Hello, internet! My name is Aladdin, and I’ll be your writer for today. I just got back from golf, and my arms really hurt. So this is going to be a short post.
In Black Boy, Richard Wright has a fairly strict set of morals. Not in that he can do this, can’t do that, must do this on Sundays, but in that he can look at something he or someone else has done and identify it as either “right” or “wrong”. Even when he was a little boy he had a very good idea of what was, in his mind, OK, and what was NOT OK. I think he even mentions, at one point, that he thought it was OK for a child to be beaten by a parent if the child has done something wrong warranting of punishment, but it is not kosher for a distant family member to randomly beat a child who, as far as he is aware, hasn’t done anything wrong.
Richard learned these morals simply through his life experiences, mostly on the street and with his family, primarily his mom. This is in a bit of a kerfuffle with what Feldman is saying. Feldman is asserting that morals are learned through a school/church environment, and only in a school/church environment can morals be learned. Richard learned next to nothing worthwhile in his school/church environment.
Ow. I’m done for tonight.
Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Arff Arff Aroof!
Hello, internet! If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 kilobytes per second, were going to see some serious shizzlewizzlebamboozlefuddlemuddle.
At the end of “Black Boy”, Wright gets hated upon by some major fail communists. It all culminates in him getting physically kneaded by two white communists he meets at a union march who accuse him of being a Trotskyite. Interestingly, I looked up Trotsky, and his theory of Marxism isn’t actually that different from that of Stalin.
After some deep internal muddling and a brisk walk around the block, Wright realizes that the men that hurt him in the march, and furthermore, the men that have excommunicated him from the Communist organization, are blind. He believes that they have been blinded by America, and the way America has treated them.
Do I agree or disagree?
I’m not really sure. I think the men were blinded, yes, but not by amerika. At least, not directly by amerika. You see, these men were living during a time of great uncertainty. Especially during the depression, people were beginning to wonder whether or not capitalism was the right course. Black men who had migrated from the south, like Wright, desperately needed something to believe in, something to be a part of. They were so starved for affection and acknowledgement of their humanity that an organization like Communism, one which feared solidarity, seemed like a godsend for them. They had become blinded by their devotion to the communistic cause. I’ll bet that if the National Communist organization had told them to never again eat pickles and shun all women with an odd number of freckles on their face, they would have complied without blinking. So, yes, they were blind, but they weren’t blinded directly by amerika, as Wright had said.
And that’s the Gertrude Song!
At the end of “Black Boy”, Wright gets hated upon by some major fail communists. It all culminates in him getting physically kneaded by two white communists he meets at a union march who accuse him of being a Trotskyite. Interestingly, I looked up Trotsky, and his theory of Marxism isn’t actually that different from that of Stalin.
After some deep internal muddling and a brisk walk around the block, Wright realizes that the men that hurt him in the march, and furthermore, the men that have excommunicated him from the Communist organization, are blind. He believes that they have been blinded by America, and the way America has treated them.
Do I agree or disagree?
I’m not really sure. I think the men were blinded, yes, but not by amerika. At least, not directly by amerika. You see, these men were living during a time of great uncertainty. Especially during the depression, people were beginning to wonder whether or not capitalism was the right course. Black men who had migrated from the south, like Wright, desperately needed something to believe in, something to be a part of. They were so starved for affection and acknowledgement of their humanity that an organization like Communism, one which feared solidarity, seemed like a godsend for them. They had become blinded by their devotion to the communistic cause. I’ll bet that if the National Communist organization had told them to never again eat pickles and shun all women with an odd number of freckles on their face, they would have complied without blinking. So, yes, they were blind, but they weren’t blinded directly by amerika, as Wright had said.
And that’s the Gertrude Song!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Cotton Eye Joe
Hello, internet! Please remain seated for the duration of your voyage, keeping your hands, arms, legs, and feet inside the vehicle. And please, no flash photography.
Today’s question is whether or not I agree with Richard Wright’s assertion that artists and politicians stand on opposite poles.
First of all, I’m going to assume that this is talking about politicians who actually are interested in the advancement of society. More and more I’m finding that there actually aren’t that many of these kinds of politicians. But if we assume that lil’ ricky is talking about altruistic politicians, then... Yes, I agree with him.
I don’t really consider the movies I make to be art, but for the moment, let’s assume that they’re art. And let’s stretch our imaginations even further and assume that I’m a moderately good artist.
