I loved Art.
Unlike any other show that dealt with topics of the supernatural, Art could always maintain a sort of credulousness that allowed a tiny bit of room for skepticism. He would probe, and question the claims of the crazy supernatural believing guests, and callers. He would use a skeptic's tools to question, and poke a bit at the claims of the loons who he hosted. He was not totally believing, totally willing to buy in.
George Noory, for example, he seems to buy into everything for ratings. He doesn't have the same sort of skeptic nature, he just will buy and BS that is thrown at him. But, he does so in a way that is so easy to detect, so much like a personality that just wants to agree, as it's the best way to bolster his ratings, and make his money. He is fake, completely credulous, and a total seeming sucker, who is really only in it for the money.
Then you have guys like Clive Lewis. This guy is your fellow co-conspirator. He will buy into your shit, because he can warp it to his crazy narrative. He only has a shred more sceptic credit than someone like Alex Jones. Clive is exactly what Alex Jones started as, a conspiracy nut, sceptic in a destructive and dishonest way. Willing to assimilate your crazy rant, and make it his own. He is clearly in it for the money, and the minor power, and probably sex that he gets from cultivating his little cult of crazy. This guy is exactly what will bring down skeptics, what anyone will point to as the evil side of using skeptic tools to make a buck, and create a little cult of personality.
Art was not this at all. Art was us! He was a skeptic and probably an atheist at heart, because on some level, in a very real and important way, a way that I totally believe comes through in his work, which was brilliant.... He didn't really buy into the BS. He was Mulder from the X-Files, he WANTED to believe. He WANTED to find there was some sort of magic in the world. He was a 10 year old that still believes in Santa Clause. He knew that most likely it was BS. He knew his parents went Christmas shopping. He knew reality, but he hung on, he wanted to find that one thing that he could not explain away. He wanted to have that bit of magic in his life. He started pretty optimistic, but unfortunately, over time, he got beat down as we all do. He heard over, and over the BS. He wanted that mystery, but found again and again that it really was BS. He got darker over time, when we get older, we long for the way things used to be, he did too. The Quickening is a testament to his aging, changing attitudes. He saw the future, he was having more and more difficulty adjusting. Importantly, he saw what his generation built, the ideal it was based on, his youthful optimism. and his marvel at human endeavor became tainted by the generations that followed. They took the new tech, the wonder of possibility, and they made it banal. They corrupted early Radio, TV,BBS, Internet, Social media, and they made it common, trite, and a tool to make money. He saw that amazing, wonderful ideas would just end up being lame platforms for ads. (OK, I admit I am projecting my self into this way to much at this point, but you hopefully will see the point.)
What was new and fresh and wonderful ends up being a commodity. Consumed by the next jaded generation. That is what the Quickening is. That was his real underlying point, the new and magical, and wonderous of our time will end up being corrupted, and consumed by the future. And, because we get older, and time starts seeming to fly by, it all seems to get QUICKER.
Anyway...
The tl;dr for all you whipper-snapers is that this old man was a young man when Art was my current age. My generation took his generations works, and make them trite, commodities that ended up banal. He saw it happening, and came up with a wonderful theory of the Quickening, I would recommend finding this book in a Goodwill, and reading it. Transpose the ideas and tech to what you see happening, and look forward to the generation after yours fucking with your awesomeness. Listen to old Art Bell episodes, and listen for the skepticism of Art, listen to him probe ever so gentle into the BS of his guests and callers. Think of a man looking for magic, and wonder, but finding only greed and capitalism. That was what made Art special, what made him different.
Unlike any other show that dealt with topics of the supernatural, Art could always maintain a sort of credulousness that allowed a tiny bit of room for skepticism. He would probe, and question the claims of the crazy supernatural believing guests, and callers. He would use a skeptic's tools to question, and poke a bit at the claims of the loons who he hosted. He was not totally believing, totally willing to buy in.
George Noory, for example, he seems to buy into everything for ratings. He doesn't have the same sort of skeptic nature, he just will buy and BS that is thrown at him. But, he does so in a way that is so easy to detect, so much like a personality that just wants to agree, as it's the best way to bolster his ratings, and make his money. He is fake, completely credulous, and a total seeming sucker, who is really only in it for the money.
Then you have guys like Clive Lewis. This guy is your fellow co-conspirator. He will buy into your shit, because he can warp it to his crazy narrative. He only has a shred more sceptic credit than someone like Alex Jones. Clive is exactly what Alex Jones started as, a conspiracy nut, sceptic in a destructive and dishonest way. Willing to assimilate your crazy rant, and make it his own. He is clearly in it for the money, and the minor power, and probably sex that he gets from cultivating his little cult of crazy. This guy is exactly what will bring down skeptics, what anyone will point to as the evil side of using skeptic tools to make a buck, and create a little cult of personality.
Art was not this at all. Art was us! He was a skeptic and probably an atheist at heart, because on some level, in a very real and important way, a way that I totally believe comes through in his work, which was brilliant.... He didn't really buy into the BS. He was Mulder from the X-Files, he WANTED to believe. He WANTED to find there was some sort of magic in the world. He was a 10 year old that still believes in Santa Clause. He knew that most likely it was BS. He knew his parents went Christmas shopping. He knew reality, but he hung on, he wanted to find that one thing that he could not explain away. He wanted to have that bit of magic in his life. He started pretty optimistic, but unfortunately, over time, he got beat down as we all do. He heard over, and over the BS. He wanted that mystery, but found again and again that it really was BS. He got darker over time, when we get older, we long for the way things used to be, he did too. The Quickening is a testament to his aging, changing attitudes. He saw the future, he was having more and more difficulty adjusting. Importantly, he saw what his generation built, the ideal it was based on, his youthful optimism. and his marvel at human endeavor became tainted by the generations that followed. They took the new tech, the wonder of possibility, and they made it banal. They corrupted early Radio, TV,BBS, Internet, Social media, and they made it common, trite, and a tool to make money. He saw that amazing, wonderful ideas would just end up being lame platforms for ads. (OK, I admit I am projecting my self into this way to much at this point, but you hopefully will see the point.)
What was new and fresh and wonderful ends up being a commodity. Consumed by the next jaded generation. That is what the Quickening is. That was his real underlying point, the new and magical, and wonderous of our time will end up being corrupted, and consumed by the future. And, because we get older, and time starts seeming to fly by, it all seems to get QUICKER.
Anyway...
The tl;dr for all you whipper-snapers is that this old man was a young man when Art was my current age. My generation took his generations works, and make them trite, commodities that ended up banal. He saw it happening, and came up with a wonderful theory of the Quickening, I would recommend finding this book in a Goodwill, and reading it. Transpose the ideas and tech to what you see happening, and look forward to the generation after yours fucking with your awesomeness. Listen to old Art Bell episodes, and listen for the skepticism of Art, listen to him probe ever so gentle into the BS of his guests and callers. Think of a man looking for magic, and wonder, but finding only greed and capitalism. That was what made Art special, what made him different.
