The Naive Realists Strike Back
"A sense of humor results from perspective. The wider the perspective, the more humor you will perceive."
-Robert Anton Wilson
"Certitude belongs exclusively to those who look up the answer in only one encyclopedia."
-Robert Anton Wilson
A couple of years ago the department I currently work in was allowed to decorate our area of the building. Amidst the "typical" decor (posters, stickers, calenders, etc.) were various things that were created by employees (in our department). The amount of creativity in our area of the building seemed to be more abundant than in areas where creativity was part of the job description. I always found this to be quite amusing.
At one point during that time the Dadaist muse took hold of me and I began make these little works of art using clippings from the news paper. I explained this little past time to those that were hip to it. The main "rule" I followed was that the clippings had to be random. It was almost like an ink blot test. After I explained this to "those that were hip," they picked up a news paper and joined in the fun.
One of "those that were hip" took the idea in a new direction. He decided to leave his finished works in random areas of the building. It was quite amusing to walk around the building and see his art hanging here and there. One piece ended up on the refrigerator door of the break room. The same day it was put up, some genius in the sales department decided that a clever way to cool their soft drink down was to put it in the freezer. He/she forgot about it, and the can exploded. The janitor found the sticky mess the next day, and decided that the strange news paper art on the refrigerator door was some how connected to the exploding can of soft drink. He also decided that this "act" was racially motivated.
Meanwhile, a few of the resident "office puritans" decided that the work hanging on the refrigerator door was "bashing Catholics." For those readers who wish to know what random words and pictures comprised the work in question, I will now divulge this information: Fragmented headline that reads; "Catholics need new direction: disorder." Picture of crop circle, and next to it a picture of a dog. A headline next to the pictures reads; "Rescued tanker dog joins her new family." Next to that another fragmented headline reads; "Genocide is our birthright." Below the previous headline sits a picture of a smiling mouth with crooked teeth. A few randomly pasted words on this picture read; "Serves pope festivities." Below this another fragmented headline reads; "The Denver Media: downplay the positive, accentuate the negative." The rest of the page was filled with the following fragmented headlines; "Nude photos show mounting horror. Two thumbs up." Followed by "Prehistoric site questions explorers." Followed by "Exotic club," then "naked truth," and "healthy careers." This was followed by "Just call them 'bull' riders." The page then concludes with "Unlimited service."
Soon after the resident "office puritans" and the janitor met with the General Manager, it was decided that all of the decorations in our area of the building had to come down. To this day every department except ours can decorate their areas...
Fast forward a few years...
For the past few weeks every department in the office has been scrambling to get their videos finished for our office Christmas party. Our department's video was a close up shot of a styrofoam cup as obscene amounts of ketchup are poured on it. It was set to the music of Strauss's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." mizigit and I were quite proud of it. Apparently our enthusiasm for our video was not contagious.
Today the editor of our video informed us that a couple people from another department, who have been organizing the Christmas party, did not like our video. They not only thought it was "stupid," and "not funny," but they decided that our video was done "out of spite." They complained to our General Manager about our video, and despite the protests of our editor, we were politely asked to make some changes to our video. This made me wonder if perhaps I might have "veto power" over some other department's video because I find it to be "stupid," or "not funny." I should look in to this.
I present these two space-time events to the reader as an example of how absurd naive realism can be.
-Robert Anton Wilson
"Certitude belongs exclusively to those who look up the answer in only one encyclopedia."
-Robert Anton Wilson
A couple of years ago the department I currently work in was allowed to decorate our area of the building. Amidst the "typical" decor (posters, stickers, calenders, etc.) were various things that were created by employees (in our department). The amount of creativity in our area of the building seemed to be more abundant than in areas where creativity was part of the job description. I always found this to be quite amusing.
At one point during that time the Dadaist muse took hold of me and I began make these little works of art using clippings from the news paper. I explained this little past time to those that were hip to it. The main "rule" I followed was that the clippings had to be random. It was almost like an ink blot test. After I explained this to "those that were hip," they picked up a news paper and joined in the fun.
One of "those that were hip" took the idea in a new direction. He decided to leave his finished works in random areas of the building. It was quite amusing to walk around the building and see his art hanging here and there. One piece ended up on the refrigerator door of the break room. The same day it was put up, some genius in the sales department decided that a clever way to cool their soft drink down was to put it in the freezer. He/she forgot about it, and the can exploded. The janitor found the sticky mess the next day, and decided that the strange news paper art on the refrigerator door was some how connected to the exploding can of soft drink. He also decided that this "act" was racially motivated.
Meanwhile, a few of the resident "office puritans" decided that the work hanging on the refrigerator door was "bashing Catholics." For those readers who wish to know what random words and pictures comprised the work in question, I will now divulge this information: Fragmented headline that reads; "Catholics need new direction: disorder." Picture of crop circle, and next to it a picture of a dog. A headline next to the pictures reads; "Rescued tanker dog joins her new family." Next to that another fragmented headline reads; "Genocide is our birthright." Below the previous headline sits a picture of a smiling mouth with crooked teeth. A few randomly pasted words on this picture read; "Serves pope festivities." Below this another fragmented headline reads; "The Denver Media: downplay the positive, accentuate the negative." The rest of the page was filled with the following fragmented headlines; "Nude photos show mounting horror. Two thumbs up." Followed by "Prehistoric site questions explorers." Followed by "Exotic club," then "naked truth," and "healthy careers." This was followed by "Just call them 'bull' riders." The page then concludes with "Unlimited service."
Soon after the resident "office puritans" and the janitor met with the General Manager, it was decided that all of the decorations in our area of the building had to come down. To this day every department except ours can decorate their areas...
Fast forward a few years...
For the past few weeks every department in the office has been scrambling to get their videos finished for our office Christmas party. Our department's video was a close up shot of a styrofoam cup as obscene amounts of ketchup are poured on it. It was set to the music of Strauss's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." mizigit and I were quite proud of it. Apparently our enthusiasm for our video was not contagious.
Today the editor of our video informed us that a couple people from another department, who have been organizing the Christmas party, did not like our video. They not only thought it was "stupid," and "not funny," but they decided that our video was done "out of spite." They complained to our General Manager about our video, and despite the protests of our editor, we were politely asked to make some changes to our video. This made me wonder if perhaps I might have "veto power" over some other department's video because I find it to be "stupid," or "not funny." I should look in to this.
I present these two space-time events to the reader as an example of how absurd naive realism can be.