As a general rule I enjoy conversing with undergrads.
They have a fresh-faced simplicity about them, a desire to please, a
straightforward if ignorant approach (much like my own.) Having said many
stupid things in my life (with many more left to be said) I empathize
whenever I hear somesone say something idiotic, (especially in public),
something that one might best and most charitably simply ignore.
***
At 1:40 PM 3/12/96, Sander Boer wrote:
> Hi all,
> David wrote:
>
>>
>> Comfort is timeless.
>>
>
> Get off it will you ?
Since you phrase it as a question, let me assume that you are simply making
light. Or saying good day.
But you raise an issue that interests me and that I see repeated over and
over again on many lists so I will treat it as if it is meant in all
seriousness, even though I know that you were simply making a clever
conversational gambit.
I have noticed on these e-mail lists that Person A will make a statement;
and the out-of-the-blue Person B will tell them to cease, to be quiet, to
take the discussion of 'that subject' to a more appropriate list...or
elsewhere. What is most fascinating is that often the person who seeks to
guide the discussion in such a manner has never been heard from before or
has never said anything of substance. Such a person's goal in life must be
as a cyber-guerrilla, appearing suddenly to strike a blow for silence, and
then move on having contributed what he is able.
I am fascinated by such people. Why the presume to attempt to tell others
when and when not to speak is beyond me. My general respnse is to tell them
to 'Fuck Off.' (Though sometimes 'Screw You' or 'Up Yours' is also
effective.)
I would not do so here because I suspect that the speaker was simply
mis-using the phrase "Get off it will you?" as a salutation...like "Comment
ca va?" or "How's it going?"
So then let me turn to the "substance" of our friend Sander's statements.
> Comfort is by no means an end and a solution to problems past or
> future.
Why do you say so?
Interesting assertion but no reasoning, no meat.
Do you not think that evolution would be forwarded if the poor wretch who
sleeps underneath a freeway overpass simply had a warm billet?
Freud said that 'sometimes a cigar is simply a cigar.'
Sometimes architectural problems are indeed better solved by an
appropriately-pitched roof than by a discussion of Derrido.
> Hang yourself on a tree with fleshhooks through your chest for a
> while and then try to tell me you are the same person as you were
> before....
Total non sequitar.
Has nothing to do with what I have ever said here.
Too many statements like that and the student fails.
.......
> Comfort is timeless for the spineless jellyfish,
> Safety is not comfort
Ah! My friend...but 'comfort is safety.'
Some years ago I climbed Mount Rainier (a 14,000 foot volcanic mountain
south east of Seattle.) Just before we started to climb, the Chief Guide
gave our group a pep-talk. The key thing that he said was that on Mount
Rainier (a mountain of real dangers) the key is to remember that 'comfort
is safety.' (And also performance.) He urged us to pay attention to the
details---an slight reddening of the skin that might become a blister and
which at 12,000 feet might be a factor in our own survival. (Try walking
down Mount Rainier with a bad blister in a storm.) He urged us to observe
our own comfort and to talk to the guides should we start to feel sub-par
in even some small way. Our own life and the lives of our climbing partners
could be at issue. 'Comfort is safety on Mount Rainier.' (That's a quote.)
***
Anyway, all of the critics of safety & comfort over the past year here have
entirely missed the point. Ours is not an "either/or" world. One can be
comfortable and safe in some areas of life and do daring things in others.
In fact, a rooted and comfortable pyschological base is perhaps a great
help to doing fresh and notable things. For every Van Gogh there are
probably ten Bachs. Those who flee from comfort because they think it
somehow 'bourgeois' and flacid may do so but I doubt if making one's life
more difficult will induce sufficient genius to gain the Prix Goncourt. But
let's not get into the related 'artistic fallacy' right now; there is
always another day.
Dave
=================================
David Sucher
CITY COMFORTS: How to Build an Urban Village
http://www.citycomforts.com/
'New Urbanism...begins with the location of the parking lot.'
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