I create my movies (at least the non-documentary ones) with the purpose of actually offending my audience. If not, I at least make them to be controversial. I believe that the purpose of art is to inspire independent thought in individuals, not what Wright said about conveying the meaning of life (42) and what not. I would be much happier if everyone strongly disagreed with a film that I made than if they wholeheartedly agreed with me.
Politicians, on the other hand, want to please everybody. If they offend people, then their power will be taken away from them, and they can’t improve the world. Politicians have to stay on the good side of the public, as opposed to artists, who can do whatever they want.
And that’s over my word limit. Good hat.
Today’s question is whether or not I agree with Richard Wright’s assertion that artists and politicians stand on opposite poles.
First of all, I’m going to assume that this is talking about politicians who actually are interested in the advancement of society. More and more I’m finding that there actually aren’t that many of these kinds of politicians. But if we assume that lil’ ricky is talking about altruistic politicians, then... Yes, I agree with him.
I don’t really consider the movies I make to be art, but for the moment, let’s assume that they’re art. And let’s stretch our imaginations even further and assume that I’m a moderately good artist.
I create my movies (at least the non-documentary ones) with the purpose of actually offending my audience. If not, I at least make them to be controversial. I believe that the purpose of art is to inspire independent thought in individuals, not what Wright said about conveying the meaning of life (42) and what not. I would be much happier if everyone strongly disagreed with a film that I made than if they wholeheartedly agreed with me.
Politicians, on the other hand, want to please everybody. If they offend people, then their power will be taken away from them, and they can’t improve the world. Politicians have to stay on the good side of the public, as opposed to artists, who can do whatever they want.
And that’s over my word limit. Good hat.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Shortest Post In The World
Hello, Internet! Hello! Hello... again! I’m back on familiar turf and I just can’t wait to be king. I went to STOMP over the weekend and I still can’t believe how awesome it was.
At the end of the first section of Black Boy, Richard and his family decide that the time has come to move north, to Chicagoworld. FINALLY!
I think that this move is for the better. While conditions for low-income black teenagers probably aren’t much better than they are in the south, Wright will have the opportunity to work up.
You see, in the south, Wright is hitting the upper limit of what Blacks are allowed to do with their lives. He hears about all these black doctors and lawyers and other professionals, and knows that he could never make it that high. In the north, up in Chicago, Wright will still face racism and poverty, but he will also have the opportunity to work up. I predict that he will initially live in abject poverty, but he will slowly work up from there to a fairly respectable place in life.
We shall see...
At the end of the first section of Black Boy, Richard and his family decide that the time has come to move north, to Chicagoworld. FINALLY!
I think that this move is for the better. While conditions for low-income black teenagers probably aren’t much better than they are in the south, Wright will have the opportunity to work up.
You see, in the south, Wright is hitting the upper limit of what Blacks are allowed to do with their lives. He hears about all these black doctors and lawyers and other professionals, and knows that he could never make it that high. In the north, up in Chicago, Wright will still face racism and poverty, but he will also have the opportunity to work up. I predict that he will initially live in abject poverty, but he will slowly work up from there to a fairly respectable place in life.
We shall see...
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Biggest Post In The World
Hello, Internet! I must apologize for being somewhat negligent in the posting of my blog. I’ve been in California, and I’ve been generally overwhelmed with homework and underwhelmed with time.
So, what you see here is one... Two... Three... Five questions from the past week, answered in one big MEGAPOST.
To begin, I will tackle the question of
At this point in Wright’s life, he is a very logical being. Things happen for a reason, and he needs to understand that reason before he can accept [insert thing here]. A good example of this is religion. Wright can’t accept the religion being forced on him because he has no explanation for it. Wright can’t just do something or accept something “because I told to” or “just because”. No, Wright needs a solid reason.
What does that have to do with Uncle Tom? Well, Uncle Tom wakes Wright one morning, asks him a question, and when he doesn’t like Wright’s answer, he attempts to punish Wright. This is all well and good (not), but Wright doesn’t understand why he is in trouble. And without an explanation, Wright gets mad at his uncle for hurting him unprovoked. So much of Wright’s life is “accept that you’re inferior to whites”, or “you’ll never be a writer”, or “accept jesus as your personal valet” that demanding cause from his uncle is just about all Wright can do to get around this dilemma.
Well, yes and no. Let’ tackle these one at a time. Like groundhogs!
