THE PIZZAONIAN

Every new generation plays the morality game - judging history

 

The context of history:   

Every new generation plays the morality game. By that I mean they like to judge the actions of past generations by the morality of their time. While objective morality (if there is such a thing) does not change, subjective morality does.  

This is particularly true when current generations attempt to ascertain the moral compass of their ancestors, who lived, acted and were motivated by the emotions and horror that only direct experience creates.

In addition to different times, past generations had to deal with the anger and increased personal awareness of a horrific event that only they suffered with all of its shock and horror.   

This is why making historical judgments about past events is risky business.

One has simply to imagine how you would feel about someone who had just killed someone you loved, and how you would react against that person. Now let thirty years go by – do you think you would have the same reaction?

The act did not change, but time does change how we act. This is a lesson we do not seem to understand when judging our ancestors. 

Obviously, one has to be careful here.  This is not an attempt to soften the impact of horrible acts.  It is an attempt to understand how the emotions of those who directly experience an act are quite different from those who are completely removed from any emotional context.

History buffs like to point out that time makes for better analysis.  Maybe so, however, I don’t necessarily believe that.  Time supposedly creates objectivity.  If that is the criteria, so be it.  But this is patently unfair to those who directly experience history subjectively as compared to those who attempt to understand it years later.

This is true, even if later analysis proves to be more complete.  It still remains without the direct emotional perspective experienced by those who suffered the event.

These brief comments are not intended to prove right or wrong.  It is an attempt to give context not only to history but how we interpret history as well. And in the process, be a bit more kind in how we judge those that came before us.

And, perhaps be more kind and less judgmental in all things.

Brother Giovanni

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opd  8/15

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A funny thing happened on the way to Utopia - Awash in a deluge of information and marketing glut!

“Pizzaonia Emerging”   Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator

 

A Pizzaonian perspective .......

I am curious how most of us relate to a world that is awash in information glut.  How does this affect our daily lives, our perception of events, and the decisions we make each day?

Information glut is different than knowledge – information is raw material that has to be filtered for value.  It is a fair observation to say we now spend much of our time filtering rather than learning.  More times than most we discover that after filtering this raw material for knowledge, we find very little there.  

I do wonder how many of us can still recognize value and knowledge when we see it.  This is not because we are obtuse or ignorant, but simply an effect of having to spend so much time being distracted by the constant bombardment of worthless data that we don’t know is valueless until we spend the time to figure it out.

It does not make it any easier when we realize this amorphous glut of information is packaged by very creative, smart public relations and advertising experts, all extremely good at making the most useless news, miscellaneous material or product appealing on the surface. And guess who has to spend the time figuring it out.

Obviously selling products that none of us need is an essential part of an economy that has to continue to grow in order to survive.   The process by which you make me want something that I don’t need, and might not even want, has been elevated to the status of an art form. 

I had the opportunity to spend some time with a person who was very talented at creating demand for these types of products.  My question to her was, “I am sure you must think of the fact that you are spending so much of your life creatively selling useless stuff.” 

She told me that in the beginning it bothered her, but she got over it very quickly when she found herself making a very good living doing it.  I asked her how she justified selling  to people who might not be as knowledgeable being sucked into this type of deception.

“Jobs,” she said, “it’s about jobs, everyone needs to work and every time I help somebody actually buy something, someone, somewhere had to make and sell that something. For doing that they got paid.”

This makes sense.  Unfortunately, what has changed is that job is probably no longer here and is being made by someone else in some far away land.  And, if, the product is now being made here, there is a good chance that a machine made it.

This is the dilemma of a modern industrial economy.  It needs to sell more and more products, but requires fewer people working to do so.  This ultimately translates into the question that Henry Ford had to ask, “Who and where is the customer?”

We have always believed that our advanced technology will save us with good reason, it always has.  But is that still part of the equation?  Will technology advance to the point where it eliminates working people from the process? Many believe that not only will it happen, but the process has begun.

We are told we will create more jobs as our advanced technology invents new industries. However, that has a hollow ring to it.  How many high tech people do we need when compared to the amount of people in the world that need work to survive?

Enter the low paying service industry that is beginning to dominate the available employment opportunities.

Till next time, Brother Franco

opd 11/13

 

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So you think you have a good relationship.....

(C)2012

On relationships

 No subject gets more attention.  Successful relationships are the key to a so-called successful life.  However, are what we call relationships really relationships, or are they merely accommodations and little else?

Making this distinction is important since a good relationship can often be accommodating; however, not all accommodations are necessarily good relationships. 

Accommodations exist when a mutual need between parties is being satisfied.  It can be very specific and independent of any other need or contact with an individual or organization.

How do you determine the difference? 

Begin by thinking about what is being satisfied by your relationship.  If it is a true relationship, you will not have to think very long.  True relationships are all encompassing and you intrinsically know it.

We know when we are happy and all is well.  The same with our physical body - when the body is working well you are not aware of it.  It does what it must with ease and in silence. The same is true of relationships.

The problem is what happens when the relationship is not working.  Then, it not only needs attention; it demands attention because the dysfunction becomes part of your consciousness.

Only the honest survive here.  This does not mean the relationship will not survive if you are not honest, because for most it will.  However, it will cease to be a relationship in the full sense of the word and continue to be a tolerable accommodation.

For a person to be willing to risk it all in order to make it better is rare, regardless of the situation.  For most, learning to adjust and accept the status quo is as good as it is going to get.  However, for the one in a million who is willing to risk it all in order to communicate honestly  - the reward is theirs to treasure.

It is too bad it is only one in a million.

Brother Giorgio

0714

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“The world and its compulsive drive to extinction."

 (C)2012

Pizzaonian National Flag, courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator

 

As we watch the world with some trepidation from a Pizzaonian perspective, we seem to be witnessing the world’s inability to deal with the impending disaster of very real climate change. It should be clear to anyone who wishes to know, climate change is a serious problem the world is facing. 

What is disturbing is that climate change, regardless of how acute the threat actually is, has become a wedge issue that special-interest use to increase their power. 

No one seems interested in seeking solutions. To do so would end the conflict, a conflict the adversaries need to keep themselves in the limelight. What you get are polemics and accusations that make it impossible to find answers to this pending dilemma.

Is the climate getting warmer and would continue to rise slowly regardless of what additional pollution your way of life contributes to your already contaminated atmosphere? Probably.

Is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by your industrial civilization contributing to the problem and speeding up what may be a natural process?  Probably

They are not mutually exclusive, as the proponents of each side would like you to believe.

Both are plausible probabilities that most rational people could agree on – but as stated before, finding solutions is not what the arguments with all of their polemics and posturing are intended to do. 

One item everyone should agree on:  the way industrial societies produce energy must change.  The end result, if change does not occur,  is not an option for sane societies.  The question is always, how?

An issue that should be obvious to the proponents of climate change is that the fossil fuel and coal industries are currently necessary and any transition to new energy sources is going to be slow.  What should be equally obvious is these industries have a huge hold on the economies of the world.

There are billions of dollars involved with deeply entrenched industries.  These industries also support thousands of jobs and a lifestyle that much of the world already enjoys, or aspires to reach, which makes any attempt at change a political minefield.

Simply preaching, “The world is ending, the world is ending unless you repent” falls on deaf ears.  Before change is possible, the political leaders of the world, particularly the United States, must find a fair and equitable way to make change reasonable for those who will bear the brunt of the pain. No solution is possible unless this reality is successfully negotiated.

This must be done before the inevitable becomes reality.

 

Sister Veronica

opd 12/12

 

 

 

 

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