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‘Merica’s addiction to fake
#11
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
In "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", John Ruskin expressed moral outrage at the lack of Truth in certain forms of mannerism and the unadorned expression of structure and function came to be considered a virtue in modernist architecture. Personally, I go not have the energy it takes to sustain aesthetic purity or the money it takes to built with 'authentic materials' Is it really so bad to have plastic laminate countertops that look like granite? I understand the allure of authenticity but wonder if the dream is better than the reality.
<insert profound quote here>
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#12
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 3, 2022 at 2:24 pm)tackattack Wrote: Fake news, fake food, influencers, “reality” shows, fake body parts…. I mean even influencers are going virtual. I mean when the people faking a fake life can’t even have the decency to be live people isn’t it a little extreme? Why does America have an obsession with the fake and how can it be mitigated? If Alex jones can be guilty why can’t trump?

There is a perception that americans tend to play a part. If you come from texas odds are you will wear a stetson, cheer leaders wear the work out kit all the time. If you are a christian they can be aggresively christian. An old boss of mine met an american christian whose first interaction with him was while shaking his hand to say "are you sharp for the lord?" so americans are seen as tending to be more shallow, or as one french girl friend I had said when some brash tourists went by, (as we drank wine outside a cafe in Paris) "America is a nation of children"



You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.

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#13
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 4:47 am)downbeatplumb Wrote:
(August 3, 2022 at 2:24 pm)tackattack Wrote: Fake news, fake food, influencers, “reality” shows, fake body parts…. I mean even influencers are going virtual. I mean when the people faking a fake life can’t even have the decency to be live people isn’t it a little extreme? Why does America have an obsession with the fake and how can it be mitigated? If Alex jones can be guilty why can’t trump?

There is a perception that americans tend to play a part. If you come from texas odds are you will wear a stetson, cheer leaders wear the work out kit all the time. If you are a christian they can be aggresively christian. An old boss of mine met an american christian whose first interaction with him was while shaking his hand to say "are you sharp for the lord?" so americans are seen as tending to be more shallow, or as one french girl friend I had said when some brash tourists went by, (as we drank wine outside a cafe in Paris) "America is a nation of children"

LOL I moved to Texas 16 years ago.  I still haven't seen that many Stetsons but what I did notice at first was lots of big hair and cleavage.  Sort of a letdown.  I am sure there are more Stetsons away from the city and out in the ranchland but here around the city it's big hair, big boobs, big jewelry, and heavy makeup.  

**I do see a lot of cowboy boots on men, women, and children.  Apparently, cowboy boots are appropriate with any style of clothing, from Wranglers to dresses to sweat pants.
  
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” — Confucius
                                      
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#14
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
Maybe so many people are addicted to ‘fake’ is because ‘real’ has become so bloody terrifying.

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#15
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 6:08 am)arewethereyet Wrote:
(August 5, 2022 at 4:47 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: There is a perception that americans tend to play a part. If you come from texas odds are you will wear a stetson, cheer leaders wear the work out kit all the time. If you are a christian they can be aggresively christian. An old boss of mine met an american christian whose first interaction with him was while shaking his hand to say "are you sharp for the lord?" so americans are seen as tending to be more shallow, or as one french girl friend I had said when some brash tourists went by, (as we drank wine outside a cafe in Paris) "America is a nation of children"

LOL I moved to Texas 16 years ago.  I still haven't seen that many Stetsons but what I did notice at first was lots of big hair and cleavage.  Sort of a letdown.  I am sure there are more Stetsons away from the city and out in the ranchland but here around the city it's big hair, big boobs, big jewelry, and heavy makeup.  

**I do see a lot of cowboy boots on men, women, and children.  Apparently, cowboy boots are appropriate with any style of clothing, from Wranglers to dresses to sweat pants.

Whenever I see people wearing Stetson or cowboy boots, I have to fight the urge to ask them, ‘So…how many cattle DO you have?’

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#16
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 12:39 am)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: In "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", John Ruskin expressed moral outrage at the lack of Truth in certain forms of mannerism and the unadorned expression of structure and function came to be considered a virtue in modernist architecture. 

I often think that Ruskin would be horrified by the way people used his ideas later on. The "truth to materials" thing was used to justify brutalist architecture where the aging stained concrete is expected to look like aging stained concrete, etc. 

And the (in retrospect bizarre) idea from the '60s that any sort of illusionism or subject matter in painting -- other than making the paint itself the subject -- was somehow fakery. He would have found that insane. 

(I think we could make a museum of wonderful people who ended up having a terrible influence. Duchamp, for example.)

Quote:Personally, I go not have the energy it takes to sustain aesthetic purity or the money it takes to built with 'authentic materials' Is it really so bad to have plastic laminate countertops that look like granite? I understand the allure of authenticity but wonder if the dream is better than the reality.

This reminds me of labels you used to see calling luggage "genuine imitation leather." I mean, they're not lying. 

