seeing is believing

Satire is defined in my New Oxford American Dictionary as; the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

The cover on The New Yorker depicting presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as …well, decide for yourself I guess, has been discussed for many different reasons on many different sites. I thought it was satire. I thought it was funny. Funny because it’s stupid …stupidly over the top. Sure it’s sad in way, but not in that The New Yorker printed it, but that there might exist ‘normal’ people who would take it seriously. People that might draw a parallel between a blatantly satirical image and the remote idea that Barack and Michelle actually are as they’re portrayed. Or worse.

Image from the 'Gawker'

In my recent Edge mail-outs there’s an article by Mahzarin R. Banaji called ‘The Science of Satire’. In it he discusses a basic ‘association’ that is naturally made when viewing such images. These passages of his seem to sum things up…

“When presented with A and B in close spatial or temporal proximity, the mind naturally and effortlessly associates the two. Obama=Osama is an easy association to produce via simple transmogrification. Flag burning=unpatriotic=un-American=un-Christian=Muslim is child’s play for the cortex. Learning by association is so basic a mechanism that living beings are jam-packed with it — ask any dog the next time you see it salivating to a tone of a bell.”

“But that doesn’t mean that the manifest association (Obama=Osama lover) doesn’t do its share of the work. To some part of the cognitive apparatus, that association is for real. Once made, it has a life of its own because of a simple rule of much ordinary thinking: Seeing is believing. Based on the research of my colleague, the psychologist Daniel Gilbert, on mental systems, one might say that the mind first believes, and only if it is relaxing in an Adirondack chair doing nothing better, does it question and refute. There is a power to all things we see and hear — exactly as they are presented to us.”

What I can’t understand is how Mahzarin seems to provide a science based ‘escape’ for those who can’t (or won’t) take their thoughts a few steps further and see the satire for what it is. Essentially, he lets certain viewers off the hook as far as being responsible for the conclusions they draw. He makes it alright to fall for the distortion that Obama = Osama etc., justifies their interpretations (or rather misinterpretations) and then offers ’seeing is believing’ as an alibi for the crime of ‘not thinking’. Mahzarin has reduced/limited the skeptical process, relieving the lazy observer of further thought …opening doors to all sorts of situations.

What of UFOs? Magic? Card tricks for example? Does an illusionist abandon their craft because they are concerned that the observer is ‘truly’ going to believe what it is that they do? If seeing is believing, then perhaps they should be criminally charged with promoting ‘death by saw blade’ …or unlawful concealment of a rabbit in a hat? Early infants will easily fall for the ‘depth perception‘ gag while older children themselves are great believers in Santa Claus, the Boogyman and the Tooth Fairy. Why? Because seeing IS believing …and at a basic level this is certainly true.

However, the problem is when you only operate on this principal. The nice thing about being an adult though, is that you’ve learned to see past ’seeing is believing’. The critical assessment of the visually unbelievable is one of the skills that separate us from animals …and we are NOT as simple as Pavlov’s dog, salivating at the ring of a bell. An adult is more than this. We are inquiring creatures – and our inquiring minds do not base important information/decisions solely on what they see. We challenge what is presented. We challenge both our thoughts and beliefs when it comes to the obviously unbelievable. We strive to make sense of the non-sensical, and to use our cognitive abilities for more than just reacting to what our visual cortex presents us with.

If anything, you might argue that our society has become lazy …however that’s not an excuse. Especially when passing judgements on important political events …and avoiding such wrongful conclusions like ‘Obama = Osama’.

Or even things like this. <click>

the Muskafa gig

Four down, none to go.

I actually got a little sleep Sunday morning …which was nice, and I was so excited about not having something to do for the day that I put a little time into a few poems that I’ve been working on. Hopefully I’ll post some later this week. Anyway, the King Muskafa show this night was kinda fun. Amber’s sis Stephanie came up for a few songs, her other sis Julia was around (ditto for mom) as well as Brigette from ‘Steve and Brigette’ fame. I’ll have to go visit their new digs one of these days too – I’m just lazy about that social kinda stuff. But yeah, the show was fine and people seemed to be doing the dance thing well enough. Heck, we even broke out into a little Soca for a few fans.

