So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
A couple of years ago a friend who is an artist and writer came out with a book about Pacific Lumber and what Maxxam had done to Humboldt County. The book was well written and sold briskly, but it occurred to me that a person who had her talent as an artist, the power to bring something positive and uplifting to all people, would be better off putting that creative ability to work than writing something political. Partly it’s supply and demand: there are a lot more Bill O’Reillys than Alan Sanborns. Partly it was because even I can write political things, and have no artistic ability, so making art seems to have more value.
Another friend suggested that people reading newspapers or blogs were not seeking education, but affirmation of their beliefs. Maybe that’s the difference between the blogosphere and the world of journalism: originally, anyway, the idea of journalism was to present the facts. . .the reporter was the fly on the wall, watching what happened and reporting it. He or she wasn’t embedded, wasn’t paid to represent a particular point of view. Now, of course, that’s changed: corporate media owners like Rupert Murdoch are making sure the “news” their employees put out furthers their own political agenda. Blogs don’t even pretend to be objective, and people generally read the ones they agree with, or read the ones they don’t like only to send “flame” comments.
All that said, this has never been a “blog” in the true sense, like the Humboldt Herald. Heraldo has a stable of fans, enemies and tipsters who seem to spend all their time acting, reacting or interacting. It’s very immediate, very. . .well, millennial. There’s a lot of information, some disinformation, and a lot of aggro interchange, which seems to sell well in any format. This has always been more like a column: mollosciform, spondaic, verbose, plodding. Opinion without the argument. I’ve never enjoyed violence, visual or verbal.
But the more opinion I see, the more I value art. I still don’t have any talent in that direction, but I can educate myself about history, about computers, about books. I can volunteer my time to help public institutions like the library to continue as a source of public education and entertainment. These I think are positive things I can and should do. They improve me and they improve my world, and that’s a form of art as well. Too often opinion begins to sound like an endless, depressing song (I saw a whole concert of that when Cowboy Junkies played the Van Duzer last month: music to commit seppuku by). We don’t need more of that.
That’s why I’m closing shop here. I’m not happy about the political situation, and the folks who have caused the deaths of a million Iraqis, made torture legal, instilled fear in the western world to excuse their suspension of the Constitution and international treaties, these people are still firmly in control. As in Europe 70 years ago, those bucking the fascist trend can only hope to save themselves and maybe a few others, at least until this reich falls. A change in direction is clearly “not on the table.”
But the people who know this is the case don’t need me to rub their noses in it, and those who listen to Rush, O’Reilly or Lynn Cheney wouldn’t pay attention anyway.
As Eubie Blake said: Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind. Listen to the birds, and don’t hate nobody.
Comments
Sorry to see you go Walt.
Posted by: Robb Willis | May 30, 2008 01:35 PM
What does this mean, Walt? You're leaving Humboldt or the country?
Posted by: Andrew Bird | June 6, 2008 06:04 PM
No, I'm not leaving just yet: we'll see how Cheney-esque McCain is. I AM looking into Canada, but I have work to do here at the library, a solar greenhouse to build, and Linux to master.
Posted by: Walt Frazer | June 9, 2008 06:16 AM
Europe's not a bad option. But with Schengen it's a bit harder to get legal.
Posted by: James Tressler | June 19, 2008 02:31 AM