Thomas Kinkade vs. RMS

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I have had a revalation, of late. I've wasted a few good years of my life browsing Slashdot, and even for a few months last year (shhh) K5. Lots of DMCA, lots of Microsoft, lots of RIAA. I came to realize gradually that most normal people don't care about this stuff.

A lot of talk has been going on here lately about Thomas Kinkade. I vaugely knew who he was, some guy that had a painting store in the mall. My mom has something in her bedroom. I can't say I've ever even looked closely at it. I think it has a boat, or a lighthouse or something.

I'm not all that into art. I have nothing against it, and have enjoyed my visits to art museums. My old room used to have maps on the walls. My walls in my new apartment are bare, and I don't have any immediate plans to put anything on them. I know I am surrounded by art, but it is not something I consciously think about on a daily basis.

I found, I just can't care about Thomas Kinkade. He paints some pretty pictures. People like them, and buy them, put them on the walls, or send cards to loved ones. So what?

Then it hit me. It was like I'm someone who doesn't know the difference between RMS, DMCA, and TCP/IP, trying to read about legal action against CueCat hackers. I'm on the outside, looking in. And I'm confused.

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	There's nothing to it (5.00 / 1) (#1)
	by zikzak on Wed Nov 28th, 2001 at 12:56:28 AM PST

	Lemme tell you all it takes to get this art stuff. It's really quite simple. See, art makes the silly mistake of trying to operate outside the realm of logic. As any computer professional will tell you, that is simply impossible. We live in a strictly mathematical, binary world. Any and all issues that may face us can be simplified using a technique like Occam's Razor, thereby eliminating the need for us to perceive anything as other than black or white. When we do stumble upon something that has the gall to pretend that it is outside this set of hard and fast rules, we are left with only one logical choice: We must totally dismiss that field as being a purely subjective one where all judgements are solely in the mind of the beholder. It is fundamentally impossible for anything to not fit our rigid definitions dictated by 1st year logics courses. The bits are either "on" of "off", period. If something can't be conveniently wedged into this modality then it is absolutely not worth discussing. If you can not break something down into discreet units then any meaningful discussion about it is pointless, since non-discreet is fundamentally equivalent to totally arbitrary. HTH

	Poor zikzak (5.00 / 1) (#6)
	by Anonymous Reader on Wed Nov 28th, 2001 at 06:54:10 AM PST

	Ooh! (none / 0) (#3)
	by RobotSlave on Wed Nov 28th, 2001 at 01:19:24 AM PST

	Cloying self-hatred, especially when it comes packaged in excessive narcissistic linkage, is a bit of a turn-on for Slave. More, please! © 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.

	i don't especially want to turn you on (none / 0) (#4)
	by osm on Wed Nov 28th, 2001 at 01:29:02 AM PST

	but, knock yourself out

	crud (none / 0) (#5)
	by osm on Wed Nov 28th, 2001 at 01:36:59 AM PST

	what i meant was: that art isn't supposed to be a fat smelly socialist hippy who plays his kazoo for his computer and picks the necrotic flesh off the bottom of his feet in restaraunts. well, unless you talk to some of the more issue-saturated types who frequent this place.