Probably Ruskin's ideas have proven unworkable in the economic sphere. He wanted a beautiful England for everybody, but in the end it's only the rich who can get it. As you say, authenticity costs money. William Morris did his best but I think proved in the end that actual handwoven tapestries and solid wood furniture just won't be available for us in the rank and file. 

Ruskin and Morris had a big influence on Japan when it opened up aesthetically to the West and people were working out what was worth keeping in their own culture. "Truth to materials" is easily applicable to traditional Japanese architecture, where the stone is stony, the wood is unpainted, and the paper is obviously paper. But here as in England, it's ended up being a rich person's game. You can get a 200-year-old farmhouse in the country and live a simple life growing vegetables, but replacing the thatch on the roof is going to cost you about as much as a new modern home. 

I think it's not surprising that Ruskin's most famous disciples (Pater and Oscar Wilde) ended up pretty much reversing his values. Wilde said that a book is neither moral nor immoral, it is only well or badly written. And he was well known for wearing flowers in his lapel that he had dyed unnatural colors. 

But fudging architectural elements to look nice is not a uniquely American value. It's well known that the Romans achieved great things in architecture because they were willing to use molded concrete with a thin marble veneer. Unlike the purist Greeks, who needed solid marble.
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#17
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 12:39 am)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: In "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", John Ruskin expressed moral outrage at the lack of Truth in certain forms of mannerism and the unadorned expression of structure and function came to be considered a virtue in modernist architecture. Personally, I go not have the energy it takes to sustain aesthetic purity or the money it takes to built with 'authentic materials' Is it really so bad to have plastic laminate countertops that look like granite? I understand the allure of authenticity but wonder if the dream is better than the reality.

It just occurred to me how guilty I am. Mea culpa, Mr. Ruskin.

If you have as many cats as I do, the mulberry paper in the sliding room dividers is going to need replacing about once a week. Years ago I replaced it all with fiberglass sheets which look exactly like the traditional paper, and I feel no shame at all.
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#18
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 7:13 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:
(August 5, 2022 at 6:08 am)arewethereyet Wrote: LOL I moved to Texas 16 years ago.  I still haven't seen that many Stetsons but what I did notice at first was lots of big hair and cleavage.  Sort of a letdown.  I am sure there are more Stetsons away from the city and out in the ranchland but here around the city it's big hair, big boobs, big jewelry, and heavy makeup.  

**I do see a lot of cowboy boots on men, women, and children.  Apparently, cowboy boots are appropriate with any style of clothing, from Wranglers to dresses to sweat pants.

Whenever I see people wearing Stetson or cowboy boots, I have to fight the urge to ask them, ‘So…how many cattle DO you have?’

Boru

When I was stationed in San Angelo TX back in 79, I had a habit of wearing cowboy boots and an old stetson off duty. One day an older sergeant, also off duty, started in on me about people not from Texas wearing cowboy boots and hats. I was pedantic even then, and pointed out that Stetsons were first manufactured in Philadelphia and the boots started in Spain. My smart assedness wasn't well-received and he demanded to know where I got my boots and hat. I told him from Florida. The hat was a gift from my uncle and I won the boots at a rodeo. Then I had to argue with him that yes, they do have rodeos in Florida. Cool

I didn't tell him I didn't have to do any fancy riding to win the boots, all I had to do was ride my uncle's horses around the arena to display them and look young and charming while I was doing it. I think I won because of an especially handsome palomino of my uncle's, not really for anything I did better than other kids doing the same thing. I also helped collect stray livestock after events, but there wasn't any prize (or pay) for a teenager to do that, at least not from MY uncle. It meant a lot to me that he gave me the hat, though.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
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#19
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 7:13 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:
(August 5, 2022 at 6:08 am)arewethereyet Wrote: LOL I moved to Texas 16 years ago.  I still haven't seen that many Stetsons but what I did notice at first was lots of big hair and cleavage.  Sort of a letdown.  I am sure there are more Stetsons away from the city and out in the ranchland but here around the city it's big hair, big boobs, big jewelry, and heavy makeup.  

**I do see a lot of cowboy boots on men, women, and children.  Apparently, cowboy boots are appropriate with any style of clothing, from Wranglers to dresses to sweat pants.

Whenever I see people wearing Stetson or cowboy boots, I have to fight the urge to ask them, ‘So…how many cattle DO you have?’

Boru
Well...good point.  I love, love, love my Harley boots in the cold weather but I don't own a Harley and didn't ride when my husband had one.
  
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” — Confucius
                                      
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#20
RE: ‘Merica’s addiction to fake
(August 5, 2022 at 9:50 am)arewethereyet Wrote:
(August 5, 2022 at 7:13 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Whenever I see people wearing Stetson or cowboy boots, I have to fight the urge to ask them, ‘So…how many cattle DO you have?’

Boru
Well...good point.  I love, love, love my Harley boots in the cold weather but I don't own a Harley and didn't ride when my husband had one.

I didn' t like my riding boots in the winter....

Steel toed boots suck in snow.....
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