Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| art AND language |
|---|
| Sonny |
| 01/14/02 at 23:07:54 |
| Before I really conclude for the day I really want to urge that those of you with a mind to take the time to read a book entitled: "Art in Life" by (who else) the Art and Language Group. Old publication, rare book. I bring it up because I believe it can lay a conceptual framework with which to approach current events from a historical perspective. In light of the transfer of Taliban to Cuba, I would like to remind you of the transfer of German leaders and scientists to American ground following WWII and the outcome was profitable for both countries. The story is well documented in cinematography both for it's entertainment value and historical retrospective. When considering WWII and the move of that impoverished nation prior to the war to its first nation affluence post-war I really recommend taking a look at the evolution of German cinematography. It was somewhat rendered for the American audience on a modest scale in the movie "Witch Mountain". This is an art form extrapolated from the conceptual art movement so well defined by the Art and Language Group. And as you know pyrotechnics have come a long way from the day's in which they used to shoot horses. For fun, if this get's tedious, I recommend Battlestar Galactica (because it's so cool): "By your leave" "At your command" "As you wish" --healthy entertainment in the battle of good vs. evil for control of the universe. Now just moment. Many years after early childhood education I did happen to meet the savage old Shah's groovy young son who is somewhat younger than me by Years. FYI: Do you know what he said!!! "We are waiting for agift that will raise our nations to the former glory of the Persian Empire and IF you cannot provide it THEN I cannot be responsible for the actions of the fifteen million arabs that comprise our nation here in the United States of America." Well, and IF the king cannot be responsible for the actions of his fifteen million constituents, THEN there is no one for them to answer to but Allah, And that should ease the pressure to conform, I would think, perhaps allowing some to branch out in their reading habits. Although one would think the king would take an active interest in reading relevant to current events! To rephrase that: there are no temporal consequences to reading as there are to not reading enough. A little learning is a dangerous thing and alot of that goes a long way. I chose to recommend this book in particular, and also "The Navahoe"--another anthropomorphic ontology because both of these works discuss the action of language upon thought, and the problems of language barriers to communication. Almost as a result of an religious interpretation of Quranic text that opposes innovation, arabic language continues to the present tense in a format roughly unchanged since about the 11th~ some say 14th~ centuries. So when looking at the history one see's a long period of incredible growth followed by decline, and in my personal speculation this opposition to innovation was embraced theologically at the begining of the decline at a point in history when the governing bodies were still optomistic of economic recovery and political gain. In order to maintain job security and protect their own interest they pushed forward, as rulers by divine right, an interpretation of Quran opposed to inovation. In an astute political move they sucsessfully limeted the movements of those who would vye for political leadership. In time the political mechanizations were forgotten but the new Quranic reading held, and just as Europe began to enter a renaissance due to greater freedom of innovation, the persian empire began a long, gradual decline. Ideas, nations, history itself and individuals do go through shifts in thought and growth. No man is an island, we are each a part of the main...In an individual lifetime one may find that the meaning in significant works of lituature does shift and change as one matures. And not only does that shift in ideology occur in the limeted experience of isolated individuals, it is also experienced through groups as the greater experience of the human drama unfolds. Example. The work of Thomas Jefferson, "On Liberty" is a lovely expression of what he describes as the beauty of the Utopia of anarchy~millions of self-governing well-educated individuals who are answerable to no higher authority save God, who function lawfully without law, due to the total enlightenment of a good education. It is a remarkable piece of seventeenth century liturature on the innate morality of natural man, bowing to the constraints of concience: a concept of seventeenth century art, visible at work today as any huge number of unique individuals bow to the constraints of concience as they respond to an act of terrorism w2hich mirrors in a way keen to many the terrorist acts of the prior assault--the hostage crisis of the Carter Administration. Those past terrorist acts not only interupted the lives of the hostages~in some cases those lives were damaged forever. Those were unforgettable events. Negotiators went in and had one hell of a time figuring out what the terrorists wanted. They wanted to restore Persia to her former glory. Er. Too err is human. To er is divine. To the best of my knowledge no one ever did figure out what those guys wanted. Why? The language barrier was insurmountable. Concepts on both sides that could not be translated and experiences that two could not share. Ideas approachable in Arabic became in English imagery that provoked one sole and singular response--terror. Hense the term, "terrorists." And so, by clever innovation the language itself had at last become a weapon of war. An art form is meant to include a myraid of human emotions, and create a rise and fall in the subltle air of experience to produce a wonder at the beauty, the majesty, the terror and splendour of life so that we come away thankful for the honor of being part of it when we return to our "home"~our original place in creation~heaven, hell, what have you. Our ashes to ashes, our dust to dust. Our art form having assisted us in navigating our passages through the concourse of life. The words od the terrorists in our experience, ursupt from the Marquis de Sade. So you cannot help but innovate--you are human. We are one, we are won, we are one in the circle, the circle of life. The language being a vital function of the animals and spiritual creations that we are, providing us with a key function to our situation in the world. In entering Afaganistan we were surrounded by friends in the hunt for been laden, and there was a report from the Taliban that the country was the victem of an act of terrorism the likes of which had never before been seen. Such tact. We can only hope that the bread was not Orrowwheat, and it was the closest thing to manna in the desert I have ever seen. But at 32 ft. per sec. that bread fell hard. No casualties were intentional. But in Pakistan another problem presented itself. America had not allied herself closely to that country. And those people are different, really. They have a large plastic rock that proclaims "Shoot me! There's a jew hiding here, so shoot me!" What the heck is that thing? A mental model for your kids on how to compete in the world marketplace? So do you think those guys would really say: "Come on over and we'll show you where our caves and deserted tunnels are so you can blow them up for the rocks, the sand, the dust, the holes for foundations, and the GRIT to build the buildings nessesary for the massive educational system it will take to carry our nation all the way into the 21rst century? COME, look for the atrocious, precocious Bin Ladin here! and Here!" Are you crazy!!?! Pakistan would never go for that, they would prefer to wrest it from us by forse in a clean cut fight! These people invented talking plastic rocks so they are not like us and the region is volitile! At least. What is clearly needed is some kind of interpretation of current events from a historical critical standpoint that reminds us of our common humanity and precludes the isolation of others from their place in the stream of life. A common thread that weaves the tapestry into a whole, a sound that unites us in common experience such as~the sound of children reading aloud. Kids that can read "Shoot Osama Bin Laden is gifted." It's something that almost all of us can relate to, that reading. And why not the next book be "Fantasia y Imaginacion". These are just some thoughts about what we write about terrorists terrifying terrorists till the terrorized turn to terrify terrorists. Infinatum ad naseum. Can we put a stop to it or should we? Would we be throwing the baby out with the bath water OR should we refuse to change the bath simply because we would like to keep the baBY? I am waffling. I am entirely for Bin Ladens continued efforts to find all the best hiding places and our unique resolve to beat him at his own game. It's not the greatest story ever told, but it's just a good one about the efforts of many to make the world a better place. The history we write together is our own. So into my own I wrote: I am myself responsible for all of my own actions and for those for which I am culpable I accept complete responsibility and will answer for such as need be. I appreciate your patient acceptance of such explanations as I can myself provide. Yours in faith. Patti |
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