I’m supposed to be writing a script but it’s Timothy Leary’s birthday and even though he’s been dead for a while now that doesn’t matter. Happy Birthday, Tim!
Here he is expounding on the Religion Of Intelligence:
For a more succinct and eloquent exposition of absolutely everything Leary ever ranted about we must turn, as we now do when in search of any “real” news, to the comedians. In this case – the sublime Bill Hicks:
12 year old Adora Svitak has been described as a child prodigy and with good reason. She’s frickin’ brilliant.
Her best line from the talk:
The traits the word childish addresses are seen so often in adults that we should abolish this age discriminatory word when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking.
Svitak possesses something that not many people of her intelligence, let alone age, ever manage to grasp within their lifetimes: wisdom.
Having worked in the world of children’s television I have more than had my fill of clever, wisecracking kids. It’s a bogus fallacy that feeds Roald Dahl’s addage that to reach a young audience one must first conspire with them against the adults. Fair enough but some jerkweed midget version of Pauly Shore is not what the world needs more of.
We need more Adora’s.
Her insights into the need for children and adults to communicate more effectively and for adults to listen and take heed of what children see and know is vitally important to everyone’s future. Listen to this kid. And then go listen to your own.
Temple Grandin talks at the recent TED conference about how the world needs all kinds of minds. Fascinating stuff.
We inevitably seek to shape, categorize, reform and alter the way our kids (and ourselves) think, behave and interact with the world. We do this because we want our kids (and ourselves) to be perceived as normal, to fit in, to be a part of the world instead of being apart from it.
I am all too aware of the role bipolar behaviour influences the arts. Autism, in all its many forms, has often been regarded as a strange dysfunction or aberration of the brain instead of as a possible evolutionary step for our species. Doubtless if the grand scientific minds of the 1800′s were to see how most of behave today we’d all be locked up in Bedlam.
While some forms of brain difference are manifestly disabling there are many many traits of the human mind that allow some of us to become an Einstein, Newton, Gould, Rainman, or even Temple Grandin.
I’m no flippin’ expert – I only have my own experience to bring to bear upon this – and I don’t want to go all Jerry Mander and Neil Postman on you but I suspect the rise in autistic symptoms within our younger population may indeed be in response to the overwhelming deluge of unmediated information. Unlike Postman and Mander, I don’t see this as a bad thing – it just is – and, as in times past, the brain will find a way to survive, to protect itself and ultimately thrive.
I don’t know. I just think she gave a really cool talk. Lemme go think about it.
Cheers.
P. S. Although Postman and Mander can come across as intensely pessimistic luddites they do have some good thoughts on the media cesspool we are drowning in. I remember reading Mander’s The Four Arguments For The Elimination Of Television when I was working for Henson on Fraggle Rock. During a break in shooting I was half-in / half-out of this round foam blob creature that ate Doozers and poring through the pages when Jim asked me: “What are you reading?”. I gleefully held up the book and he snorted: “That’s a bit inflammatory, don’t you think?” to which I replied: “Not if you keep paying my salary!”
I'm going to be slowly making some changes to the website both in format and content - and I'm pretty sure even the URL will change.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.