What is an Artist?

This is the article that got me inspired to post a comment on Facebook about, just what is an artist? Basically putting up an item as in the photo below, is art?

Danh Vo, Theodore Kaczynski’s Smith Corona Portable Typewriter, 2011.

ARTNEWS

Artist Marvin Hayes took up the challenge and responded to my initial comments below. He is an incredible mind blowing artist. I can't show you all I've seen of his works over the years, you'll just have to take my word for it. And I've met some very, very good artists, by the way. But no one to the degree he has achieved. You can see some of his works on Redbubble. He has also done many of my book covers.

Here is what I initially had said:

I get that art is in the eye of the beholder, but it seems to me that to get paid for art, to be an "artist" one has to actually produce art, preferably from the ground up.

Which takes away from rappers and musicians who sample other's music and artists using other's art and mediums in their art. This is the same issue that caused such an uproar when musicians (though I wouldn't call some of the first rappers actual musicians if melody was not involved and only percussion and spoken word but, that's another issue), who started sampling other's music, even if out of homage or tribute. I do get that.

I'm just not sure what they should be called. Artist? Perhaps.

I just think there is a difference from the artist who produces art from the smallest denominator with a vast and qualitative skill set, to those who effectively "cheat" in quantitatively using the art of others.

And I don't use cheat in a necessarily derogatory way. I just see a difference between an artist with the skills to produced incredible art from nearly nothing, to one who borrows and actually has little or no technical skills but can conceive and produce.

I do see value in both. I just think we need to call a card a card.

Marvin Hayes:

Although I generally agree. Myself, I don't see it that way overall. I'd say coincidently one of my top pieces is the collage I did for you (see below).

Piece by artist Marvin Hayes

I put about as much work into it as any other pieces I have done (it is a mix of images from magazines and some painted enhancements). I do both from scratch and assembled works. I feel assembled works are made of medium similar as one would do from scratch (not always). In one I would paint or sculpt everything from scratch. In the assembled I'd use pre existing images as my paint medium. Or found objects.

Kris Kuksi

Two of my top 5 artists do or did assemblages. One only does assemblages (Kris Kuksi) the other did multiple mediums (Max Ernst). Although most of the assembled Max Ernst works are not what I like about his work. I like his from scratch work.

Max Ernst

Steampunk is mostly assembled works and one of my fave alltime art styles. Also Junk art I love, made from found objects.

Technical skill is only one part of art. Communicating emotion plays a big part. Some of the worst painters technically are some of the greatest artists. Hitler for instance was a great technical drawer but failed emotionally in his art. And he was a very outwardly emotional person.

As an artist one has to project emotion through the art medium. Hitler seemed to be able to do that not through his art but through his communicating to his hateful base (like Trump). A sort of performance artist. Although I hate even referring to either monster as artists.

So bottom line is technical skill matters but more so the artist's ability to project emotion by any means necessary, matters more. And a core skill set like perspective drawing and anatomy help the artist more easily project emotion. As would a solid knowledge of music theory would a musician. Similar in all arts. Best to have the core skills but not required.

Rarely are things black and white. Mostly things are shades in between.

mechanized metal sculpture by Marvin Hayes

But I do get a little unnerved by those that just throw something up as their art when they had little or no input. Andy Warhol and Chihuly I consider two of the most overrated "artists" in history. Being that they rarely touched their medium. Warhol just regurgitated, took credit for things he never did. Chihuly similarly.

My response:

I agree with what you're saying and you're surely more the expert on this than I am. As you indicated, I have problems with someone taking an old typewriter and calling it art. Effectively making labeling something, or pointing to something, an art form. It's confusing, and disconcerting. Because I do believe you can be an artist in something that does not seem art related but there is still deftness and artistry in your product or actions. And effort.

restoration by Mavin Hayes

My ex (an "artist" and she did make some interesting art pieces, one I even sent to Clive Barker because he liked the image of it I had sent to him, this was many years ago). But something like say, gluing things to a car and calling it art, is or isn't? Simply gluing crap to something is not (should not) be art, unless there is an underlying principle involved that requires one would think, an understanding or an education in art.

Because I can glue things to something and evoke an emotion, I'm not so sure is art. So often that "artist" merely stumbles into it being conceived as art, but not because of any real thought on their part. Art by guesswork, essentially. It has artistic tendencies to be sure. But is it art?  Or something merely to be considered as such, when the person lacks foreknowledge of what they are doing? Not art by erratic action, but shouldn't it be considered and informed thought as an artist?

I do believe it's of social benefit to say, "anyone can be an artist", or a creator (more likely). As it frees one to produce and could lead to an artist who hadn't previously existed until their attempts or efforts come to fruition. But does it do a disservice to an actual artist? I think of those "authors" on Amazon who self publish utter trash and poorly written books.

painting by Marvin Hayes

They have diluted the market and made it harder for actual, effective and talented authors to self publish. And the notion that the best will rise to the top like cream on milk, is mostly trash. There is too much to wade through without the money from the author to bring their works to the attention of the public, or at least the right influencers.

It is a kind of travesty and that is in part my concern on all this about artists.

