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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
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September 10, 2005
Katrina, heroes and the philosophy of giving
As we sort through the destruction of Katrina, whole bunches of people are making all kinds of "helping" responses which inspire lots of practical and philosophical questions about how much good what is doing and who should get what kind of credit.
Some would likely respond that this is inappropriate or just useless in the midst of this great crisis, but it is not. It is always important to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Otherwise, how do you figure out what you should do?
To pick some easy ones, there are offers of help coming in from around the world, some of them notably from people obviously not friendly to us. When the Venezuelan government ie Hugo Chavez or Cuba ie Fidel Castro offer help, it obviously does not earn them any credibility. Clearly neither Chavez nor Castro gives an obese rodent's hind quarters about US. It's basically a big FU to our government.
Pretty easy call, Sean Penn has been out playing hero in New Orleans, boating around with his presidential historian buddy and a Rolling Stone reporter looking for people to rescue. I ridiculed his first effort, after his little boat started taking on water. "Sean Penn's Katrina PR stunt springs a leak." Obviously this guy's a schmuck looking for cheap glory and pr. He's Gabriel Byrne's cartoonist Jack Deeb from Cool World wanting to be a ridiculous superhero.
But wait, reports now are claiming that Penn has since been out with some kind of boat, and rescued several dozen people. See? I remain skeptical of believing this. Show me. Let's assume for the sake of this discussion though that he has managed to actually rescue some people.
That still doesn't change the judgment. Even if his PR stunt actually worked, he's still not getting any credit from me. The basic schmuckness of seeking glorification like this doesn't change even if you manage to do some good.
Further though, if he really is just trying to help out, then he won't WANT credit. He's just worried about The Children, after all. He would surely be embarassed to have people carrying on about what a great guy he is. That's why he's got a boatload of reporters with cameras to document his humility. Not sure where he's putting the actual flood victims.
I'm much more willing to give credit to Macy Gray. She just showed up (by herself) at the Astrodome in Houston where flood victims are staying, strapped on a Red Cross vest and went to work. No photographers, or cheap glorification, just jumping physically into some grunt work. That looks to me much more like really just trying to help out.
Even that's controversial, though. One of the most serious minded people I know is my godson's mother. Considering Macy doing grunt work vs Celine Dion talking Katrina with Larry King, the Thug's Ma said:
The point is not what you're doing to make your-celebrity-self feel better -- but what can you do that will make the biggest difference.
Celine Dion -- as much as she makes me shudder -- and other celebrities are good for creating awareness and encouraging people to donate. It's a "if you love Celine, you'll give money" kind of thing.
When I was 13, I remember giving money to Jerry's Kids because Frank Sinatra asked "me" to when he performed on the telethon. You know me, I'd do anything to make Frank happy.
If rich people want to give, then they should pony up the cash, and leave the grunt work to the grunts.
Macy and the rest would be way better off scheduling a big concert and contributing all the proceeds to evacuees.
Or doing free ads for World Vision or the Red Cross. Something to get people to contribute. If they want to help, then they should give themselves away in the way that will have the biggest impact.
They should do what they can within their area of expertise.
Now, she does make a pretty good case there in favor of some celebrity charity work. It's where they can do the most good.
But it also gets at the question of what is or should be motivating people. Generally, I'm not a big believer in altruism. As a practical philosophy, Henry Ford's self-interest did a thousand times more good in the world than Mother Theresa's charity work. Plus, altruism in the true sense simply goes against human nature. It is natural that we're thinking first of ourselves and our own.
Proper charity as I understand it is ultimately a selfish motivation borne from empathy. I don't do things to help others generally in contradiction to my own interests, but to further them. I feel for someone in a bad situation, and I can't stand to see them suffer. I feel better to see that poor homeless dude eating a sandwich. That does me more good than spending the five bucks on a drink at the bar for myself.
In addition to being more consistent with the realities of human nature, this way of looking at things allows you to set priorities and escape useless, unearned guilt. Doing something for someone because you want to rather than out of a sense of absolute obligation to help anyone and everyone in need just works better.
Thus, I feel more inclined to help people directly, one to one rather than dropping money in the Salvation Army kettle. You might say that I like to see exactly what I'm getting for my money. Knowing that this particular poor guy has a warm coat cause I just handed it to him certainly does more for me than mailing somebody a check.
Likewise, I can really see Macy feeling bad and wanting to help. Spending a couple of days helping sort donations for the Red Cross might well do her soul some good.
