Sundog Rising!
Reflections on living the life literary by the Urban Sundog
As I Am Entertained, Therefore I Am.
There are some people I will not discuss books or movies with.
There has to be an agreement up front. If I’m going to have this sort of discussion with a person, although this should be left unsaid, we have to agree that we’re talking about only books and movies. Not something life shattering, like religion or politics. And we agree to differ. It is no disaster if I don’t like your books, and equally no disaster if you don’t like my movies.
But an alarmingly large number of people don’t play by these rules. When dealing with these sorts, the best I seem to receive is having any disagreement I might express regarding their likes and dislikes utterly ignored, as if I hadn’t spoken at all. And at worst, I am shouted down, even though I never raise my voice myself, and accused of inherent perversity.
Come to think of it, the discussions I have with people concerning religion and politics practically never become so abusive as those concerning literature and film.
Why is that?
This is obviously an extension of dealing with those annoying people who always have to be right, regardless of the subject of discussion. But why?
Because they’re insecure. Fragile egos incapable of dealing with a concept that does not support their own self image. But why does the discussion of “entertainment” per se spread that syndrome so far and wide? Include music and television in that definition along with books and movies.
I think French philosopher Jean Baudrillard was one of the first thinkers on the right track towards addressing this phenomenon in his 1968 book, The System of Objects. Paraphrasing mercilessly, I say Baudrillard saw western society as becoming the most materialistic in the history of the planet. But even though we have so much, we do not define ourselves as satiated. We define ourselves by our need. Our need supersedes the actual acquisition of things. The point is, we’re so rich, we can always afford to buy something more. So it is the object we have not yet acquired that is important, not what we already have.
As you might imagine, this doesn’t lead to a great deal of satisfaction with life …
Further to the wealth in our society, it is not sufficient to our needs only to be supplied with an object to fill those desires. We must have choice! A variety of styles and examples of the same object, so the specific selection we make of a car, house, book, movie, song, or whatever says something about the person we are. We define ourselves as individuals within the social context by what our personal choices made regarding objects in filling our insatiable need state in how one example of that object relates to another.
As George Carlin figured out around the same time, we’re all defined by our “stuff.”
My clothes are nicer than your clothes, my car is more expensive than your car, my house has been decorated in better taste than yours, etc., etc. So therefore it really isn’t a big leap from this to also thinking what movies I watch or books I read are also more important than yours. Because they’re all defining me, dammit! And I’m too insecure to accept any questioning of that definition.
Add to this mix the fact that entertainment, 24/7, has never been more available in greater variety to any society before than ours. More hours per day can be spent entertaining yourself to death than could possibly have been conceived of even thirty years ago. Any activity you spend so much time on naturally becomes then the foundation on which you define yourself most essentially. I watch, therefore I am. Except it’s even more than that. For the true media potato, in all his or her utter passivity, it is entirely true to say “I am Entertained, therefore I am.” So watch what you say about my choices, buster.
This is going to require more thought …
(to be continued)
*******
REALITY FICTION UPDATE!
And what is Reality Fiction, you may well ask?
Simple. The concept of the Reality Television Series translated to the printed page. 40 characters from my backlog of generally unpublished material are gathered together to compete in a different theme each Episode, with one or two characters being eliminated each sequence until there are only two left to fight it out in the final. The winner gets a short novel of their own as the grand prize.
But somehow, things always seem to go horribly wrong ...
What’s happening now?
The Alien Abduction Episode morphs into McKenzie Telstar’s apotheosis. More philosophy, this time with Gottfried Wilhem Leibniz and Hobson the Hangman. Get cosmic with RealFic Too!
Continuing Friday at: realficone.blogspot.ca
REALITY FICTION TOO! EPISODES TO DATE
EPISODE NINETEEN: ABDUCTION
Abduction/Apperception
EPISODE EIGHTEEN: MELODRAMA
“Terror in Tarnation! A Thrilling Narrative in Three Acts”
EPISODE SEVENTEEN: POETRY
“landescapes”
EPISODE SIXTEEN: SILLY EUROPEAN SPY SPOOF (DUBBED)
“Diet Ray of the Stars!”
EPISODE FIFTEEN: EROTIC SUPERNATURAL ROMANCE
“The Shadow of Her Passion”
EPISODE FOURTEEN: FLYING:
“Sky Calling”
EPISODE THIRTEEN: SLAPSTICK:
“The Phantom of the Werewolf”
EPISODE TWELVE: DAIRY FARMING:
“Early One Morning”
EPISODE ELEVEN: BURROUGHS:
“Chapter Nine”
EPISODE TEN: WEREWOLVES:
“The Silver Solution”
EPISODE NINE: WRESTLING:
“Suckerslam XIV”
EPISODE EIGHT: JANE AUSTEN ROMANCE:
“The Proud and the Senseless”
EPISODE SEVEN: THE JAZZ AGE:
“The Bucky-Dusky-Ruby Red Hop!”
EPISODE SIX: SUBMISSION:
“Re-Org”
EPISODE FIVE: MASQUERADE:
“The Eyes Behind the Mask”
EPISODE FOUR: SELF HELP:
“Sausage Stew for the Slightly Overweight Presents:
Some Several Suggestions Guaranteeing Success for the Mildly Neurotic”
EPISODE THREE: NUDIST:
“If You Have To Ask ...”
EPISODE TWO: FRENCH BEDROOM FARCE:
“Un Nuit a Fifi’s!”
EPISODE ONE: STEAMPUNK:
“The Chase of the Purple Squid!”
A J.H.B. Original!
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