There is the "artist" for me in different contexts. I'll just say I do not like art in galleries or museums that are actually "placements" or merely collections of random things the artist didn't build but put together in a theme. Though I do get they can be art.

pencil drawing by Marvin Hayes

I just think "art" should be elevated beyond that of mere "creation". I think there should be some competence, technical skill, knowledge and education involved. For the most part anyway. I did a phenomenological study at my university toward my psychology degree about, what is art and my conclusion was, it is creation, in a most base sense. Which, freed me to try artistic things, which refers back to what I had said above, earlier. I do get that.

I don't have a problem with an artist with no education, or learned technical skill. If you look at it and it just says art, and more so if they can explain it to some degree bordering beyond craft to art. Though craftsmanship (craftspersonship?) can certainly be elevated to art.

Dragonfly sculpture by Marvin Hayes

On the other hand I don't have a problem with Warhol or Chihuly. Though I do see there, a difference in what I'm trying to say. Still, they did start out competent and then turned more into managers of art. And as Warhol asked, I think, at what point does it go from art to product? Or product to art?

Seattle Installment of Chihuly glass

Anyway, my main complaint is with the faux artist who really isn't an artist (and may very well know it, some of those being confidence people "conman") but acts and produces as if they are one and worse, when others incorrectly label them as such.

Marvin's response:

I should have said "focussed emotion". Emotion driven by intent not just response. But purposeful response based on some sort of skill, emotional skill or technical skill set... a mix. Best to have an even mix of technical/emotional.

I agree Chihuly had the core benefit of actual skill and production, knowledge of his medium. Later being a supervisor over a crew with skills ( after he lost his eye ).

But Warhol on the other hand was what I call a spinolio. A rather hollow wooden person that others project skills onto. He had little skill, almost no talent and yet ended up being considered one of the greats ;-/ Mostly by misunderstanding. Projecting genius onto an idiot. He is referred to by some to be a sociopath. Not sure I agree with that but he was definitely a manipulator that took credit for things he had little or no part of.

painting by Marvin Hayes

That documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop is a good example of how an "artist" might manipulate or steal others work and pass it off as their own. There is a lot of BS in the art world. In fact most of the art scene is total BS. Mostly the art dealers, collectors. But also disingenuous "artists". Some on purpose, some not.

All artists do a certain amount of "stealing" from others. Not just artists, it:s how evolution of anything works. We build on what came before us. All art is derivative. All innovation is also. A chain of thought.

Myself I'm regretful I didn't take anatomy and perspective courses. I struggle through that because I didn't really think I needed it. I really avoided doing people or buildings, etc., for most of my life. Depended on models.

My advice to any artist is take anatomy and perspective first! Use it as a core.

painting by Marvin Hayes

My response:

You have done some brilliant art though. I know no other artist in your class, not personally.

Marvin's response:

Thanks ;-) This would be a good thing to bring up in an article. Artists struggle with these sorts of questions. It's always a shock when one realises that the questions, what is art and, what is an artist, is so elusive. Everyone wanting a simple explanation. To me it comes down to mostly expressing ideas through a medium.

Marvin then continued in a group where I had also posted the original article and my comments:

This one doesn't piss me off as much as the one with 3 basketballs placed in an aquarium. Like to punch the "artist" in the face! ;-/

One thing I noticed is people tend to align with crapier art because they feel that art generated by extreme skill is out of their reach, their comfort zone. They feel more akin with what they feel they could possibly achieve themselves.

There has been research to back this up. And PunkRock was given as an example. People generally feel Rap, Folk arts and what others might call outsider art or Low Brow art is closer to them. Rather than higher arts, classic music or the masters.

I can relate to that on some scale I guess.

sculpture by Marvin Hayes

My comments after all this to you:

As I say above, Marvin is the greatest artist I have ever met. If you haven't seen his works, you should.

So, how does one close up an article like this? Well, I love Tim Minchin. Let's end with one of his recent tweets:

painting by Marvin Hayes

From Tim Minchin - @timminchin

"An excellent [see video link] review. Really worth watching if you’re interested in the craft of arts criticism."

Uh, yeah, click on the link so you can watch the video to which he refers. Sheesh.

And now let's end with this....

When Artists Move From The Margins to the Center

Cheers! Sláinte!

sculpture by Marvin Hayes

Fear of a One World Government

When I was a kid, I read a lot of science fiction. I would much prefer talking about science fiction, about writing, films and artistic pursuits. But this country is in crisis. A crisis of a more constitutional nature. There are too many fears, too much confusion, frustration, and anger.

I grew up accepting that we would have a one world government. Because once you move off the planet, the planet becomes a state unto itself. Just as astronauts have noticed from viewing the Earth from the moon. You lose the need for countries and separate tribes. You realize it is one entity, one planet. We all have to get along and work together.

I went into the military for a while, then entered college after I got out. But even before military service I had heard and read about the One World Government conspiracy and related theories. I discarded them for the most part, only after looking into them in then realizing what it was all about.

Fear.

Fear and perhaps it being the wrong time for a One World Government, but the right time always to talk about it. And to do it well, we need to talk about it decades ahead of time and set things up toward it. Things like infrastructures, laws, orientations and attitudes. And the fear of the unknown and of change. Something conservative and Republican types in this country have a fundamental problem with.

