MU Talk

Christa Forster 13:49 on 23/01/2014 Permalink Reply  

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  Oscar 23:27 on 23/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

  Ah, Christa, maybe Ysidora should see a philosopher about that. I know a good philosopher in Paris…

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    Meg O'Ryan 09:22 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

    Hey Oscar! I hope your Paris Philosopher isn’t the same Tree Surgeon you sent Donny to? That guy who kept running around “une mechanisme”? Not pretty.

    What do you mean “Will Ysidora get a soul” Christa? Ysidora’s the only person I’m sure has a soul!

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      Christa Forster 15:41 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Dear, Meg. You are truly kind. Ysidora blesses you!

      The thing is–have you ever heard new age people or philosophers or theologians or recovering addicts say something along the lines of “you will become that which you fear” or “fear begets fear” or “Be careful what you fear, you just might get it” or something like that? Well, guess what Ysidora’s greatest fear was? That she would lose her soul! And (you guessed it) she lost it.

      She feared this because from a young age (let’s say four), she was taught to fear it by the Fathers, the Frays, as in Fray Juniperro Serra, et. al. Because of these dudes (Franciscans), she lived in fear that her soul would perish, that it would not live on in the “promised” land, the paradise, the place named Heaven, where these guys assured her Suffering did not exist. And she suffered, a lot, so of course, she wanted to go to this place. But whether it was because of the dogma from the fathers or the repression of her desires or a combination of both, she ended up acting in ways that caused her soul to, indeed, perish. In short and in full, she lost her soul to the silence engendered by her shame.

      In never sharing her story — her story did not fit with the governing narrative, which by the way, was guarded, albeit drunkenly and whimsically, by her brothers and (less drunkenly and whimsically) by her husband — her soul shriveled up; paradise was lost.

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        Meg O'Ryan 18:53 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

        OMG Christa, that is so sad! You know what will cheer you up? I just read this amazing piece about a guy who was able to use “new media tools” (back in the 80’s or so) to give voice to the voiceless. You should go read it right now!
        http://practicebased.re/search/blue-eyes-kenneth-hughes-first-film/

        I don’t mean any offence to anyone, but I think sometimes religion and “religious people” can just be such bullshit. You should talk to Izzy sometime about all her family’s shenanigans (be warned: it doesn’t take much to get her started) Her dad engineered the election of, like, 3 Popes! And they “paid” him back! It just makes me so sick to think about the number those guys did on an innocent soul like Ysidora. (it’d be so great if you could get her to join the conversation here!)

        Thinking about that Kenneth Hughes thing though, I think there’s real hope there. If you think about it, the world we today take for granted, our Western Liberal Democracies, with human rights and civil rights, all that probably would have been impossible without the rise of The Novel. I think it was the novel that let people, really for kind of the first time, experience other people’s lives.

        In a way it’s all about who has access and control of information. The novel created shared experience and empathy. The Franciscans you talk about used the power of knowledge and lack of knowledge to manipulate Ysidora. Today we have an amazing access to knowledge. Google can fetch any article. Wikipedia can explain any concept. YouTube can teach any skill. And with MOOCs you can learn, often for free, from some of the most amazing faculty the world has to offer.

        IDK if you’ve ever had to sit thru one of Vanessa’s Free Culture rants, but in a way, she’s right: a non-neutral net hurts everyone. And pretty much, a non-neutral net means massive profits for broadband providers as the morph the freedom of today’s Net into pretty much Television2.0. (and not the empowering EZTV kind of television, but the Banality2.0 kind)

        So I guess we should seize this moment and use the Open Web to share and learn as much as possible… and… oh look! I guess that’s what we’re doing right now!

        Maybe Ysidora2.0 can redress some of the injustices of the past. I hope so.