Yes, Wright is justified in refusing the speech. The problem, as Wright sees it, is that blacks do whatever the whites tell them. They have no control over their own actions, for fear of getting hurt, and when they submit, they simply push themselves farther down the poop-pit. By not reading the principal’s speech, but rather reading his own, Wright is breaking this vicious cycle. He is not doing what the whites (through the principal) are telling him to do, and he is trying to further his own position by acting in accordance to his personal set of beliefs (rather than living his life to someone else’s beliefs, namely the whites).
And then there’s the no. Sure, Wright is doing the ‘morally good’ thing, the ‘warm fuzzy’ thing, but from a practical standpoint, by refusing the principal’s speech, Wright is making his own condition worse. He is attracting the negative attention of the whites, speaking out against a system which he needs (the educational system), and he is marking himself as a future muck-raker/shit-kicker. Whoo.
So I would argue that Wright is morally justified in refusing the principal’s speech, but rather than read his own speech, I think he should have just refused to speechify at all. Eat a frog and misplace your voice.
Wright was brought up with very little contact with the white world. As he said in an earlier chapter, waaay back at the beginning of the book, the white kids stayed on their side and the black kids stayed on their side, and if any crossed the line, they would be beaten up. So Wright’s view of the magically terrifying racial line is that if the two sides respect the boundaries, no one gets hurt.
But the problem, as he finds out, is that the world doesn’t quite work like that. Wright finds that there really isn’t a “black side” where he can go about his business however he wants. He is always having to adjust his behavior to fit the white’s expectations. That’s not good, but even worse is the fact that he was never taught how to do this. Other people he meets along his way grew up with it and are OK with it; they just accept things for the way they are. Wright doesn’t do that, he can’t do that. He needs a rock-solid reason for these things, and can’t find one. He wasn’t as exposed to the racial divide as a kid, and thus can’t adjust his demeanor to the white world.
I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Partly because it’s so vague, partly because I grapple with this very question every time I get mad at society (which is happening more and more often now, I’m getting a little concerned).
In the perfect world, subservience is bad. Bad bad bad. In the perfect world, all things are equal, and all things respect that. We can do as much as we can to live in the perfect world, and for the most part subservience is something we should avoid.
The however: However, this won’t get you anywhere. I could completely NOT do all the things my teachers tell me to do, all the things my parents tell me to do, the government, the road signs along I-465, airplane flight attendants, because that’s all a form of subservience. They’re telling me what to do because they’re higher up on the authoritative ladder.
But I’m pretty sure I should do all those things. And here’s the conundrum: Subservience can get you ahead. If Wright didn’t obey the white dudes and dudette’s instructions, he would likely be dead by now. Well, he is dead now, but you know what I mean.
So subservience is one of those contradictory notions you must hold in your head at all times. It should be avoided as much as possible, but often you need to be “sub” to get ahead.
So, what you see here is one... Two... Three... Five questions from the past week, answered in one big MEGAPOST.
To begin, I will tackle the question of
Why is Wright so angry with his Uncle Tom?
At this point in Wright’s life, he is a very logical being. Things happen for a reason, and he needs to understand that reason before he can accept [insert thing here]. A good example of this is religion. Wright can’t accept the religion being forced on him because he has no explanation for it. Wright can’t just do something or accept something “because I told to” or “just because”. No, Wright needs a solid reason.
What does that have to do with Uncle Tom? Well, Uncle Tom wakes Wright one morning, asks him a question, and when he doesn’t like Wright’s answer, he attempts to punish Wright. This is all well and good (not), but Wright doesn’t understand why he is in trouble. And without an explanation, Wright gets mad at his uncle for hurting him unprovoked. So much of Wright’s life is “accept that you’re inferior to whites”, or “you’ll never be a writer”, or “accept jesus as your personal valet” that demanding cause from his uncle is just about all Wright can do to get around this dilemma.
Is Wright justified in refusing to say the speech?
Well, yes and no. Let’ tackle these one at a time. Like groundhogs!
Yes, Wright is justified in refusing the speech. The problem, as Wright sees it, is that blacks do whatever the whites tell them. They have no control over their own actions, for fear of getting hurt, and when they submit, they simply push themselves farther down the poop-pit. By not reading the principal’s speech, but rather reading his own, Wright is breaking this vicious cycle. He is not doing what the whites (through the principal) are telling him to do, and he is trying to further his own position by acting in accordance to his personal set of beliefs (rather than living his life to someone else’s beliefs, namely the whites).
And then there’s the no. Sure, Wright is doing the ‘morally good’ thing, the ‘warm fuzzy’ thing, but from a practical standpoint, by refusing the principal’s speech, Wright is making his own condition worse. He is attracting the negative attention of the whites, speaking out against a system which he needs (the educational system), and he is marking himself as a future muck-raker/shit-kicker. Whoo.