Those fearful types, those worried about being told what to do by others who were very different from them, who did not understand their local issues and considerations, and who may not even be from their own country, cause them serious grief. Not to mention how much trouble some of them have in America in being different. Not white. Not older. Not their religion. There is always something that is not of them,f or them to worry about.

For the moment we can ignore how those people were not aware of or probably couldn't really care that we, that our government was imposing those types of things upon others in other parts of the world.

No hypocrisy there, right? Sure do to others so we can have, but don't even think of doing that to us... we American!

Enter, the new electronics. The Internet. Instant Media. Twenty-four hour news cycles. A populist TV format president. And so much more.

So here's the thing. Ignore for a moment concerns about One World Government. About, the Illuminati. About, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Trumps. Putin. Saudi Arabia. Whomever or whatever. Forget for the moment, your own favorite fears related to this.

Because of instant media alone, because of our having access to the entire world through media and devices, because of the availability to other cultures, to other ways of thinking, merely because of all that, alone....

We can mostly all now see the world as one world. A single planet of similar beings, all human...beings. Beings with differences, but so very similar in so many important ways. Those of us who do not see that are either divisive politicians or those who actually are worthy of conspiracy theorist's hatred. Even though that hatred never seems to get directed to the appropriate parties.

We are a single entity floating out in space. We are one race. We are, one People. If only we could see that now. Before it's too late.

Because, that is what is important.

That is what we need to be aware of.

All the rest is just... noise. Noise to distract us by those who aren't qualified or decent enough to guide us in the first place. And yet, we elect them to.

But it is noise to distract us from... what?

It is so we do not pay too close attention to those trying to further empower or enrich themselves, or to maintain their hold on us. A hold they got through lies, cheating, obfuscation, obstruction of realities. Confidence artist type behaviors. The behaviors of political magicians.

And we let them do it, time and again. Not only do we let them, we praise them for it and ignore the few, who try to point out reality has been warped, subverted, disenfranchised.

Back in the old days it was the religious leaders, the Kings and Queens who abused us. The Gods of the planet, of our tiny universe as we then perceived it, who abused us. And we changed things. The Magna Carta. The great American Experiment. Where we dissolved the ultimate power of the one person between us and God. Where we dissolved the royal controls over the people for a constitutionally and democratic protection of our lives and our futures.

Now, it is simply the wealthy we have to fear. Those we have given power to. Those who have positioned themselves to enrich themselves through our faith and belief.

I get some of the fear. But consider this, if nothing else. When we all start monitoring and enforcing rational actions around the world in a more cohesive and effective fashion, it will decrease things like global drug dealing, wealthy illegal behaviors, politicians illegal behaviors. Global corporations, which is a vast travesty upon this world.

There is a far more scary situation. What if Coke or Pepsi or even Monster drink, or Nestle, bottled water and sold it to countries who have none, in part because of climate change (regardless who caused it as it's happening), and bottling up all the waters in a country to sell back their own natural resources to them, merely in order to make profit and pleasure the stock holders? And worse. There is a lot of this already starting up around the world, but it is frequently invisible because of individuals countries and separation of laws and responsibilities and corporations and politicians are depending upon that.

While many slept through all this because of the #realDonaldTrump travesty....this is one of our biggest concerns going forward. Corporations and natural resources. I've been saying this one for years now. Next they will bottle and sell us our own water, standing things for when there is little water. and next, can only be air.

When I started saying this in the 1980s, people laughed about the water. Look around you now. The air situation is different, it's everywhere. But wait till it's damaged and who is against clean air and the ecology? #Republicans, the party of big business but obviously not of small business. When will small Republican business owners wake up? Probably? Never. That's, a good Republican.

We have put ourselves right back in that powerless situation and have supported vast and stupid agendas.

Full disclosure... I've always been a proponent of a One World Government. But not the one so many fear. I read the greatest minds in science fiction as a child all through the 1960s. Futurists all for the most part. Smart, educated people thinking ahead and plotting out possibilities, both good and bad. Five hundred years from now they will look back and laugh about people's fears of a OWG. The 1960s wasn't the right time for it. Now may not be either. But someday it will become a necessity.

IF you fear a OWG, then you need to stop fearing it and get on board, because it's going to happen. It is just a matter of if and when it happens. IF we jump into it, your fears will be realized. IF it is done behind our backs, your fears will be realized. And those are exactly the reasons you need to accept and and begin to work for it. Because if you sit it out and do nothing but complain, then we do have something to fear. If you allow it to be built defectively, then your fears are valid.

But then too, they will have been self-fulfilled prophecies. And it will be your fault and others like you. It is easy to complain, worry, fret, cry, whine. But it is harder to learn, act, and build.

We have to ask ourselves...is that who we really want to be? Is it not after all the One World Government that we fear. Or a lack of total and invisible control over our lives by a few others, regardless their desires, as long as we can't (or won't) see it?

A One World Government, is not what you need to fear.

It is, ourselves.

Our Terrorist Cell

I'm sitting here in the evening, it's raining outside in Bremerton, Washington. I'm watching Netflix, a show called, Peaky Blinders. Great show. About 19th century England. Gangs. Reminiscent of  The Wind in That Shakes the Barley, Perhaps, especially because of actor Cillian Murphy and his being Irish and all, being born in County Cork (I rather liked visiting Cork). and all that.

