XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.philosophy.zen, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: invalid@invalid.invalid   
      
   liaM  wrote:   
   > On 9/14/2016 9:25 PM, noname wrote:   
   >> Julian  wrote:   
   >>> On 14/09/2016 15:48, Tang Huyen wrote:   
   >>>> On 9/13/2016 8:42 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> The 1 in a million coincidences get noticed.  The other 9999999 misses   
   >>>>> aren't noticed.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> The random mutations that guide evolution   
   >>>> roughly work on the same principle, that the   
   >>>> 1 in a million mutations get noticed, and   
   >>>> that the other 9999999 misses aren't noticed.   
   >>>> Mother Nature notices that 1 in a million   
   >>>> mutations offers some better chance at   
   >>>> survival and even blossoming, and that the   
   >>>> other 9999999 don't, or even can drive the   
   >>>> species to the ground. Sometimes success   
   >>>> can go wild and drive the species to the   
   >>>> ground, like the armour plates of dinosaurs,   
   >>>> or just the mere size of the whole animals, as   
   >>>> some dinosaurs in South America rise to   
   >>>> seven stories high and are essentially eating   
   >>>> machines. Scientists (and not even scientists,   
   >>>> but mere mortals) wonder how they can have   
   >>>> sex.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Mental culture and religion essentially work   
   >>>> on the same principle, too, as 1 in a million   
   >>>> strivers hit the jackpot, so to speak, and   
   >>>> successfully start a trend in mental culture   
   >>>> or a religion, like in Buddhism, Daoism,   
   >>>> Jewish mythology, etc. Ditto for political   
   >>>> leaders, like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler,   
   >>>> Gandhi, Trump, etc. whilst the other   
   >>>> 9999999 don't get any traction and instead   
   >>>> drop into the dust bin of history.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> It's a brutal world.   
   >>>   
   >>> Same with artists/writers/musicians.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> How come I have to disagree with everything?  It sucks.   
   >>   
   >> Yes, very few writers/musicians/artists survive, because most of them suck.   
   >> There's nothing random about it.  They suck because they aren't what   
   >> they're trying to be.  Writers who aren't writers are guys walking around   
   >> with writers' block.  Artists who aren't appreciated maybe aren't   
   >> expressing themselves in a way people can relate to, or what they're   
   >> expressing is just more whining like people are sick of.  And lots of   
   >> wannabe musicians don't want the music at all, they just want the money and   
   >> the chicks.   
   >>   
   >> You can not succeed at something without commitment to what it is.  People   
   >> in "mental culture" think they're getting themselves all magicked-up, but   
   >> they don't even know what "mental culture" means to anyone but the teacher   
   >> trying to suck them in for a few dollars, or more students to advertise on   
   >> their website, or whatever.   
   >>   
   >> It isn't a brutal world, at least that isn't what I'm seeing.  I'm seeing   
   >> that it seems brutal to people who are brutally stupid, who haven't learned   
   >> to think, who are wandering around quoting this or that in hopes that   
   >> somebody will post *anything* in response that makes some sense for a   
   >> change.   
   >>   
   >> Whatever.  If I just disappear one of these days, you'll never know whether   
   >> I went off to do something else, or if these useless forums simply bored me   
   >> to death.   
   >>   
   >   
   >   
   > I agree, commitment's the thing, but disagree otherwise about art that   
   > sucks.   
      
   I'd be very surprised if we agreed on art, there's so *much* of it that   
   even picking an area where we might agree is tough.   
      
   >   
   >  The time designated geniuses ruled the roost is over.   
      
   Yes, the artists of the past, the scholars of the past, all of the   
   "designated" authorities of the past, are always called into question by   
   younger generations who grow into a different environment.  Today what is   
   "designated" is whatever goes viral into fashionability, which is probably   
   no different from past "designation" except in the form of its expression.   
   Some people follow fashion, bowing down to whatever is designated as being   
   fashionable, from clothing styles to politics; others look, instead of just   
   following.   
      
   > Good artists   
   > abound, more so than at any time in the past.  Some of the best   
   > contemporary French poetry I've come across was displayed on the screen   
   > of my newsreader back 15 years ago, and not just from one or two   
   > individuals.  At least 4 or 5.  Ditto, if one cares to look for art on   
   > the web, in sites such as SoundCloud for music (and YouTube), and   
   > DeviantArt for graphic arts.  We're no slouch either on absfg. We've got   
   > Ned's boxes, Kitty's oil paintings, Julian's diaries (and who knows what   
   > else he has, apart from the grand Clown that adorns his wall).   
   >   
      
   I hope I didn't give the impression that I think there is no good art   
   anymore, because I agree there is a lot of good art out there.  I think   
   there is also a lot of bad art, as there has always been, done by people   
   who aren't really artists, but instead are drama-queens looking for   
   attention and thrashing around trying to find it delivered by others   
   instead of making their own.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)