So I would argue that Wright is morally justified in refusing the principal’s speech, but rather than read his own speech, I think he should have just refused to speechify at all. Eat a frog and misplace your voice.
What does Wright mean when he says he had ‘begun coping with the white world too late’? How does that manifest itself in these next chapters?
Wright was brought up with very little contact with the white world. As he said in an earlier chapter, waaay back at the beginning of the book, the white kids stayed on their side and the black kids stayed on their side, and if any crossed the line, they would be beaten up. So Wright’s view of the magically terrifying racial line is that if the two sides respect the boundaries, no one gets hurt.
But the problem, as he finds out, is that the world doesn’t quite work like that. Wright finds that there really isn’t a “black side” where he can go about his business however he wants. He is always having to adjust his behavior to fit the white’s expectations. That’s not good, but even worse is the fact that he was never taught how to do this. Other people he meets along his way grew up with it and are OK with it; they just accept things for the way they are. Wright doesn’t do that, he can’t do that. He needs a rock-solid reason for these things, and can’t find one. He wasn’t as exposed to the racial divide as a kid, and thus can’t adjust his demeanor to the white world.
Is subservience a necessary part of living?
I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Partly because it’s so vague, partly because I grapple with this very question every time I get mad at society (which is happening more and more often now, I’m getting a little concerned).
In the perfect world, subservience is bad. Bad bad bad. In the perfect world, all things are equal, and all things respect that. We can do as much as we can to live in the perfect world, and for the most part subservience is something we should avoid.
The however: However, this won’t get you anywhere. I could completely NOT do all the things my teachers tell me to do, all the things my parents tell me to do, the government, the road signs along I-465, airplane flight attendants, because that’s all a form of subservience. They’re telling me what to do because they’re higher up on the authoritative ladder.
But I’m pretty sure I should do all those things. And here’s the conundrum: Subservience can get you ahead. If Wright didn’t obey the white dudes and dudette’s instructions, he would likely be dead by now. Well, he is dead now, but you know what I mean.
So subservience is one of those contradictory notions you must hold in your head at all times. It should be avoided as much as possible, but often you need to be “sub” to get ahead.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ambient Occlusion and Ray-traced Radiosity
Hello, internet! And welcome to the most spirited season of them all. March. Whoo.
At the end of chapter 4 in Black Boy, Richard writes a rather morose piece of poetry about a girl who commits suicide. He loves the feeling of writing it, but doesn’t really knwo what to do with it after he is finished. So he does what any hormonal boy in the midst of puberty and emotional isolation would do. He pulls it out and shows it to the girl across the street.
But of course you already know all that. The question is why does he feel tingly and warm after pulling it out and showing it to the girl across the street? By the way, this is as far as I’m going to go with my half-baked innuendo.
As I said before, Richard is emotionally isolated. His mother is not capable of “being there for him”, his grandma and creepy aunt hate his guts for being a heathen, and his classmates in school are emotionally gum and blah. Richard has not really been allowed to create, and when he does no one cares.
So when Richard creates something moderately nifty (the piece of writing), he NEEDS to show it to someone. And he does. The girl across the street. She thinks it’s weird and all, and is a little stunned that malnutritioned, boring little Ricky has created something cool. She shows this, and Richard is happy. Someone appreciates his creation. He is recognized for making. That is why he feels good.
End of line.
At the end of chapter 4 in Black Boy, Richard writes a rather morose piece of poetry about a girl who commits suicide. He loves the feeling of writing it, but doesn’t really knwo what to do with it after he is finished. So he does what any hormonal boy in the midst of puberty and emotional isolation would do. He pulls it out and shows it to the girl across the street.
But of course you already know all that. The question is why does he feel tingly and warm after pulling it out and showing it to the girl across the street? By the way, this is as far as I’m going to go with my half-baked innuendo.
As I said before, Richard is emotionally isolated. His mother is not capable of “being there for him”, his grandma and creepy aunt hate his guts for being a heathen, and his classmates in school are emotionally gum and blah. Richard has not really been allowed to create, and when he does no one cares.
So when Richard creates something moderately nifty (the piece of writing), he NEEDS to show it to someone. And he does. The girl across the street. She thinks it’s weird and all, and is a little stunned that malnutritioned, boring little Ricky has created something cool. She shows this, and Richard is happy. Someone appreciates his creation. He is recognized for making. That is why he feels good.
End of line.
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