"Becoming Pizzoania," courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator (C)2012
Conjectures of a Recovering Dilettante and other stuff……
On doing impossible things……
When a person is said to have done the impossible you know this cannot be right. What the person has done is to exploit and understand what is possible. To bring the possible into being, you must first fully understand in detail what you are attempting to do. This takes understanding, vision, courage and tenacity.
Most people fail to adequately plan this first step. It is easy to see why. At this point the only reality is the dream of what you are going to accomplish. Please note – we said “going to accomplish” not “attempting to accomplish.”
What makes exploiting the possible so difficult is in the beginning there is no one there but you. It is a lonely and isolated place. Only your courage and determination can get you through this birthing period. From here the rest is comparatively easy.
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” - Colin Powell
When a scandal is a scandal, or is it?……
On our recent portalization to the United States, we were amazed to see the political act of governing reduced to the new game in town “destroy your political opponent.” I don’t know if an app has been created for this game yet, but I am not sure you need one when you have Fox News and MSNBC to watch. Perhaps there should be a new constitutional amendment to change the name from the United States to the Divided States of America. This would at least get rid of the illusion that all is well.
One aspect of this new game demonstrates how far propaganda has evolved as an art form in the American political process. It seems you can take any event that has a modicum of controversy about it and immediately label it a “scandal.” Remember when waiting for the facts before you judged was considered prudent?
The most amusing part of this new “scandal game” is it forces the accused to defend themselves against the alleged scandal charge, whether it is real or not. As they are finding out, it is very hard to defend yourself against a scandal that may not be a scandal after all. This of course makes little difference to the accuser since the truth was never what it was about it the first place.
It seems both political parties have mastered the subtleties of this game very well. One side benefit of this new game is that neither party has to concern themselves with governing anymore. That certainly makes their job much easier!
When the shoe is on your foot instead of the other guys…..
Brother Franco could not resist commenting on the “change of heart” that most politicians have when the shoe is on the other foot. The tragedy in Oklahoma brings this home to the elected politicians there.
More…….
Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Face Difficult Options On Disaster Relief http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/oklahoma-senators-disaster-relief_n_3309234.html
On the nature of what we believe and other stuff……
“It is easy to embrace absurdity when you realize at least 90 per cent of what you believe is based on assumptions.” Brother Franco
Brother Franco shared this quote with me the other morning, and I did spend some time thinking through its implications. It is amazing when you consider carefully how much of what we believe to be true, is based on assumptions – hopefully assumptions founded on the best evidence available – if there is any actual evidence to consider..
This is a subject for years of study, so suffice for my purpose that you consider what you are willing to live and die for. I hope, for all of our sakes you are on solid ground.
Commenting from Pizzaonia for “The Pizzaonian” – Brother Giovanni and Franco.
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