In Retrospect...

Currently Listening to: Lupe Fiasco, The Cool

Reflecting from the smart writings of George Saunders.

" In the beginning there's a blank mind. Then that mind gets an idea in it, and the trouble begins, because the mind mistakes the idea for the world. Mistaking the idea for the world, the mind formulates a theory and, having formulated a theory, feels inclined to act.

Because the idea is always only an approximation of the world, whether that action will be catastrophic or beneficial depends on the distance between the idea and the world.

Mass media's job is to provide this simulacra (imitation) of the world, upon which we build our ideas. There's another name for this simulacra-building: storytelling. "
-- George Saunders

I don't know why my "ideas" are so far from reality.

From the moment of its conception, the phenomena of my ideas are based on the senses it very much derives on. However far from reality or far from the approximation of the world, I continue my attempts to understand my own ideas-- my own personal story; however complex and utterly abstract it may be.

Having ideas are almost always half true or I should say half visible, and if that half is close to reality then things usually work out. On occasion, I think the role of the mass media distorts the reality of the world by sometimes creating a story that isn't always visible or isn't always correct, and sometimes people amplify this semi-imaginary story based on those false or non-fully transparent ideas, which ultimately may have destructive consequences.


My new goal for the new year is to have ideas that are more beneficial, and to bridge the distance between "the simulacra of the world" so I can understand my own story a little clearer. I wonder if all this makes sense?

I basically took this one little concept of Saunders and applied it to my own life in his writings from The Braindead Megaphone, a book that deals with mass media communications with a comedic and creative approach.