the agents of death and the perveyors of fear, pt. II - teach your children well

Andrew Wyatt / P-R Photo
This picture was made (see credit under photo) last Saturday in nearby Plattsburgh, NY. The ReFoxican TeaScumbag Party had turned out some of its best and brightest to protest against our local Congressman's decision to vote YES on the health care bill.

One diligent mom brought along her young bigot son - hey, it's never too early in a child's life to instill divisiveness, bigotry, and hatred. Way to go, mom. Makes me proud to be an American.

decay # 37 ~ the agents of death and the perveyors of fear

Mouldy bread and gourds • click to embiggenNow that the good 'ole US of A has started down the road to healthcare reform, it's worth noting one of the more idiotic statements from the Party of NO! (No Social Security, No Medicare, No Civil Rights, No Financial Market Regulation, No new taxes - we don't need no stinking bridges). Here’s what Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House — a man celebrated by many in his party as an intellectual leader — had to say:

If Democrats pass health reform, “They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years” by passing civil rights legislation. - from this PAUL KRUGMAN commentary

That may be a statement of fact, inasmuch as the Democratic Party pretty much lost the south as a result of passing that legislation - a situation that the Party of the Purveyors of Fear cynically exploited much to their political advantage. However, what is implicit in Gingrich the Newt*'s statement is another fine and clearly stated example of the Party of NO!'s crass and callous political cynicism.

Who in their right mind would use the occasion of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act as an example of what not to do?

Answer: Cynical and crass politicians who put their interest (getting re-elected) ahead of that of the people and, as is becoming more and more apparent - a fair number of racist/bigoted teabaggers (AKA, scumbaggers)

And while we're on the topic of "the people", I sat through many hours of yesterday's congressional run up to the vote on healthcare (on CSPAN) and, if heard it once, I heard it a 1,000 times from the Party of NO! - "We're not listening to/ignoring the voice/will of the people."

These Party of NO! morons seem to have forgotten that we live in a representative republic. "The people" do not make legislation or laws. "The people"'s representatives make legislation and laws. And those representatives, elected by "the people", become members of deliberative bodies of government (at all levels) where they are suppose to deliberate, debate, and decide upon (as opposed to just saying, "NO!") what is the right thing to do.

They are our representatives, not our running-dog lackeys. The good 'ole US of A is not run by referendum like, say, the state of California - hey, California, how's that referendum thing workin' out for ya?

Fortunately, there have been a number of times in the history of America's deliberative bodies when, the majority did the right thing even if it was contrary to the will of "the people". Doing so undoubtedly cost them votes and even seats in deliberative bodies of government. Doing so undoubtedly left them vulnerable to those who enflame the basest passions of "the people".

However, doing so has, much more often than not, resulted in the greatest good for the greatest number of "the people".

* from the Austin Lounge Lizard's song, Gingrich the Newt:

Gingrich the Newt's a disgrace to the name
When true newts see him they feel so ashamed
He's the black sheep of the newt family
The one rotten fruit on the newt family tree
Newts don't prey on other newts; in that they don't believe
And you will never catch a newt with something up his sleeve
They're tolerant to different environments and so
They don't send little newties to the orphanage to grow
What kind of newt wears a suit and a tie
And frightens small children as he rushes by?
But we admit that his suit suits him good
Much more discreet than a sheet and a hood
A newt may be cold-blooded but he won't go to extremes
And you can trust a newt to be exactly what he seems
Newts are sorry if you're sad; they're happy if you're gay
But Gingrich is perverse, and worse
He's proud to be that way
Gingrich the Newt is puffed up like a toad
So full of himself that he's bound to explode
And then we'll raise up our tails in salute
A fitting tribute
To that horse's patoot
Gingrich the Newt

BTW, when you follow the link to the Lizard's site be sure to click on LISTEN/WATCH and listen to/watch the video Too Big To Fail. And, if you've got the time, also listen to Shallow End of the Gene Pool, which may go a long way to understanding Gingrich the Newt.

civilized ku # 440 ~ good eats

Bunn-Omatic ~ NYC, NY • click to embiggen

ku # 689 ~ its all good, pt. ll

Tree clearing remnant • click to embiggenWhile I was picturing the Vernal water and submerged ice scene (see the following entry), Hugo was off picture scouting and this tree clearing remnant caught his eye.

I gave him the camera and he shuffled fore and aft until he arrived at the precise framing that he thought was good. No point and shoot for him.

