I thought I’d open a thread as I’m struck by the meme of “toxic masculinity” which I have been coming across these days. I’ve been indulging myself in some Jordan Peterson video viewing. There was a great video the touched on matters spiritual that touched on the Mind-body thing but it got pulled down. I’m posting the following as a place-holder.
Jesse, while I checked out the interview clip with JP you had originally posted I
thought of the HBO series I have been following, Westworld. Here is a little
background on the series:
Westworld is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise which began
in 1973 with the release of the film Westworld, written and directed by
Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced, Western-themed
amusement park populated by androids that malfunction and begin killing the
human visitors; it was followed by the sequel film Futureworld (1976).
In 1980 there was a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld
I have added the link to the first season intro trailer that lays out a story line
and key characters. The trailer for season 2 gives clues as to how the android uprising
is doing. Below is a recent statement from Wired online,
‘You guys, it’s here—the second season of Westworld premieres tonight. And WIRED staffers have assembled to discuss what they hope to see from HBO’s brainy drama about a robot-staffed Wild West theme park. As you might expect of chat about the gunslinging West, there was plenty of crossfire.
One of the most important themes the show will have to address is how sexually violent the first season was, particularly in light of #MeToo. “The point of Westworld is for people to channel their bad behavior,” says editorial research fellow Ahalya Srikant “But it almost seemed like the first season condoned rape, or at least accepted it as an unavoidable reality, which I would be sad to accept without any sort of addressing of the issue.”
Then there’s the pesky issue of what it even means to be human. Deputy editor Adam Rogers doesn’t think much of the notion that androids need to endure something terrible to become more human. “Westworld tried to tell me that the only way to make robot Pinocchios into Real Boys and Girls was to make them suffer—that rape, abuse, and murder make someone more human,” Rogers writes. “And that lesson can take a flying leap.”
But Wired.com editor Andra Valdez is willing to play devil’s advocate: “Isn’t suffering an integral part of the human experience? And don’t some espouse that pain provides the catalyst to achieve some form of higher meaning? And if we apply that to Westworld’s hosts, a group that experiences constant resurrection, could that mean they eventually grow to forgive those who have sinned against them? The capacity for forgiveness, after all, is a hallmark of humanity.”
Are we overthinking the show? Probably!
Westworld Season 1 Official Trailer (2016) | HBO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JctIuZfSsa4
Westworld Season 2 | Official Trailer | HBO
These days, people can say anything.
These days, people can say anything II.
After reading the quotes and viewing the previews in your comment , Fred, watching the now removed JP vid, all the stuff on press/gov’ts calling humans robots, and nice mommy looking economists wanting to save marriages with sex bots, I can only despair.
Overthinking the show? I will have to watch an episode or two, but from the iconography in the previews, it appears to be such a smorgasbord of a palimpsest of Hollywood set designs. Makes you think that, in a back lot, some studio director looked at producer and said, “What do we do with all this shit?”. Voila. Horror, suspense, romance, sci-fi, western, war, etc. Alas, appears to be the type of overthought that is void of comedy and nuanced art film, but the kitchen sinks seems to hold everything else.
My guess is, sharing some kinship with Jordie, the story, “thinking” part is yet another free roaming bus tour of ideas, where we take selfies in as many intellectual locations as possible. The vast quantity serves to brashly dismiss the absence of any sensible ordered articulation, leaving techies, in need of life meaning their vocations have evacuated, with the task of filling in endless gaps.
Gonna go rake the garden. Simple, tangible way of being in the world.
Phil I do not recommend you try to view, not that you were going to anyway,
any of the Westworld series because of your sensitivity to gratuitous violence
and science fiction in particular.
Chandra would zone out for his own reasons I suspect.
JP was recently a guest on Bill Maher’s cable talk show. I am adding the link for
some of it and do read viewer comments at the bottom on what JP was saying about
Trump supporters.
Whoa, Fred. They not only took the video away, they took the whole page.