We’re so accommodating ….er, most of us that is.

Ali and the 'evil' twin ...can you guess which one is evil?

AR; additional reading

Three down, one to go.

Hummmm, no comment on this latest AR effort.. Instead, I’ll give you a little something from the book that I just picked up again (reading between sets …it was that exciting) by Robert Musil called ‘The Man Without Qualities‘…

“If the realization of primordial dreams is flying, traveling with the fishes, boring one’s way under the bodies of mountain-giants, sending messages with godlike swiftness, seeing what is invisible and what is in the distance and hearing its voice, hearing the dead speak, having oneself put into a wonder-working healing sleep, being able to behold with living eyes what one will look like twenty years after one’s death, in glimmering nights to know a thousand things that are above and below this world, things that no one ever knew before, if light, warmth, power, enjoyment, and comfort are mankind’s primordial dreams, then modern research is not only science but magic, a ritual involving the highest powers of heart and brain, before which God opens one fold of His mantle after another, a religion whose dogma is permeated and sustained by the hard, courageous, mobile, knife-cold, knife-sharp mode of thought that is mathematics.” pg 73.

Food for thought.

AR; acoustically reckless.

Two down, two to go.

America Rosa did the Global Connections stage at the Capital Ex (aka Klondike Days) today …and it was kinda good and kinda bad. The good was running into a few people that I wouldn’t normally see at a latin event …Phyllis, Ihor, Stephanie, Luc, Courtney, Brett, Alma, Erin et al. – add to that a bunch of food eating and tequila drinking that made things a little more festive. It was my birthday today too – and now that I think about it, I didn’t think about it till Stephanie mentioned it was her birthday tomorrow …and this happened at the end of the night. So I suppose it was a birthday party …lol, except no one, including the birthday fella, knew about it.

The bad was finishing the third set and having the local vendors/management upset because we were too loud. However, that’s not the bad part so much …but rather finding out about it after you’ve finished playing. Someone could of told me and then I could of made faces at our percussion players – that would of got their attention and I would have played softer and they would subsequently have to play quieter as well and then all would be good and nobody would say anything and everyone would be happy and my ears wouldn’t be ever-so-slightly ringing as they are now. But yeah, that didn’t exactly happen. And we’re back again mañana anyway …to do the whole thing again. And who knows, maybe it’ll be different?

Maybe.

The other good thing is that I biked to the show …which means that I gave my knee a real test for the first time since the whole swelling thing happened. I’m hoping that it’s done …the problem(s) that is. I’ll gradually start with some light 5k’s next week and see how things go from there. I’ve been favoring it for the last few weeks – so I’m sure I’ll be careful not to over-do it. Fingers crossed of course.

Pollo.  He’s still Loco.

the LE gig

One down, three to go.

The Leaving Elliot thing did its thing at the Bioware BBQ and made new inroads on the entire ‘wallpaper’ music scene that seems to be so vibrant as of late. Of course we were appreciated, but perhaps in a more low-keyed frame of sorts. It was fun though, and it was neat getting the chance to listen to Kris Demeanor do that thing that he does. He seems to be one of those story songwriters that actually thinks about what he’s going to say before he commits it to a lyric. Yes, I do that on occasion, but more often than not I typically write about something that doesn’t really need too much thought. Chris is kinda opposite that.

I liked it though. And he had enough catchy/riffy guitar and melody stuff to keep me entertained. That and foot stompin! And big Mike (aka dj-dudeman) from OTR Sundays was there as well to cover the excellent sound things, and to him I owe credit to the following picture. He of course took some others …but I’m going to keep my blog’s ‘Zero Nudity’ rating in good-standing. Maybe next time

Banff stuff…

Banff was fun.  Kinda.

It wasn’t as fun as it usually was for me, but it was still something different …and that’s always a good thing.  This trip out was of the ‘touristy’ fashion.  The problem with that is that it defeats the purpose of what Banff is supposed to be about.  I mean, why go to the mountains when all you want to do is take pictures of them?  You’re seeing something – but at the same time your not really seeing anything.  You’re going out of your way to experience something unique, but giving up that uniqueness to the comforts of home.  You’re not experiencing anything when you don’t venture off the beaten path.  You’re stuck to the regular route and you’re force fed what others have decided to feed you.  It’s sad in a way, but then I suppose they’re making money (the Banff economy) – and if that’s the rational for success …then it’s a success.