In theory, the Thug's Ma is probably right that she'd really do much more good for the displaced by giving a benefit show or two rather than fooling with grunt work. You can easily see though why the very direct feeling of putting a cup of soup in their hands would do her as the giver more good. Perhaps someone a rung or two up from Macy on Maslow's hierarchy toward full self-actualization would roll past this, and take their satisfaction from the more abstracted knowledge that their talents are better used in a less direct way.
Even as that would apply to me personally, the biggest part of the worst need in the world isn't here at home in Indiana. My hands on things might help a few folks, but it's not going to do a thing for the really bad situations in the world. Starving and diseased Africans need the help worse than a few down on their luck locals. On the other hand, the closer the giving is to home, the more I know that it's actually accomplishing something.
I just know that low key, direct personal aid seems far more spiritually pure than starring in a telethon, or just writing a check. Then again, my spirituality and $2 will get a Katrina victim a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
posted by Al at 9/10/2005 05:42:00 PM
September 09, 2005
Richard Pryor on flooding
I was reading more of the fallout trying to pin blame for Katrina on President Bush and various other public officials. Suddenly, I remembered a classic Mudbone routine from Richard Pryor's classic Is It Something I Said? album.
Let Mudbone explain the basic issue: CLICK HERE
posted by Al at 9/09/2005 10:51:00 PM
September 08, 2005
Pixel Revolt by John Vanderslice
CLICK HERE for my review of singer-songwriter John Vanderslice's new Pixel Revolt album.
posted by Al at 9/08/2005 10:56:00 PM
September 07, 2005
"Perfection" and God
New guy Rudicus over at Blogcritics has a particularly good essay on "The Perfect God." CLICK HERE
The Christian sky god idea that God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfect in every way sets up a whole bunch of logical tripwires that would make even a smart person batty. Slip over to Blogcritics and watch Brother Rudicus break it down.Labels: god, julie andrews
posted by Al at 9/07/2005 04:16:00 AM
Giving Jim Morrison some begrudging love
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I've always regarded Jim Morrison as one of the most contemptible idiots in the history of popular music- which is obviously some pretty stiff competition.
Nonetheless, the Doors did some good work. CLICK HERE to read my "Jim Morrison skeptic's top 10 Doors picks"
posted by Al at 9/07/2005 02:31:00 AM
September 06, 2005
Macy Gray actually helps Katrina victims
Any sensible person should be skeptical of celebrity do-gooders. It's good to help out victims of a natural disaster, but Celine Dion's on Larry King carrying on about the million dollars she's giving or whatever the hell exactly she's doing. That's not right. Screw her. And then there's Spicoli. Oy vey, the self-aggrandizement.
Some have criticized evil right wingers for hatin' on people who are just trying to help out. However, if you go on television to brag about the huge sums you're giving to the cause, then you don't get credit for helping out. You're just buying advertisement for your good name. And if you show up to do volunteer rescues with a personal photographer in tow, you're simply a frickin' media whore.
If a celebrity really was motivated by the desire to simply help out, they'd probably come out somewhat closer to acting like Macy Gray. From the Houston Chronicle:
Grammy award winner Macy Gray was there Saturday, her hair contained in a pink wrap and her eyes hidden behind huge, designer sunglasses.
She was up Friday night watching the news and decided that she needed to do something, so she took the red eye from Los Angeles and got to Houston at 5 o'clock Saturday morning.
She could have given money, she said, but this is a much more personal gift.
Gray strapped on a Red Cross vest and got to work at the the distribution center, where evacuees give volunteers a wish list of sorts and volunteers sift through donations to try to fill it.
There's a picture to go with this, but it's not sexy. She didn't show up with a personal photographer, nor did she show up on some talk show to raise awareness of how much money she's given.
She's got her hair tied back, and she's shuffling through boxes of donated clothing trying to find a change of clothes for a ten year old refugee from the storms.
This looks to me much more than most clebrity help-out stuff like someone actually interested primarily in alleviating the suffering of others rather than any kind of cheap glory or glamour.
posted by Al at 9/06/2005 02:01:00 PM
September 05, 2005
Bob Denver (Gilligan's Island) dies at 70
Willie Gilligan has gone to that great tropical island paradise in the sky.
Bob Denver died of cancer last Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina. This comes after a quadruple heart bypass earlier this year. He was 70 years old, born on January 9, 1935.
Bob Denver is of course remembered primarily as the titular Willie Gilligan of Gilligan's Island. The show seems omnipresent, but only actually ran for three seasons and 98 episodes, from 1964 to 1967.