It's no secret I'm rather partial to the Irish. Being half myself, all on my dad's side of the family. Having had a rather, albeit confused, understanding as a youth of my ethnic responsibilities and well... I do understand enjoying a good conspiracy. Especially for a good reason and all. A good... guerilla fight against greater odds, can be inspiring. Even, addicting. Especially to the disaffected and those who have little control over their lives, or who simply feel that way.

Early in high school I had learned about the troubles from a documentary. I'd long known I was half Irish, that my dad was Irish. I grew up with my mother, after they divorced when I was three. She always celebrated St. Patrick's Day. I remember a banner of cut out, green, "Erin Go Bragh" (or, Éirinn go Brách, Meaning "Ireland forever" in Gaelic) every year hanging in the house.

I hardly ever saw my dad after that and never did after I was sixteen, until he died in 1988. I doubt he ever had a thought himself about Ireland. But I did. I even tried to talk friends, fellow students in tenth grade into going with me to Ireland to fight in the Troubles. Well, it didn't happen. I had no money to get there. I doubt they'd have even wanted me. But that, is a story for another time. Or not.

Anyway, that's how I was at that time. I even wrote a screenplay about what I was like back then. The Teenage Bodyguard, is about a situation I got myself into just after graduating high school. Over the course of a week in 1974, I protected a murder witness from the local mafia.

Great story and a screenplay that is being liked every time it's seen or evaluated. "So why isn't it on the screen already somewhere", one reviewer asked in their review from BlueCat screenplay contest. Another from The Blacklist coverage said it was "a viable project that should be pursued". And so I am.

I kept finding myself in interesting situation back then. I don't know why. Mainly, because people kept asking me to act as a bodyguard for them. First was that frightened woman who asked me to protect her for a week when I was eighteen from some murderers she had worked with at Tacoma's first topless bar, The Tiki, run by the Carbone crime family.

A year later at nineteen, my own mother asked me to be my little brother's bodyguard in Manhattan. She was afraid if he got roughed up during a robbery, he could die inbeing so thin and fragile with liver cancer at the time. There had also been a rash of apartment break ins at that time. So I slept in our small studio apartment on the floor, with my .357 magnum next to me just in case someone tried to break in at 2AM or something.

I had also protected a variety of others off and on over the years. Gamblers wit cash coming to town, a big construction magnate's horse farm at the end of a road where I lived for a while, and so on.

My point being, I do get it. This whole, desire to go to battle, take on great odds, test yourself and live the life of excitement and adventure. it's kind of dumb for most, but I get the attraction.

As I watch this great show (Peaky Blinders), and sip some red wine (yes, there's Guinness in the fridge, but it's wine tonight, forgive me St. Guinness), I understand the feeling that there is no downtown here to go to, to meet locally with other frustrated or angry conspirators in some shady bar, to have talks, to sneak to covert meetings, to talk about how the government is abusing us unfairly and unjustly. How our enemies really have to go. At all costs. Or any. All of that. Not unlike our Founding Fathers did in local Freemason lodges, mostly held at or above local public (drinking) houses (pubs?).

I do get all of that. I understand that feeling. That focus. The mystery. The excitement. The addictive fear. The call to a cause greater than oneself. The ability to be something, right now, immediately. To evoke change when nothing else is happening in one's life. To achieve something now with power when no one else will give you that kind of responsibility or command over other human beings. Even to the point of taking their lives. Even if they are innocent.

I get all that.Well, not so much the taking of innocent lives. I really don't get that. Especially when they are your own. But I get it for a young testosterone filled young man, or woman. Or for one whose family and loved ones are indeed being abused if not murdered by the state as others in other countries have had to suffer through. I get that. I really do.

I doubt it's much different for terrorists in other countries, even in our own country in how some can misguidedly perceive our own reality in America as deserving of terrorism..The home of their ancestry. Maybe. But then, not a lot of Native Americans are terrorists. Some who are not even of that abused ancestry but who understand, empathize, with them. Who feel compassion for their seemingly just cause. Like non Muslims who go to fight with them.

I get all that.

The trouble is... it's nonsense. Mostly. For the most part. 99% of it anyway.

Those are the rumblings of a young man high on testosterone so much of the time. Give them a call to arms... oh my God. They will be there!

But there is another side. There will be those they harm. The innocent. Those they blind themselves about but who do matter, and greatly so. They become blinded by the fog of war and idealism. But not of conscience. And so innocents die. For no good reason.

Not until their hacked minds, hacked by disingenuous ones who put not themselves into danger but those of a younger cohort. Where justice turns into criminal actions and heroes become terrorists. There is brainwashing going on. Media is part of the problem. those manipulating it are more so. Be they Russian hackers joyriding or actually paid by Putin. Or Islamic terrorist leaders or simply... Facebook.

I'm glad I lived through those cold war years. I'm also glad I didn't have to grow up in Belfast or an Ireland under British rule where my ancestors were so abused and genocide wasn't a ridiculous word to banter about. When some Irish tried to eat grass due to starvation during the potato famine, where the dead and emaciated were found in fields with mouths stained green.

