Lexi

Have you ever read any Sheri S Tepper? Am currently reading her latest, "The Water's Rising". She will take you on an a ride that is breathtaking.

Hasbeen

Not just government grinding creativity into the ground - true. In the private sector it is immediately the property of the employer.

'he is, therefore, disconnected from the object he is creating, robbing the act of its meaning'

That is the problem of the 'news' media too. All that information about what one has no control over, whereas before news was local to the community and could be acted upon and had a direct affect on one's life.

The effect on ones life is still there, but it is indirect, complex and opaque, and we are removed from the process, our stake barely recognised. I always wonder who the 'Key Stakeholders' pelican's lot talk about actually are.

We are just voyeurs now. Impotent observers.

Voyeurism is hence the paradigm of our time. That's why reality TV is so popular. We know 'about' so much stuff, but we have little detailed knowledge on any single topic. I think the kids will evolve with their shorter attention spans and multitasking skills to be a different organism. We are making humans less and less individual (creative) and more part of the machine. More and more little cogs, working together.

And so the unempowered masses concentrate on the details. Cooking and Home improvement, amateur porn, grief porn and Kochie.

In the end, it makes sense to turn our backs. One can still feel the sun, and chuckle at the faint cries of Clive Hamilton in the distance.

Big Screen Television
Say no more
switch it on and I'll see you in hell
We have the good seats, just look at the smiles on our faces.
Right now we are the luckiest people in the world.

And that silly 'thinker' thinks we are time poor. Hahahaha. The problems the privileged invent.

One more thing...

Bryce Courtenay!

Hahahahaha.

....

....

....

..
.

Hahahahahhaahah!

Ms Detective,

'In fact, I believe these cliques serve as incubators from which issue the distilled genius of the artist (or writer) and their experiences.'

NO! It's simply that the nerds or the lame 'artists' are so tiresome they must stick together to have any social life at all.

* People in such situations never experience the fulfillment of creating the article in its entirety - completing the journey, so to speak.*

Some people are quite content to work on production lines. Some
people don't want to think much. There would be huge genetic
variation.

Poirot, I think you are taking a highly personal perspective on
all this, but do not forget, there is quite some genetic variation
in the human population, so not everyone thinks like you happen to.

The secret seems to be in discovering our own aptitudes and acting
on them. There is a difference between having creative ideas and
manufacturing something.

Now if you listen to some of the workers who make top quality
goods, like build Maseratis and similar kinds of goods, many are
craftsmen and are extremely proud of what they are making. They
also enjoy making them.

In fact good management is all about encouraging the tribal team
spirit, so that nobody on the team, lets the side down. So see
it a bit like football. Just because one person does not win the
match on their own, does not mean that the game is not enjoyable
for all participants, no matter how small the role played by each
of them.

In fact if you ran a company where the workers did not care about
what they produced, you would most likely be producing crappy
products. You'd most likely go broke eventually.

"...It's simply that nerds or the lame "artists" are so tiresome.....", blah...blah...blah....

Really, Houellie, I thought it was so they could avoid the associating with bogans tinkering with their V8s or waxing lyrical on the latest new burger at McDonalds.

But, it you say so...

Dear Ammonite,

No I haven't read anything by Sheri S. Tepper. But I've made a note of
"The Water's Rising," and shall look into it. Thanks - sounds intriguing.

Dear Houellebecq,

This one's for you from Bryce Courtenay:

"There was a young man from Rangoon
Whose farts could be heard on the moon
When you least would expect them
They'd roar from his rectum
With a sound like a double bassoon!"

You've got to lay off the hamburgers.