Jiří Trnka - RUKA(1965)

 

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Le Monde 100: Asterix the Gaul

It is odd to see how values perceived as a childhood can transform into adulthood.

I was absolutely obsessed with Asterix the Gaul as a child. I ransacked the Tintin bins at the library, looking for any new adventures of the French hero. The concept of Asterix is quite simple. Under the Pax Romana, the entire country of Gaul is subdued and put under the Roman system. All, except for one small village that was a hold-out, due to a special magic potion that gave them invincible strength in the face of the most powerful army in the world.

On the surface, it seems quite obvious that Asterix and his fellow cohorts are the heroes because they maintain their individualism. They do whatever they like in the face of the enormous pressure of the Roman empire. Like the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars or the Tea Party in Boston, they bear the virtues of the underdog. These were values I could relate to as a kid. David and Goliath. A no brainer.

Now, as an adult, I unearthed my old copies of Asterix as it is heralded by Le Monde as one of the most memorable books of the twentieth century. The striking thing about reading Asterix now is how this vigorous independence, the greatest asset of the rebellious village, is held above all other virtues. I can't  help but be reminded of ultra-libertarians, who want freedom above all else, even at the expense of peace.
Now, I understand that an occupying force is reason for resistance. But Asterix and his cohorts do come across as thugs who enjoy fighting for the sake of fighting.

This is a comic, of course. But, there is definitely a political message being communicated. The magical potion that is brewed by the druid Getafix is an equalizer. It puts the small village on the same level as the entire Roman Empire. Seeing that they are neighbors who engage in trade and have common interests. Why don't the rebellious Gauls use their power to compromise and work with their Roman neighbors instead of isolating themselves and looking for trouble? Their use of this power is not used in an ethically superior way. The strength of the potion only serves their own self interests, just as the Romans use their power for their own self interests. 

Come on Gauls and Roman! We'll accomplish more working together than by ourselves.

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Le Monde 100: Nineteen Eighty-four.

Does anyone at all remember this from a post in 2010?



Here is Lenin and Trotsky having a grand old time ringing in the Bolshevik Revolution:

And here's Trotsky being "extracted":

This was in a post loosely connecting Jorge Luis Borges with Wikileaks and the Russian Revolution and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. After reading 1984 by George Orwell, it hit home to me just how tiny the window of our perception is in the stream of time and how those with the power to limit the exposure of that perception can dramatically mold the entirety of an individual's existence. 

 I am reminded of Hubert Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God and his legacy. Over the course of his life, he built up a religion with a massive following, visiting heads of state from all over the world and influencing millions with his magazine "The Plain Truth." But, as soon as he died, his replacements denounced him as a false prophet and a heretic. They dismantled the structure of his doctrine piece by piece from the inside without hesitation. 

The result was rather predictable. The WCG lost more than half of it's membership. The detractors were aghast at the dilution of Armstrong's original interpretation of doctrine and left indignantly. However, the people that REMAINED will control the future perception of their religion. Their children will never fully comprehend the original vision of Armstrong. He will eventually become a footnote in their history.

The same is true, if not more so, for the Mormon church. There is a chilling parallel between the policies of the LDS and the policies and language of Big Brother in 1984. 

1) thoughtcrime: the holding of beliefs that are contrary to those of the party of the government.

This is not the act of just talking about or spreading contrary beliefs. The suspicion of dissent would bear the same penalty as the dissemination of that dissent. According to the protagonist, "Thought Crime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death." A belief is not an action. Therefore, the state of having one is the equivalent of being in the state of death according to the law.

Of the LDS, Wikipedia says:

the LDS Church retaliates against members that publish information that undermines church policies, citing excommunications of scientist Simon Southerton and biographer Fawn M. Brodie.^[74] They further state that the church suppresses intellectual freedom, citing the 1993 excommunication of the "September Six", including gay LDS historian D. Michael Quinn, and author Lavina Fielding Anderson. The Ostlings write that Anderson was the first to reveal the LDS Church keeps files on LDS scholars, documenting questionable activities, and the Ostlings state that "No other sizable religion in America monitors its followers in this way".

The American Association of University Professors, since 1998, has put LDS-owned Brigham Young University on its list of universities that do not allow tenured professors sufficient freedom in teaching and research.

Of course, excommunication is not death. However, for Mormons, it is death in the social sense. 

2) memoryhole: the process by which any embarrassing or potentially negative document is attempted to be made as if never to have happened or existed.

Wikipedia:

An analysis of B. H. Roberts' work History of the Church when compared to the original manuscripts from which it is drawn, "more than 62,000 words" can be identified that were either added or deleted,. Based on this analysis, Jerald and Sandra Tanner contend that the church distorts its history in order to portray itself in a more favorable light. Specifically they allege that there was a systematic removal of events that portray Joseph Smith in a negative light.

3) Thought Police: every aspect of daily life is monitored by the authorities. Dissension can be determined through something as small as a facial gesture.

Wikipedia:

Richard Abanes and the Ostlings criticize the LDS Church for maintaining a group called the Strengthening Church Members Committee, led by two church apostles. According to the Ostlings, the purpose of this committee is to collect and file "letters to the editor, other writings, quotes in the media, and public activities" of church members that may be publishing views contrary to those of the church leadership.

Everyone can't be a historian. It's just not everyone's personality. Most of us just want to get on with the business of life, leaving all the boring worldview stuff to the authorities. But, when a narrative is trying to be created to support a current authority system, nothing will get in the way of their alignment of past facts to present interests.

Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World approach totalitarianism in two opposite manners, one through oppression and the other through sedation, but the common thread between them and all over-reaching authority systems is the denial of the individual.

Le Monde 100: Tristes Tropique

I'm not sure I was prepared for the AP level of of hanging out that the Bourbons were accustomed to at their megalith of opulence at Versailles. 

The design process of the architects and decorators, no doubt, had a strict default-to-opulence policy. Not sure about what to do with the hedges? Default to opulence. How should we set up the back entry stairs? Default to opulence. Where should these mops go? Default to opulence. You can just imagine the designers jolting awake in the smallest parts of night from ghastly dreams involving overlooked un-gilded corners of the east corridor and hidden alcoves tragically un-muraled.

Can't you just feel the overwhelming message that's being sent as you stroll through this?

 

The Hall of Mirrors. Private opera theaters. Regime-change inspiring Bedchambers. There was no soft spots to this place. 

But, for all the extreme wealth pouring form every orifice of Versailles, it's majesty had to compete for my attention with a fellow tourist wearing this:

 

It was jarring that in the context of being a visitor to Versailles, one of the most glorious palaces in the world, I was traveling in the same strata as this t-shirt. It really brought to mind a term that stands out in Claude Levi-Strauss's Tristes Tropiques, - monoculture.

As Levi-Strauss traversed the continents, despising travel books, and searching for authenticity, he lamented the corruption of the purity of traditional cultures by the homogenizing influences of colonization and what we basically know as globalization. He is venomous as he writes:

"The first thing we see as we travel round the world is our own filth, thrown in the face of mankind."

This is a concept that I would instinctively align myself with as I viscerally despise the diminishing returns of mass market culture. When everybody adopts the same thing as part of their identity, then it takes away from the identity of the individual. 

However, on the larger scale, there is something terribly adaptive about having a culture determined by the market forces at large. Markets are composed of adaptive and flexible elements and it is only through adaptability that humanity can ultimately survive. 

I am a great believer in technology and the human ability to change in order to meet any challenge. The only time that change in humanity may seem dis-favorable  is if this impedes on the individual's personal experiences, biases, prejudices, conveniences, and, not least, existence. If global warming wipes out a majority of humanity, there will be a lot of unhappy individuals. But, those that adapt to the change, those who survive, and those that allow it to become the new reality by letting go of old presumptions about what should be, will be the ones who will enjoy the overall net happiness by flowing with the circumstances. 

As much as I can't stand corporations and monoculture, they must exist in order for the cumulative resources to be available for technological advancements, which will ultimately allow for the amplification and implementation of the human spirit. 

 

Le Monde 100: Being and Nothingness

I'll admit that I have had in my life a fair amount of personal delusion.

A particularly vivid example occurred twelve years ago, deep in the heart of Westchester County, in the ancient woods of Valhalla. I was deeply involved in getting to know my lovely, spending reckless hours of the day and night persuing, perusing, and perambulating with her, towards her, and around her. Because she lived in Brooklyn and I lived an hour away, this led to very late nights, which I felt was no obstacle at all to the general function and execution of my normal life.

After one very long day in construction, I spent an equally long amount of time in Brooklyn with the object of my desire into the night. I left for my hour long ride at 3:00am with no regrets.

However, as I sped up the Saw Mill Parkway in my yellow Isuzu Trooper, I felt a great weight descend upon me as if I had been plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. My awareness became blurred in every direction. As the parkway snaked up through the ancient American woods like a long lazy sea eel, the space between the road and the forest disappeared, creating a dark corridor that my  Trooper pushed through that was as murky as my conception of space and time. I should have known better. Six years previously, thanks to another long day of stacking railroad ties and a most relaxing rocksteady beat, I emerged from a delicious sleep only to find myself in the grassy valley between the North and South highways of Interstate 684 with my cruise control set at sixty miles an hour. A sobering event that left me auditing the rest of my days.

As that forgotten spectre of slumber returned, my Trooper wound its way through those treacherous curves only by means of some deeply ingrained animal instinct. My arms and legs responded in the manner of the doomed Korean Octopus that continues to exert its lifeforce after being submerged in a communal hotpot. This means of autopiloting, though, generally has a very short lifespan. Mere seconds would pass before I would no doubt find myself careening off the dark road into a ravine to  join the loamy humus well before my time.

But, just as my eyelids were about to droop to their most comfortable position and as my eyeballs prepared their final ascent to a most useless degree, they observed an incredible sight. Like a cannon trained on my windshield, a massive owl burst from the undergrowth, exploding into a ball of bloody plumeage! The sudden energy of its violent demise transferred into every dormant adrenal in my body, emptying themselves into my blood stream, infusing me with a powerful stimulant, erasing every trace of sludge from my consciousness.

After I had pulled over and reflected on the crimson halo of owl blood on my windshield, I became convinced that my days were not numbered and I was, in fact, THE CHOSEN ONE. Chosen for what, though, hardly mattered. Destiny had guided the night creature to protect me and my future in order to fulfill the essence of the person that I actually was and had been predetermined to be.

As I said, this was a delusion. Some sort of Messiah complex.

In Being and Nothingness by John Paul Sartre, he writes AGAINST the concept of essence coming before existence. We do not strive to become something that is predetermined and intractable. We become whatever we decide. The possibilities, which start out as NOTHINGNESS'S, come into BEING through choice. For some, this is depressing because it means that there is no larger story to fit into and that brings about a crushing nihilism. However, for others, this is empowering! It means that you may be the Chosen One because YOU have done the choosing.

I mean, how many owls have to die for us all to have meaning?