My terrorist cell is based in words, not guns, in political actions, not bombs.

 It is civilized, not barbaric. I'll kill no innocents. My terrorist cell, does not exist. Because I do not believe in terrorizing human beings. Or anyone. Or anything. It's a bully behavior, that of an immature mind, or mindset.

There is a time for violence. To be sure. But it is far less often than many would like to admit.

And that includes our American born terrorists. Those Christian misguided fools who have killed too many in our country already and should never again. And then there is simply mental illness, and social illness.

Do Act. But at some point we have to see as a race of intelligent beings that death simply isn't always the answer. While in some countries it may be necessary, at certain times, in ours it simply is not.

We have a disease in this country. It is conservatism. It is binary thinking. It is in authoritarian attitudes, having them, or adoring them. It is poor priorities. It is extremists. It is the far right politically motivated. It is the ignorant, the poorly educated, the incorrectly educated, those who believe in alternate facts, alternate realities, alternate morality, alternator mental health.

We need instead to seek out our best nature in life, not our worst.

We need to bring down our worst, and simply refuse to be a part of it.


#terrorism #peace #isis #racism

Problems with American Mindworm Religious Faiths

Faith. There is a problem with it. We hadn't seen the problem (though many actually did and at times were literally burned at the stake for it) for thousands of years. But with instant media it is becoming painfully clear. It has even led in part of late to an inability to discern what is and what is not self-evident.

I know I have made a run at this topic in the past, and I may well revisit it again in the future...until I get it right. Here goes....

In epistemology (theory of knowledge), a self-evident proposition is a proposition that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof, and/or by ordinary human reason. - Wikipedia

We have apparently lost the ability to see what was once simply self-evident. That has been destroyed on purpose by the American political  right wing. And religion has more than a little to do with it.

There is indeed a problem with religious "faith", with religion, certainly with American Republican thinking and, most assuredly with American conservatism, most especially with extreme conservatism.

On that last, I have always said conservatism is dangerous. To survive one must be progressive. Conservatism wishes to maintain the status quo. But to maintain a status quo counter intuitively requires progress, while attempting to remain the same. Everything around us, including time, moves on either with or without us. To stay the same, one must change. And to change, is to progress.

Faith in our more ancient and ignorant times, when we did not have science or rational explanations for much of reality, served a great purpose. It served a purpose in times of no recourse when facing pain and even death. Without much explanation available for most of what happened in life, it served a valuable purpose to humanity.

It allowed one to be able to continue in blind acceptance of what was believed to be true, of what had to be true. That brought along with it the hope that needs to be, very real for one going through extraordinary trials and tribulations.

If one had faith, if one simply believed something could be done against all odds, that one could be successful and survive to enjoy the benefits of those trials, well? What could be more powerful?

If however one simply looked at the same situation, without religious faith but rather with determination and a focus to achieve above and at all costs, that one could find a way to be successful without calling to a "higher power", that one could somehow be around to enjoy the benefits of those efforts through those trials, even if one had to give up all consideration of surviving in accepting one's potential demise, that one could be successful merely through one's own efforts, then that too would be a very powerful thing.

But that's not as pretty. Not as easy to do. It requires thought, intellect, effort, education, rather than simply ignorance and blind belief. We are at a point now in human evolution when we can achieve these things without beliefs in etheralism.

The argument is that the difference between the two is if you do hit that wall where you lose your faith or lose your desire to continue, to where things have become so difficult as to see no way out to success, religious faith, based on a god, on an afterlife, could conceivably give you that extra boost to continue even after most would have given up. Especially if you throw in things like burning in Hell for all eternity if you give up, especially if giving up could be considered suicide and that requires your damnation.

That is a big part of the whole faith issue. A warning of punishment even after death. Or a kind of capitalistic reward if one acts in the appropriate ways. Ways typically defined by one's religious leaders and not just one's religion.

In ancient times when there were few realistic explanations for so many things, faith was extremely important and powerful and, eminently useful. However nowadays we have a far better understanding of things, and of the universe. We do not need so much faith to carry us over and through fears of demons, of things larger than in life. That we might just continue on even as we might once have perceived our end into the very pits of Hell for our God and our beliefs.

That's all fine and good, but the problem with all this is exactly the kind of things we're seeing today.

It has all been abused. Warped toward self interests and agendas, much as it actually always has been all through time, since the original incorporation of religion. When those who ruled first discovered the power therein and how they could control (and abuse) followers and believers.

This is something I've been saying this for years. Religion, is itself a mind, or a brain "worm".

As a mindworm originally referred to a song or melody that gets stuck in your mind and you cannot stop hearing it. As a song with a certain format can easily lend itself to that condition (think, advertising "jingle" for instance), in being the fruit of a concept that is essentially a mindworm. It is merely something to achieve in the industries of marketing or song writing. To force people to remember a product or the song itself so hopefully consumers will buy it.

As it is also in politics and today in the business of religion, to burn concepts into an electorate's or religious follower's minds, to achieve and maintain power and position for the leaders.