Not bad for a 5 year old, although he is, in fact, the Son of Cinemascapist and the Grandson of Landscapist. So, of course, we do expect more from the boy.

ku # 688 ~ its all good

Vernal water and submerged ice • click to embiggenRelative to yesterday's entry and pictures that lie or tell the truth, Martin Doonan stated:

I have just as much problem with those out to make things appear worse than they are (and much news coverage seems to be going that way) as the pretty picture, saturation to 11.

As far as I'm concerned, a picture that deceives or misrepresents is a lie. Period. How big/harmful a lie it is is another topic.

However, what often bothers me when the idea of telling the truth, picture-making wise, comes up is the notion that the opposite of pretty landscape / nature pictures is ugly landscape / nature pictures. The idea that to avoid pretty, one must seek out ugly is, IMO, completely off the mark.

Pretty and ugly may be at opposite ends of the spectrum but, IMO, there's a whole lot of gradation in between. The inability to see or discover the many shades of that gradation can quite simply be chalked up to lack of imagination coupled with cultural bias.

ku # 684-687 ~ truth or consequences

Lake Champlain ~ view of Vermont • click to embiggen
Lake Champlain shoreline • click to embiggenA few days ago Mike Johnston announced in an entry on his blog - (T.O.P.) - that he is a "radical" ...

.... What's the use of hunkering down in Plato's Cave and telling happy fibs about an idealized, romanticized ideal of wilderness that no longer exists? That's just not the story that matters. Here's another radical assertion: telling lies doesn't just promote the false; it also hides the truth. The only responsible wildlife* photographers are scrupulous truth-tellers. No matter what or how they shoot. The rest have their heads in the sand. And they're asking you to put yours there, too.

*FYI, I struck the word "wildlife" in his statement because, for my self-serving purposes, that's how I want it to read. However, that said and IMO, I don't think taking that liberty would offend Mike inasmuch as I don't think he would object to how the statement reads without that word - that is that the only responsible photographers are scrupulous truth-tellers.

I believe that to be so because, taken in the context of his entry, he also states about the medium in general:

Trouble is, photography is all about the shadows, in the Platonic sense. Photographs are instantly, effortlessly specific. People spend an inordinate amount of effort and time in the cunning application of trickery to make them less so. But what photographs want to do is show the individual thing in all its quirky, specific individuality.

All of that said, anyone who has followed my various rantings and ravings, re: the medium's inextricable and intrinsic characteristic of its relationship to and as a cohort of the real - the one that distinguishes it from the other visual arts, will not be surprised that I agree with Mike's statement (even more so as amended). HOWEVER ...

... even though I also agree with Mike when he states that neither he nor I (nor anyone else for that matter) "own photography ... and it's not up to me to tell anyone else what to do, and anyway my base position has always been that everybody should do whatever they want to as long as it's not hurting anyone", I would nevertheless have to ask the question ...

If telling lies not only promotes the false but also hides the truth, are not those who "spend an inordinate amount of effort and time in the cunning application of trickery", the result of which is to obscure the truth about the whole of the natural world, acting irresponsibly?

IMO, another question that needs to be asked is quite simply - what cause are they serving?

BTW and FYI, considering that The Landscapist has had an extra 4,400 visitors in the last 6 days, most of whom were directed here from a link posted by Mike Johnston in an entry on T.O.P., I assume that Mike reads, at least on occasion, some of my stuff here on The Landscapist. So, Mike, if you're reading this entry and disagree with my liberty taking, feel free to let me have it.

Update on Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 02:28PM by gravitas et nugalis

It is worth mentioning that, for the most part, Mike Johnston's statements were made in the context of his entry about pictures of wildlife that are made using trained and/or captive animals. Pictures that are presented as being or appear to be of "real" wildlife in their natural habitat- even if perceived as such only because of the omission of caveats that state something long the lines of this picture was made with trained/captive animals or words to that effect. Pictures that, therefore, lie and deceive about the true state of well-being of wildlife on planet as it exists today.

TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR ON THE MATTER - It is strictly my extrapolation and application of this lie-and-deceive notion to encompass the whole of the natural world as it exists today.

civilized ku # 439 ~ yet again, even more stuck in my head

Empty wines glass • click to embiggen

... the reasons why we create are a lot more difficult to plumb versus the reasons how we create. But I have always felt that in art making, why we make something is much more important and much more of interest than how we did it. - Brooks Jensen

Yet again, feel free to comment.

life in pictures # 13 ~ it's back

Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back • click to embiggenThe EP-1 is back and I must state that I'm impressed with both the service and the speed with which Olympus dealt with the matter.

The camera shipped from here last Thursday, arrived at Olympus on Friday, shipped back from Olympus on Monday, arrived here on Tuesday. Between Friday and Monday, Olympus replaced the image stabilization mechanism and updated the camera software.