I was thinking about dance as you were discussing athletics & what women can do, and thought of that old joke, or not joke, saying--Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels. And in ballet--men don't go on point. They CAN, but won't ever be as quick or good as women at that. But that's just sort of an aside--since that was my life for years & years. But also in relation to what Shaenah was saying about ballet and the over focus on virtuosic technique at a young age--I've been thinking about Balanchine, and if you look at his 1960 ballets--the old ones on youtube such as Agon or 4 temperaments with people like Arthur Mitchell, then take a look at newer videos of the same ballets, and you see that that focus on virtuosity actually changes and in a strange way flattens the original piece. It makes it actually LESS astonishing, and more of a spectacle. I've been thinking about why that is, and there is something about infantilism and denial of humanity in it...but I haven't worked out what that is.
Also it's interesting to note--(another aside) Moby Dick--written in the 1850s and the crew of the Pequod is very "diverse" (a word I've grown to hate). But true and not fake.
Wonderful podcast, a lot of what's going on now I feel is this deep, strange relationship to "belief" and how people are now being forced to act without any kind of way to contemplate and figure out reality. So there's an inherent dishonesty that you're forced into in almost every interaction. It's wearying.
But this is a revealing article that highlights what I might call the American ideology. The writer finds it hard to understand Vidal and then figures out that Vidal “doesn’t view individual rights and freedom like most Americans do. He has more of a social democratic or democratic socialist approach to how looks at politics, rights, and freedom. He was as far to the left as Henry Wallace who ran for President for the Progressive Party back in 1948, Senator George McGovern, who ran for President three times for the Democratic Party, or Senator Bernie Sanders today.”
“Far to the Left”! How so?
“....when Gore Vidal talks about rights and freedom, he means the right not to go without the basic essentials in life. The right not to starve. The right not to want. The right to health care and health insurance. The right to housing.”
And these are “(t)he rights for people to be taken care of instead of everyone going out there and making their own way in life and creating their own individual freedom for themselves.”
To be concerned about such paltry matters as food, water, clothing, housing etc. is to “want to be taken care of” instead of “going out there and making (your) own way in life and creating (your) own individual freedom for (yourself).”
Maybe all this derives ultimately from the Bible – only with a blasphemous solipsistic slant. Each of us is God, creating the whole world for ourselves individually!
And obviously there isn’t the slightest shred of any thought here whatsoever!
I was thinking about dance as you were discussing athletics & what women can do, and thought of that old joke, or not joke, saying--Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in heels. And in ballet--men don't go on point. They CAN, but won't ever be as quick or good as women at that. But that's just sort of an aside--since that was my life for years & years. But also in relation to what Shaenah was saying about ballet and the over focus on virtuosic technique at a young age--I've been thinking about Balanchine, and if you look at his 1960 ballets--the old ones on youtube such as Agon or 4 temperaments with people like Arthur Mitchell, then take a look at newer videos of the same ballets, and you see that that focus on virtuosity actually changes and in a strange way flattens the original piece. It makes it actually LESS astonishing, and more of a spectacle. I've been thinking about why that is, and there is something about infantilism and denial of humanity in it...but I haven't worked out what that is.
Also it's interesting to note--(another aside) Moby Dick--written in the 1850s and the crew of the Pequod is very "diverse" (a word I've grown to hate). But true and not fake.
Wonderful podcast, a lot of what's going on now I feel is this deep, strange relationship to "belief" and how people are now being forced to act without any kind of way to contemplate and figure out reality. So there's an inherent dishonesty that you're forced into in almost every interaction. It's wearying.
On attempting to find that Gore Vidal essay relating to abortion I believe there is a snippet of it on this link:
https://thenewdemocrat1975.com/2017/10/27/the-bully-pulpit-jr-benjamin-gore-vidal-rioting-in-understatement/
But this is a revealing article that highlights what I might call the American ideology. The writer finds it hard to understand Vidal and then figures out that Vidal “doesn’t view individual rights and freedom like most Americans do. He has more of a social democratic or democratic socialist approach to how looks at politics, rights, and freedom. He was as far to the left as Henry Wallace who ran for President for the Progressive Party back in 1948, Senator George McGovern, who ran for President three times for the Democratic Party, or Senator Bernie Sanders today.”
“Far to the Left”! How so?
“....when Gore Vidal talks about rights and freedom, he means the right not to go without the basic essentials in life. The right not to starve. The right not to want. The right to health care and health insurance. The right to housing.”
And these are “(t)he rights for people to be taken care of instead of everyone going out there and making their own way in life and creating their own individual freedom for themselves.”
To be concerned about such paltry matters as food, water, clothing, housing etc. is to “want to be taken care of” instead of “going out there and making (your) own way in life and creating (your) own individual freedom for (yourself).”
Maybe all this derives ultimately from the Bible – only with a blasphemous solipsistic slant. Each of us is God, creating the whole world for ourselves individually!
And obviously there isn’t the slightest shred of any thought here whatsoever!