Religion, is itself one of those mindworms and can be used to sway and control. Just as it can be in politics. Just as we're seeing today in the conservative right in politics, which also lends itself to that condition in part because they have been conditioned through centuries of religion to accept concepts they would or should never accept. But because of their conditioning through religion, because of religion's place in humanity, they can find themselves in some very odd conundrums.

Like supporting someone like Donald J. Trump to become president, even to the point of supporting his most insane, ridiculous and damaging behaviors. It is the reason that conservatism, the Republican party and the far political right are so very dysfunctional today as seen by the median of American culture.

In conditioning and having used and abused American Christian Evangelical techniques, conservative politicos have brainwashed their electorate over time to the point that they no longer relate to or recognize reality. It doesn't help, as theists attend churches, that they also attend Fox News in some very similar ways. It has even seeped into the minds of those who would vehemently claim atheist orientations.

They can be some of the worst, because they more so than the other, have a great difficulty in seeing how they got to where they are since they now refuse to admit any religious conditioning at all. Since they are (now) atheists.

Along with conservative politicians diluting facts to the point of having no meaning, calling anyone or thing that disagrees with them as "fake news", always pointing the finger at others for their own behaviors, even having the support of a foreign power (Russian through Putin), we have now today's Republican party and their defective Trump administration. And they can't even see this.

Because of all this, America is no long a democracy but an oligarchy, just as the BBC article details.

This is not, or this should not be how one achieves and maintains power.

Though actually it is a very functional way. Even if morality and ethics dictate that it should never be done. However in a universe now where one believes it is necessary to win at any and all costs, where the ends always justifies the means, where the individuals is more important than all citizens against just one side's electorate, regardless how much damage it creates, it is a very viable tool. It is and always has been an effective authoritarian tool, a primary fascist tool. A tool of the despot, of the dictator, of the elite over the masses who lack any actual control. Except for themselves as a whole.

Therefore they need to be separated and pigeonholed to dilute their power. When that happens it is one of the greatest travesties of democracy and such that all who oppose it (Russia for instance, Putin most especially), cherish it greatly. Because, it works.

And we're seeing this in America, now. Most prominently, by the current Pres. Trump.

A direct line can be traced through religion to conservatism and Evangelism, to American Republicanism, to an American (as well as Russian, through their interventions) Oligarchy.

But let's return to two terms in particular and define "mindworm" in this context and, American evangelicalism.

In Christianity, Evangelism is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the Christian Gospel with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. - Wikipedia

The issue therein is with modern methodology as developed over time in America. The differences between Education and indoctrination (or brain washing as in cults) can be enigmatic. Education relies heavily upon actual facts, reality, while indoctrination can easily rely mostly on the ends justifying the means, regardless what is being proposed.

It in part depends upon the child evangelism movement, a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focused on the 4/14 Window which centered on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. (Wikipedia, referred here to Luis Bush). The Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism, as well as of late, their growing film industry. There are sure to be others to follow as one succeeds and supplies money to other newer endeavors.

This necessarily needs us to refer to "Deprogramming  which refers to measures that claim to assist a person who holds a controversial belief system in changing those beliefs and abandon their allegiance to the religious, political, economic, or social group associated with the belief system. - Wikipedia

We do not have deprogramming in politics. But we need to.

Though there is no realistic way to treat the disaffected individuals and groups. To rectify it requires education (also to inoculate them in the first place). Education is something the conservative right and Republicans in general have continually defunded and attempted to support instead, "charter schools" and "home schooling" to allow their mindworm beliefs to be perpetuated untampered with by reality or more rational and reasonable outside forces (such as the Federal government). This has led to our current somewhat to completely bizarre politics and beliefs, as well as the rise of entities such as Fox News, today as we know them.

The bible proclaims:

"You are the salt of the earth...the light of the world...Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." Matthew 5:13-14; 28:19

In "A Social Psychology of Evangelism" by David G. Meyers and Charles W. Green, they begin by referring to the Principle Three: attitudes follow behavior. Also, "attitude inoculation" which basically is a method to inoculate their beliefs against all rational onslaughts.

That is, to be able to withstand all reality and rationality against one's own personal or group's or tribe's beliefs, regardless how ridiculous they are or how contrary they are to reality in general or even specifically.

Along with those are the others:
Principle Four: credible and attractive communicators have more impact.

Principle Five: personal persuasion is more effective than media persuasion.

Principle Six: ineffective appeals can be worse than none at all.

Principle Seven: vivid, concerte examples are more potent than abstract information.

Principle Eight: messages that relate to what people know or have experienced are better remembered.

Principle Nine: spaced repetition aids memory.

Principle Ten: active processing boosts persuasion. 

Principle Eleven: group discussion generally strengthens shared convictions. 

"For evangelism this faith-follows-action principle implies the desirability of creating opportunities for people to enact their uncertain beliefs, thereby confirming and strengthening their Christian identity. Bill Graham recognizes this when asking people to enact a public commitment of their newfunds faith: "Now I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat." From the paper by Meyers and Green.

William Strunk and E.B. White asserted in their classic: The Elements of Style, "If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete." 

The problem in attempting to counter this behavior by the disingenuous, is in maintaining an adherence to the truth. To be honest and forthright, one cannot know everything, or enough far too much of the time. The evangelical politico (at times even the religious version) will be specific, definite, concrete and self-assured, regardless.

