Blog Dis
If I had a bird brain...
2024-11-07
If I had a bird brain, I'd not be able to think straight at this time of year, given the busy season of starting a new fiscal year in the company where I work, nor would I relax in the next two months, in anticipation of the busy holiday season to come. And it is busy! Holy smokes! Where the frack did the entire year go?
If I had a bird brain, I'd care more about landing on balconies and surveying the land before me, looking for morsels of leftover food to eat, because after all, my bird brain would only be able to hold one thought at time, and even then, this thought would barely be held for a fraction of time.
If I had a bird brain, the big ideas of life about morality and conscience, human rights and wealth, poverty and injustices, to name a few... none of these matters would matter diddly squat because my bird brain would be lacking in the capacity to comprehend issues of such weighty significance. But I do not have a bird brain.
In fact, I'm in possession of a right and left thinking brain and it is because of this 'thinking' brain that I suffer like every other human on the planet, equipped with observation skills, and able to determine, judge and compartmentalize issues into neat little cubbies - all the ideas that require improvement and those whimsical notions that should best be left alone. Our brains are designed to analyze and create, not to spend hour upon hour looking for strands of food to eat off the street. Some anthropologists would argue we are blessed and above the animals because we have the power to reflect, to reason, to seriously consider our past actions, the appropriateness of our behaviour. Whereas, animals merely exist in the here and now, and do no reflect on the quality of their past actions, to judge them as either right or wrong. With animals, instinct is their weapon vs our primary weapon which is intellect. Birds have bird brains and humans have wired brains.
I'm fond of documentaries, less so w/ commentaries, because I find these can be rather a bit long in order to offer up eruditions on the f*cked up nature of our societies (Michael Moore docs/commentaries are the exception). Whereas, actual bona-fide documentaries are not always passing judgement but attempt to relate a specific story about a certain event or someone's life. The last great documentary I watched was on Marshall McLuhan, considered to be one of Canada's premier thinkers who died in 1980. McLuhan was regarded as a genius' genius, able to comprehend the world on an abstract level that is now considered prophetic. We have few prophets in our country and in the world at large who can make predictions about the nature of humankind in such a finite manner that these predictions have actually come to pass, as in the case of McLuhan and his media theory. His work was and still is considered the cornerstone, what many would recognize based on his term of the Global Village, or the catch-phrase of 'the medium is the message'. In a nutshell, McLuhan said that people should observe not only the media itself but "the ways in which each medium disrupts tradition and reshapes social life."
Sadly, and when McLulhan was alive and taught in University, he was studied but not accepted. Now that he is long passed on, he is accepted but no longer studied. I wonder what McLuhan would have thought of our social networks. For sure, McLuhan wouldn't know how to think like a bird because his brain was photographic, designed and destined to grapple w/ the big issues of life. However, if McLuhan were alive today and you were to query him about the current state of affairs in Canadian politics and the on-going relationship that is re-molded to suit the American economy, he'd probably call us a bunch of bird-brains for getting into bed with Americans. Yet, our symbiotic relationship between Canada and the USA is headed for some serious tinkering, following the re-election of their MAGA rep leader, a man of grandiosity in his mind. And there is a reason why Mister M*sk scooped up Twitter, to re-brand as X, in order that a platform could be utilized for himself and for his best buddies, which likely has less to do with ensuring a free market of ideas and unfiltered news, and more than likely everything to do with making more progress in space, with the backing of the US Government. But I digress...
I think I saw a large and lovely balcony over yonder...
Just once in a while, I wouldn't mind having a bird brain. If I did, then perhaps I wouldn't worry so much or reflect on my past actions and chide myself for the stupid decisions I've made. Birds are free, as they should be, and we, as supposedly clever humans, are chained to gravity by the weight of our thoughts.
"All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perception and arbitrary values." [Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980].
If I had a bird brain, I'd care more about landing on balconies and surveying the land before me, looking for morsels of leftover food to eat, because after all, my bird brain would only be able to hold one thought at time, and even then, this thought would barely be held for a fraction of time.
If I had a bird brain, the big ideas of life about morality and conscience, human rights and wealth, poverty and injustices, to name a few... none of these matters would matter diddly squat because my bird brain would be lacking in the capacity to comprehend issues of such weighty significance. But I do not have a bird brain.
In fact, I'm in possession of a right and left thinking brain and it is because of this 'thinking' brain that I suffer like every other human on the planet, equipped with observation skills, and able to determine, judge and compartmentalize issues into neat little cubbies - all the ideas that require improvement and those whimsical notions that should best be left alone. Our brains are designed to analyze and create, not to spend hour upon hour looking for strands of food to eat off the street. Some anthropologists would argue we are blessed and above the animals because we have the power to reflect, to reason, to seriously consider our past actions, the appropriateness of our behaviour. Whereas, animals merely exist in the here and now, and do no reflect on the quality of their past actions, to judge them as either right or wrong. With animals, instinct is their weapon vs our primary weapon which is intellect. Birds have bird brains and humans have wired brains.
I'm fond of documentaries, less so w/ commentaries, because I find these can be rather a bit long in order to offer up eruditions on the f*cked up nature of our societies (Michael Moore docs/commentaries are the exception). Whereas, actual bona-fide documentaries are not always passing judgement but attempt to relate a specific story about a certain event or someone's life. The last great documentary I watched was on Marshall McLuhan, considered to be one of Canada's premier thinkers who died in 1980. McLuhan was regarded as a genius' genius, able to comprehend the world on an abstract level that is now considered prophetic. We have few prophets in our country and in the world at large who can make predictions about the nature of humankind in such a finite manner that these predictions have actually come to pass, as in the case of McLuhan and his media theory. His work was and still is considered the cornerstone, what many would recognize based on his term of the Global Village, or the catch-phrase of 'the medium is the message'. In a nutshell, McLuhan said that people should observe not only the media itself but "the ways in which each medium disrupts tradition and reshapes social life."
Sadly, and when McLulhan was alive and taught in University, he was studied but not accepted. Now that he is long passed on, he is accepted but no longer studied. I wonder what McLuhan would have thought of our social networks. For sure, McLuhan wouldn't know how to think like a bird because his brain was photographic, designed and destined to grapple w/ the big issues of life. However, if McLuhan were alive today and you were to query him about the current state of affairs in Canadian politics and the on-going relationship that is re-molded to suit the American economy, he'd probably call us a bunch of bird-brains for getting into bed with Americans. Yet, our symbiotic relationship between Canada and the USA is headed for some serious tinkering, following the re-election of their MAGA rep leader, a man of grandiosity in his mind. And there is a reason why Mister M*sk scooped up Twitter, to re-brand as X, in order that a platform could be utilized for himself and for his best buddies, which likely has less to do with ensuring a free market of ideas and unfiltered news, and more than likely everything to do with making more progress in space, with the backing of the US Government. But I digress...
I think I saw a large and lovely balcony over yonder...
Just once in a while, I wouldn't mind having a bird brain. If I did, then perhaps I wouldn't worry so much or reflect on my past actions and chide myself for the stupid decisions I've made. Birds are free, as they should be, and we, as supposedly clever humans, are chained to gravity by the weight of our thoughts.
"All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perception and arbitrary values." [Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980].
