge? You are worse off than uneducated. If you expel or ridicule religion from the artifice of education, you injure only yourself.
Conversely the uneducated person who does no harm is many times more worthy and useful a person than the educated egoist.
Education can be compared to money. Does Donald Trump’s possession of money make him a more useful or important human being than a working class single mother? Nope. Does my expensive education make me better than my cousins who never graduated elementary school in China? Nope. Learn all the science or religious doctrine you like; if it does not make you a gentler, kinder, and more thoughtful person, then it counts for nothing.
I’m aware that I’ve posted several times on religion vs. science (not that there’s really conflict in the first place), but this is important to me. I’m not trying to excuse the excesses of religion. But atheism promises nothing better. Why are people so averse to being open-minded and respectful? Why is that so many intellectuals (and fundamentalists) see religion and science as fundamentally opposed to each other?
The snooty nose-in-the-air attitude that many intellectuals have towards religion–and indeed, the people who believe in religion–has always irritated me. I don’t go to church, and I certainly don’t profess belief in a specific dogma, but it seems to me that church, dogma, and spirituality are relevant to the way many people live, especially outside of Pinker’s hallowed “West.” And if knowledge and respect of religion helps us to become more compassionate people, so much the better.
*Here’s an interesting op-ed from the NYT about “atheist agonistes.” It links the fist-waving (fisting? hahahaha) of the scientific atheists to some thoughtful observations about myths of the Enlightenment.
*One more thing; I’m slogging through Gordon Wood’s Creation of the American Republic, which traces the ideological development of the early American polity. Pinker suggests that America is behind Europe in terms of secularism. This is true. Of course, this has always been true. Early Americans were intensely proud of their religious/deistic beliefs and revolution was one way to further distance themselves from a corrupt, atheist Europe. The suggestion that the Englightenment–>American Rev–>a secular republic–>the greatest society evah is untenable. Religion has always figured deeply in American politics and society. You can’t yank the study of religion without damaging the study of American politics, history, literature, art, and pretty much everything else. Yet another reason that it’s worthy of close and balanced study by believers and non-believers alike.