Because it is imperative to win. To win at all costs. Reality and logic dictate that much of the time (certainly for most of us) we simply cannot know everything and in being honest about that, we can lose the battle against an evangelical type.

Which is something I learned decades ago. Beware anyone or group who seems to have all the answers. No one, has all the answers and if they seem to, something is wrong. Anyone may have all the answers for a short time, until knowledge runs out. But if it continues beyond a reasonable point, beware. In certain situations, even consider running for the door. Escape! 

It is the same old situation. Good is weaker in some ways because of rules and laws and honesty. Evil can do anything to win. We have seen this in America against the closed societies of the old Soviets and Communist Chinese. 

While America is open, published things openly, all the spying America's enemies had to do much of the time was to buy a magazine, a journal, or frequent a library. Or simply ask someone. While in their societies, merely asking the wrong question can get you in trouble. 

We see this kind of behavior with the Trump administration in being specific about things we know are fully unknown, while the counter is difficult except to admit ignorance and to point out that the President is obfuscating, conflating, and lying.

To return to the indoctrination of children. That is how the mindworm comes to be in Christianity, religion in general and American Evangelism. Get them young. Get and keep them ignorant. Steel them against reality. Follow, at all costs. Believe that "faith" is the end all be all to life. Never leave the "faith" for reality, or "earthly" beliefs (or pleasures, thus denying believers of much of what is wonderful about the human experience, not even in considering the extreme elements). Some organizations (not religion) like Scientology are very much like that. And scary, it is for they have ruined lives. Just as we have seen from the Republican party and their abuses of ethnic minorities and women's rights. 

This, is the reason religion is a mindworm. It is insidious to be able to remove it once it has wrapped its slimy body around a pristine mind. 

Through a history of religion, of following, of evangelical actions by conservative politicos, in using what the Soviets learned decades ago works very well on human beings to take control through these mindworm techniques, we see it also today in American Right Wing politics, in the conservative right of the Republican party, and in the alt-right movement of American fascism. But they don't see themselves in that light because after all, they are the "good people". 

Something they cannot see clearly as wrong because it all agrees with their more base inner desires. That of self-aggrandizement and selfish reward hidden within the guise of claims of helping others. 

It is also why someone like Donald Trump is so appealing to them. He makes it all look good and best for them and if for them in their delusional state, then of course it's for everyone. 

Oddly enough, Pres. Trump himself is a kind of mindworm. As seen in this depiction of the original science fiction story from 1950 by author, Cyril M. Kornbluth (from Wikipedia):

"The Mindworm" is a short story by science fiction author Cyril M. Kornbluth, first published in 1950. It combines the themes of mutant power, telepathy and ancient superstition.

The protagonist, the Mindworm of the title, is an orphan, the result of a liaison between a U.S. Navy lieutenant and a nurse aboard ship during viewing of early atomic tests. He is a mutant, as a result of the atomic fallout after the testing, and he can "hear" the thoughts of others around him.

Cast out into the world as a young adult, he is about to be gang raped by hoboes when he discovers an ability to feed off strong emotions, killing one of his assailants in the process. He uses this to eliminate the rest of his attackers. He moves from town to town, eavesdropping on the thoughts of people around him, and using his abilities to induce the intense emotion he craves, and to gain material wealth. The thoughts he hears often represent a brutal side of America, as he hears the large and small cruelties people inflict on each other, ranging from family quarrels to beatings carried out in dark alleyways.

He can hear thoughts in other languages, though he cannot understand them. As he moves into communities where new Eastern European immigrants have congregated, he starts hearing the term "wompyear". Just as he realizes that this is their pronunciation of the word "vampire" and they have recognized him, his neighbors burst in and kill him.

In conclusion, it is my contention in all this to be specific, definite and concrete...do not rely on religious faith. Rely on reality. Rely on education. Rely on science and truth. Even and most especially if and when it disagrees with your beliefs. That doesn't mean blindly follow science. If it disagrees with you, review the facts. The actual facts. Research until you can clearly see what the truth is, and then, stick to it. Until a better version comes along. Don't stick to outdated and misguided beliefs. That sit he road to madness and harming humanity. 

Initially it is harder to do. I'll admit that. It takes practice and more mind\brain power. Whic is why so many avoid it. It's easier not to think things out, especially if you are uneducated, or do not have a clear and logical mind. But in the end we will all be much better off for it.

And just as important if not more so, we will all be able to agree on what reality actually is. 

There is an odd twisted parallel between certainly the christian religious and American conservative politics. Where God has been replaced by oligarchs and profit. Where following God is following financial and political (because of financial) leaders. Where what is good for us (really for them) is good at all costs. Where we believe through faith what our beliefs are regardless of all reality countering those beliefs.

It is easy for those of us on the outside of American conservative politics to see. One merely needs to point it out. It is after all, quite...self-evident. For those of us who still know what that means, anyway.

However it is nearly impossible for those inculcated into it, for it ever to change for them and therefore, for us all, because of them.

And that, is most definitely a problem. 

