(no subject)

[squamous]

Presided over another lazy Sunday here. I am so good at whiling away time at the computer. LiveJournal helps.

Once that important work was done, I went to Jim and Jes' house for dinner. I hung out with Jim in his office and he showed me the Age of Mythology computer game. It looked really good, very fine graphics, and I sort of mean that literally - the graphics had this 'delicate' look to them.

After that we watched an episode of Penn & Teller's "Bullshit!" that they had TiVo'd (but hadn't watched yet). This one was on the modern environmentalist movement. I liked the show quite a bit. I need to watch the tape that paulcurtis very nicely sent me. I keep meaning to watch it at Mike's, since I know he wants to see it too, but time has flown by and it hasn't happened. I should dig out the VCR here and hook it up. The environmental activists had a predictably rough time at the hands of Penn & Teller. Is Penn a Libertarian...? I did think some very good points were made though. The one that stuck with me was the opinion that a lot of activists are motivated from a deep sense of guilt. That made a lot of sense to me. I actually had my own theory based on some of the activist types that I have known, but I am no good at articulating those suspicions.

Tomorrow, back to the routine. I really need to get some cleaning done around this place, but it looks like that will wait til next weekend now. Yes, don't I live a fine life? The cleaning? It can 'just wait'.

Comments

I love those guys!

[heyjana.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of their 'Bullshit'. I must find this!

Re: I love those guys!

[squamous.livejournal.com]

It's on Showtime, unfortunately (or, I guess fortunately if you happen to have Showtime). Here is a web page for it:

http://www.sho.com/ptbs/index.cfm

[catcall.livejournal.com]

"The one that stuck with me was the opinion that a lot of activists are motivated from a deep sense of guilt."

That may be true of some activists, but how often are people's actions motivated by only one thing? It seems like a really convenient way for self-serving people to dismiss those that work (or think they work) for the greater good of humanity. When I think of activists - Jimmy Carter, Gandhi, Malcolm X, to name a few - it's hard to believe they were motivated solely by guilt. It seems like activists are generally working for cause that's near and dear to their lives such as gay rights, legalization of marijuana, giving blacks/women the right to vote, etc.

Could it be that the 'activists' you happen to know suffer from upper/middle class white male guilt given that you and your choosen friends are mainly upper/middle class white men? Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[squamous.livejournal.com]

Well as I said, "a lot of activists"... but let me be more specific, as perhaps I should've been originally.

I was sitting watching the environmental activists on the Penn & Teller show, most of whom seemed to have some anti capitalist / anti corporate agenda as well. I was wondering why they were doing what they were doing (marching, holding signs) and someone on the show said he thought a lot of the protestors were motivated by guilt. I thought "Hmmm, that makes a lot of sense. You are a reasonably well-off, educated person in the U.S. You know that your circumstances, materially and information-wise and in terms of personal liberty, are quite nice relative to the circumstances of a lot of other people on the planet. One reaction to that could be a great sense of guilt and desire to somehow make things more equitable, and the worry that your cozy set up is had at the expense of someone else's raw deal." So, I was thinking of the activists on the show, and my image of people who show up to riot in cities where G7/G8 summits are held. Definitely some activists in the past have had motives other than guilt. I am sure that is true of some today as well. I accept that there are people who feel they are working to make the world a better or more just place; I still like to 'analyze' sometimes.

Hope the wording isn't too awkward here, just wanted to get in a quick reply to you.