But there’s more to be seen in Banff than what you see.  There’s more to experience than what you experience behind the shelter of a bus, a gondola or an air conditioned shopping plaza.  And I suppose it’s in you to decide whether or not you want that experience.

ska = skank

Happy Ska Day kids

Well, it’s not officially ’ska day’ I suppose, but you’d never know that it didn’t exist if you happened to be at the show last night.  Granted, it wasn’t like a true skank fest, but there were times on the dance floor when I had flashbacks to being at the Blues on Whyte.  And that’s a good thing, considering On The Rocks isn’t at all near the university.  So yeah …”Good job” to those who came out!

I also snagged Edgar (the conga player from a few nights ago) to do the extra percussion thing with the band.  It was neat at times, and brought a different energy to the group.  There’s a few ditties that I could ‘take it or leave it’ on ..but overall, I think it was a great addition to whatever it is we do.  We hope to have him back in a few weeks when we play a double bill with the Souljah Fyre people who held the house gig before we did.  That should be a fun time too.

Now I’m going to sleep.  The sis is in town and we’re off to Banff for a few days of RnR (also known as ‘Uncle Babysitting’) so I’m going to need my energy for ….well, I suppose for all the Banffish stuff we’ll be doing.  Whatever that means.

Edgar and Sir Pat.

Jackfish Lake

And yet another residual Miguel gig…

This one was for a lakefront party at Jackfish Lake (40 min. west of the city) and seems to be a fundraiser of sorts for the residents surrounding the lake.  It was a nice party, complete with great food, a ski jumping show, houseboat contests and a fireworks display when night fell – but I’ll have to take the residents word on this as we left just before it got dark.  We did some of the old Miguel Neri classics along with Marco’s cuban stuff – and we had a bonus conga player with us who was visiting from his home country of Mexico, called Edgar.

He’s a good conga player, and I found out he’s in the band Panteon Rococo.  They’re going to Europe later this summer, and they do a ska/reggae thing …lots of players too – and it looks like fun.  And it’s gotta be fun though, cause when the band gets big you typically find the ’shares’ getting smaller.  It’s just the math of a paycheck, that’s all.  Finance in music is not geared to the individual as much as it is to the band as a group …so when you have a club paying a flat fee for entertainment, obviously a small band (that does the same job) will get paid more per person than a larger band will.  That’s why it’s so hard for larger bands to play as much as smaller groups …it’s just economics.

As I was about to mention, playing in a big band is fun.  Musically it’s more of a challenge to get everything happening correctly, but when it does – the larger group takes on a life of its own.  That’s my experience though.  The dynamics are just different from the smaller.  It’s not a ‘better or worse’ thing …it’s just different.

And different is kinda fun sometimes

(L-R) Miguel, Edgar, Marco, John and Victor.

tunes…

The calm before the storm. Sort of.

The next few weeks are shaping up to be fairly hectic. There’s family stuff and work stuff. There’s gigs of course, and then there’s rehearsals. One of the gigs is with a trio called Leaving Elliot. We used to do a lot of small club/pub/bar stuff for many years – had a ‘house’ gig at a few different spots, and over that time put together a lot of different tunes. Amber and myself were kinda the mainstays, then Pat would do the guitar thing. Craig once in a while, Lane for a bit – and even Ben for a bit less. Mostly Pat though. Guitar, bass and vocals …and a mix of tunes that was pretty much across the board.

Anyway, we haven’t done squat for the last few years …and as luck would have it, we’ve got two sets of material we need to whip into shape for an ‘event’ next week. It’s pretty low key as far as gigs go – but it does mean we need to ‘remember’ some of that stuff that we used to do blind-folded. My mind works in strange ways though …I’m sure some of it will come back pretty fast – others though, may be like relearning the song all over again. I hate it when that happens.