Believe in Us Not Profit at all Costs

This, is good news. Automation, means humanity has more leisure time to pursue things like the arts, bettering oneself, bettering families, bettering humanity, lending aid in volunteering, and so on. We should be headed to four day work weeks, six hour days, not ever longer hours and weeks.

We are being lied to and have been for so long we can no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel. And then we are told we are the fault. We have been actively and consciously maneuvered into this position. A position where we see no way out. Even our good leaders can no longer see this anymore. Many of them too have bought into the foolishness we've been led into.

I read about where we should be heading and where we should be now, as a child in science fiction  books. Books written by the masters of futurism, science and speculative fiction. We were warned. Warned by books like 1984 and Brave New World and others.

The issue isn't that of immigrants or robots or automation are taking our jobs.

The issue is our leaders did not seem to know this was happening, what was coming down upon us, and where our future was heading. Because too many of them simply do not study the past. They can therefore, do little about considering out future.

They only seem to care about the present, about capitalism, about profit, about power for themselves, their tribe, their oligarchs and corporate masters.

Why is everything so broken?

As I've said now for decades, our priorities are simply wrong. Pure and simple.

If we had been working toward these aforementioned things rather than being so focused with tunnel vision on profit for stockholders, corporations and the wealthy, none of this would be an issue now.

We would and should be hands down the moral and humane leaders of the world. Yet, we are not.

The profit takers, the Trumps of the country and of the planet have taken over and convinced us there is no recourse... other than theirs. Too many of us are too ignorant or too stupid to believe otherwise.

That puts Putin firmly in the lead as the world's greatest profit taker, fiscal and moral rapist of his own country. While Trump mimics his beloved efforts here and just as the rest of the world's leaders seem to be following suit.

That's why there are so many Russian connections with the Trump family and administration.

#realDonaldTrump, #Putin and his #POTUS, out country's #GOP, the broken zombified #Republican party of big business, they are all focused on wealth and for only the few.

We are all in the movie #GetOut and we... are the new guy.

We need to win. To expose. To decimate bad priorities. To take over. To take control of our lives. To remove those who have so damaged us. To change our priorities to those most suitable to not just us, not just our tribe, our only nation, only our profit structure.

But for OUR entire human race. We do that, or we are doomed. But that is not just a depressive and pathetic end to our existence.

Hope. Effort. A refusal to be beaten down any further. It is in our hands. And we are seeing it happen. So many women are starting to run for office. People who were very recently of the mind that there was no hope. We had no say. Are now saying, yes we do have hope! Yes, we can have a say.

We are seeing a paradigm shift unlike we have seen in decades.

And it's just in time.

Dr. Martin Luther King State of the Union

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." - Dr. Martin Luther King

Dr. King

Something that sadly, we cannot do with our current president. A man with whom character seems to be a problematic thing. A thing to be cast aside if not despised. A thing that money can buy, and morality not abide.

How have we gone so far down the ladder of humanity and morality in a single election?

i have seen the enemy and the enemy is us, or more rightly and far too often of late, them: #POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Republican #Conservative #MLKJrDay #MartinLutherKing #MLKDay

Dr. King would not be surprised, but like myself and too many, saddened by our backwardness in the face of all our potential and progress.

Have a decent and rewarding Dr. Martin Luther King Day

What Exactly Is Full And What Does This Teach Us?

Take a container.

Place three rocks in it large enough only to fill it.
Is it full now?  Yes.

Yet fill it now with sand.
Is it full now? Yes.

Yet, fill it now with water.
Is it full now? Yes.

What have we learned?

Jar of Life example

Take a container.
It is already full. Most likely of air.

Fill it with three large rocks.
It is full now, of air, but also now of rocks.

Fill it with sand.
It is now full of air and rocks and tiny rocks.

Fill it with water.
It is now full of water and rocks.

What have we learned? 

We have learned if we filled it with small rocks first, the big rocks wouldn't fit.
If we filled it first with water, adding the others would displace most of the water.

We learned that if we fill it in the wrong order, we cannot fill in all the things we can if we were to fill it in the most correct or most functional order.

We learned if we do the most obvious thing first, we very likely will fail.

We learned if we take the time to think, we can save time and potentially lost resources.

We learned we need to think in more ways ot modes than one.

We learned that sometimes we need to "think outside the box."

We learned that we cannot simply think in our normal, automated, linear fashion all the time.

We learned we need to be prepared for when we need to go off auto-drive and into multiple modes of consideration.

We learned we are not taught that well in our current educational system.

We learned we need to be prepared when we least expect it.

We learned.

Educating the world is what will save it.

We need to respect what should be respected and replace what should not be, with what should be.

We need to respect education.
We need to respect the educated.
We need to respect those who respect intelligence, education and those who support them.

We need to be honest.
We also need to have compassion, to know love for others.
Especially those we do not understand easily.

We need to respect Truth. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect Facts. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect the honest. Not the dishonest merely because they can benefit us.

It is harder for one to be honest all the time.
It requires more effort.
It builds more intelligence.
It builds more character, good character.

We need to respect teachers.

We need to respect those who try to achieve higher learning both for themselves and for others and not denigrate any them for trying or because we have not.

We need to learn.
We need to respect.
We need always to try to be more than we are and do it in the right ways.