Many people have mocked the show as one of the top symbolic "bad" tv shows or sitcoms of all time, but that's really not fair. The show did legitimately have a pretty strong personality, making it much better arguably than a lot of bland family sitcoms. The island castaway framework seemed pretty limiting though, and 98 episodes was MORE than enough to milk the idea. Several decades of intense re-runs really ran the thing into the ground. Still.
On top of which, you have to admire the pure business skills by which the whole idea was played and replayed. In fairness, you couldn't really argue against the 1973 tv movie "Rescue From Gilligan's Island." It seems only fair to give them closure, rather than leaving them stranded forever. But dang, they really managed to milk that sucker. From the Hollywood Reporter:
Denver later reprised his loveably dingy Gilligan character in two animation series, as well as a sci-fi version of the same concept. He even played Gilligan in an episode of "Baywatch." He starred in three made-for-TV movies based on "Gilligan": "Rescue From Gilligan's Island," "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" and "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island"
You just about have to admire the imagination involved in generating that much silliness.
As a point of interest to consider during the inevitable Gilligan tribute marathons to come, I once heard an apocryphal story that the writers conceived the show as something of a Marxist social critique, if only for their own amusement. Thus you have the worthless idle rich Howells and celebrity Ginger. Gilligan and the Skipper and Mary Ann would be the working class that actually got things done. Of course, the "professor" Roy Hinkley was the enlightened intellectual leader keeping it all together.
Besides being Gilligan, Bob Denver had another semi-iconic role as the sidekick buddy Maynard G Krebs ("The 'G' stands for 'Walter'") on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which ran from 1959 to 1963. Maynard was a 50s sitcom version of a beatnik proto-hippie, most characterized by his careful avoidance of work.
Also, if you think his career as Gilligan was silly, note that Bob Denver was a pre-law student at Loyola before becoming an actor. Think how goofy that could have turned out. Attorney Gilligan could have done a LOT more damage with a law degree than he ever did banging the hapless Skipper on the head with a few coconuts.
posted by Al at 9/05/2005 04:34:00 PM
Sean Penn's Katrina PR stunt springs a leak
Sean Penn has shown up in New Orleans to save the day!
Spicoli showed up overnight with a boat to personally go rescue stranded children in New Orleans, but the thing sprung a leak and didn't get far.
He's just trying to help out The Children. Why do you hate The Children so much Al? It's a subtle distinction. It's not The Children in general that I feel contempt for, but the 45 year old manchild incompetently trying to commandeer our nation's worst natural disaster for a cheap public relations ploy.
For starters, he's showing up WAY late to be out on this kind of rescue mission, and has no apparent connection to organized rescue efforts. He just showed up with his entourage and a personal photographer with the apparent intent of just wandering around looking for a good photo op.
Did I mention that he shows up for a rescue mission with a PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHER? Such a person would be not just useless, but obviously a positive hindrance- if your goal was helping out hurricane victims. Of course, if your goal was just to put on an act for the cameras and convince everyone that you're a HERO, this deal makes more sense.
You can easily imagine the photo that he was hoping for. Imagine Sean Penn standing in a boat with a Jesus look on his face, cradling a freshly rescued dirty, wet and miserable child lovingly in his arms- preferably a brown or black one.
Instead, the boat sprang a leak near immediately, and the image we end up with is Penn with his little red plastic cup frantically trying to bail the water out of his toy boat.
On the plus side, at least no real emergency response crews had to stop their work to go rescue the little boy out playing "hero" in the water.
posted by Al at 9/05/2005 01:00:00 PM
September 04, 2005
Quote o' the day
We have to defend the country, and I supported the Iraq invasion. Still think it was right.
But it still leaves me somewhat uneasy. This classic quote of James Madison gets right at the problem:
"The means of defense against foreign dangers historically have become
the instruments of tyranny at home."
The Patriot Act leaps to mind.
posted by Al at 9/04/2005 10:25:00 PM
Tom Ridge, duct tape, and Katrina
The reprobates at Cold Fury have a good thought going about Tom Ridge and his famous "duct tape" comments. CLICK HERE In his job as Secretary of Homeland Security, he had suggested in the wake of 9/11 that citizens should put together short term survival kits with stuff to last them for a few days in case of terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
Ridge was widely ridiculed for these comments at the time. How much better would a lot of people have been in the wake of Katrina if they had followed this advice?
There just seem to be a lot of folks ready to be indignant at the suggestion that you should be prepared to fend for yourself in a crisis without the presence of the almighty savior government, even just for a couple of days.
I've got it: It's Dubya's fault for not having provided the citizens in advance with duct tape and ration kits. Damn him!
posted by Al at 9/04/2005 01:19:00 PM
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