Here’s a sampling…

stay – lisa loeb
there she goes – sixpence none the richer
have a heart – bonnie raitt
nobody’s girl – bonnie raitt
everywhere – bran van 3000
5 days in may – blue rodeo
the hideout – sarah harmer
dont get your back up – sarah harmer
secret heart – ron sexsmith
spin the bottle – julianna hatfield
kiss me – sixpence none the richer
why does it always rain on me – travis
hello – oasis
walking on the moon – police
message in a bottle – police
be my baby – ronettes
rocky racoon – beatles
wildwood flower – june carter cash
brass in pocket – the pretenders
dont dream its over – crowded house
salsbury hill – peter gabriel
strong enough – sheryl crow
chuckies in love – ricky lee jones

communication brkdwn

I recently heard the comment from a news anchor person that her daughter, who is fourteen, has never used a pay-phone before. Wow!

Really, I think that’s incredible. But then at the same time, I suppose it’s just part of the changing ‘communication scene’. A few months ago I was at a local movie theatre deciding what show I wanted to see. My friend was coming to meet me and I thought I’d get the ticket early seeing as I was there already. The problem was, I didn’t know what he wanted to see. Since he was still at home, I could just call him to ask – problem solved. Not really. The mall theatre didn’t have a pay-phone. So I scoured the place (Edmonton Centre) and still couldn’t find one. The entrance ways, the eatery, the near-by street corners. Nothing. It appeared that Telus removed their pay-phones from the area. Twenty five minutes/three missed movie choices later (and after a bunch of running around), I was no further along. So what gives?

I suppose Telus decided that their pay-phones weren’t in high demand. Perhaps vandalized more often than used constructively. I suppose everyone has cell phone nowadays too, so what’s the point of putting up and maintaining a seldom-used land line? And they would have a point.

I don’t have a cell phone. I guess I’m an anomaly of sorts. I use one at work, but only because I have to – but I hate talking on it …and it gets used maybe once every few days on average. I’d rather talk to someone face to face, or in all honestly – not talk to anyone at all. But I digress

Talking is important, and the ways of communicating are varied and evolving with technology constantly. The land-phone was great …and still is of course – but the cell phone is even handier. Right? Video conferencing/chat takes things up a notch, paving the way for the eventual ‘instant’ communicator that is probably just around the corner. You know the kind …a mix between a Star Trek badge and an ‘in your brain’ Matrix hook-up. Who knows …ear-pieces might just be the start.

My point though, is that we always seems to be pulled into the idea of being connected. If we’re not within reach of our friends, family or anyone else who we needs to contact us, then perhaps there’s something wrong. Perhaps we’ve fallen off the face of the earth? Maybe we’ve fallen and we can’t get up – lol. Maybe we’re ‘disconnected’ – but secretly wishing we weren’t …and that all the people in our lives were in earshot and able to interact instantly!

Maybe though, we should be left alone for a while. Is that too novel an idea?

Maybe being alone and having to sort through things for ourselves might do us some good. Maybe being connected in so many ways (facebook, IM/email, cell phone etc.) means we’re also disconnecting in other ways …other more natural ways. Maybe our language is devolving with our increase in convenience (sms/lolcat for example) and our thoughts and ideas too are becoming truncated …less expressive and perhaps short in worth. Short in content. Maybe our lives exist as headlines? Sound-bites. Maybe we’re losing the ability to express ourselves completely – and the result is a failure to communicate (ironic!). Maybe how we absorb information changes that information itself, and as Nietzsche remarked (this quote is taken from an interesting article by Nicholas Carr) …“our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Or maybe we no longer need the natural world as we once did, and we’ve grown apart from it and the silence it provides.

Communication shouldn’t necessarily be necessary simply because technology allows it, and when the first images of a new-born or the news of an old friend’s death arrive electronically – are we truly richer for it? We do have choices in the matter of course, and certainly we only take from each experience that which we need – but perhaps what we need isn’t always obvious …at least considering what we’re told we need most of the time.

And so we just go with the flow. The informational flow. We convince ourselves that our lives are richer through technology and the interconnectedness it brings. But at the same time, I can’t help to suspect that a part of us lags somewhat behind. Maybe in certain tactile experiences that add to that experience itself…

Like fumbling around in your pockets during inclement weather looking for that extra dime.