Monday, March 5
5:30 am
It is -4 °C, with a high forecast of +10 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today A mix of sun and cloud. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming west 50 gusting to 70 late this morning. High 10.
Tonight Partly cloudy. Becoming cloudy near midnight then periods of snow. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming north 30 late this evening. Low minus 5.
9:00 am Literature
I have finished reading Chris Hedges' "Empire of Illusion". It is incredibly powerful, and more than a little discouraging. But difficult to refute. I was misled by the subtitle - The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle". There is actually very little in the book about literacy, but the triumph of spectacle is everywhere. It is a small book, only 5 chapters and 193 pages of main text. The book was published in 2009, only 3 years ago.
The book is, in my eyes, too important to just say that I enjoyed it. I will try to capture a few quotes and add my commentary to them.
Hedges: Chapter I The Illusion of Literacy
He begins by describing a wrestling scenario, and goes on, "And the most potent story tonight , the most potent story across North America, is one of financial ruin, desperation, and enslavement of a frightened and abused working class to a heartless, tyrannical, corporate employer. For most, it is only in the illusion of the ring that they are able to rise above their small stations in life and engage in a heroic battle to fight back." [p. 5]
Me: This got me off on the wrong foot. I agree with the statement about the most potent story. And other than the occasional mention of a story about a particular story there is little mention of this in the public media. But to then say that we watch wrestling as a form of escape is silly. Most people do not go to wrestling matches, and most people do not watch it on tv. And to immediately characterize corporations as "heartless and tyrannical", with no accompanying justification, caught me off guard.
Hedges: "The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of creativity. As the two technologies converge - broadband tipping the Web from text to image; social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider - the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. That is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected. ... if the property that grounded the self in Romanticism was sincerity, and in modernism was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility." [p. 22-23]
Me: The above quote is actually by another critic but it is a good analysis. However I am not sure how many people really want to be recognized and connected. Particularly if one is recognized as being a bit of a fool. But Facebook and Twitter are indeed popular.
Hedges: "This cult of distraction, as Rojek points out, masks the real disintegration of culture. It conceals the meaninglessness and emptiness of our own lives. It seduces us to engage in imitative consumption. It deflects the moral questions arising from mounting social injustice, growing inequalities, costly imperial wars, economic collapse, and political corruption." [p. 38]
Me: Once again, I was surprised. I was not aware that our culture was disintegrating. Maybe it is, but that seems like an exaggeration to me. But I agree that there is little public debate that focuses on the morality of various actions. In many cases I suspect that people would be surprised to hear that there is even a moral issue underlying an activity.
Hedges: He quotes Neil Postman, "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance." [p. 39]
Me: I lean toward Huxley. The debate on global warming is a case in point. Another is the ongoing crisis about the Euro. A third is the opposing views on how to fund health care. A fourth is education. Here the debate is about how to fund it rather than on what should be in the curriculum.
Hedges: "We are a culture that has been denied, or has passively given up, the linguistic and intellectual tools to cope with complexity, to separate illusion from reality. We have traded the printed word for the gleaming image." [p. 44]
Me: Now we have the argument about the end of literacy. This is backed up with some figures that are shocking. Including, "And it is not much better beyond our borders. Canada has an illiterate and semiliterate population estimated at 42 percent of the whole, a proportion that mirrors that of the United States." [p. 44]
Literacy is important. So is thinking. The two are inter-related. But some documentary television programs, or movies such as those by Michael Moore, provide an alternative entry into important issues for people with low literacy skills. And literacy is much more than simply being to vocalize what is on the page. It is about understanding what is written, or said. And then being able to go beyond what is written to formulate potential alternatives and next steps.
Hedges: "Those captive to images cast ballots based on how candidates make them feel. They vote for a slogan, a smile, perceived sincerity, and attractiveness, along with a carefully crafted personal narrative of the candidate." [p. 46]
Me: That may well be true. But a deeper, more fundamental issue, is how to attract worthwhile candidates for the various elected positions. So often, a person feels, "none of the above".
Hedges: "An image-based culture communicates through narratives, pictures, and pseudo-drama. Scandalous affairs, hurricanes, untimely deaths, train wrecks - these events play well on computer screens and television. International diplomacy, labour union negotiations, and convoluted bailout packages do not yield exciting personal narratives or stimulating images." [p. 49]
Me: This is where investigative journalism has a serious role to play. But Hedges may now be right: who would (or even could) read it? Perhaps a few diagrams and flow charts would help, but if the devil is in the details, who is prepared to spend time with the devil?
Hedges: "In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we neither seek nor want honesty or reality. Reality is complicated. Reality is boring. We are incapable or unwilling to handle its confusion." [p. 49]
5:00 PM Model Trains
I have completed both the 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM schedules for Session 2. The 7:00 PM timetable involved 2 trains: #100 - a passenger, and #701 - a local freight.
The 8:00 PM schedule also involved the same 2 trains: #100 continued its mainline run and Train #701 moved onto the Inner Mainline where it did some local switching at Prairie Dog. This involved picking up a gondola car loaded with sand and dropping off a gondola car loaded with lumber as well as a boxcar loaded with clothing.
All of the trains ran smoothly, making the activities pure fun. I really enjoy the switching when a train picks up and drops off a few cars while visiting a small town.