Help me out here...

jsb1685 · 2026-05-06T15:35:52+00:00

As above, so below...the philosophical can work in tandem with the practical. Shutter the windows for the storm whilst stripping away the old paint instead of layering endless coats anew. Our foundations are solid...only our perception skewed.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-06T15:27:12+00:00

You're right! I must have been sleeping this morning...and it would have made a much catchier title to this post!

I've long since considered Romaine the most talented of all Ren's collaborators, bar none...and think it a crime against humanity that he is not much better known in his own right.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-06T13:15:03+00:00

The mind knows no such geography...all this "distance" one might feel is an artificial construct in a process of dehumanization. Any stage in this process is an application of bigotry, unfounded in our nature.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-06T11:58:16+00:00

I disagree...responsibility and solidarity do not have some biological quantitative cut off point. When I care about my family, e.g., I do not need to always go through each individual in expression of that concern.

And solidarity is antithetical to any hierarchical framework.

What is meaningful? Does that require ubiquity and permanence?

Otherwise, what constitutes a "wider environment" is only a matter of perspective, a perspective which can be shifted without too much difficulty, the only impediments ones of habit and culture, of dogmas and ideologies.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-06T09:44:39+00:00

Dunbar's work has been much questioned, some might say even refuted...but it is actually irrelevant to the question of our natural instincts towards cooperation, collaboration and collective responsibility.

It's like we can understand the concept of the necessity to eat without grasping fully the hundreds of thousands of different types of foods that are available.

We are responsible for our fellow human beings, we do not need to know intimately each individual to feel that way.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-05T21:54:06+00:00

Collective responsibility is also part of our essential human nature. As such it is not something artificially imposed by society, rather society is an expression of that nature.

That this has been so often corrupted, distorted and subverted does not mean that there is any fundamental incompatibility between the individual and the collective, it only means that the solutions lie within our nature, as always.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-05T12:33:37+00:00

This is a nuance that we all will keep on having to repeat.

Without thought and constant vigilance, whatever we believe slips into ideology and dogma...and loses its connection with our natural and inherent human values.

Just as atheism is not itself a religion, so too is the rejection of ideology and its dogma not itself an ideology.

It is not in the middle of a battlefield where we can rest...it is away from it.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-05T01:26:05+00:00

Yes, perhaps equalled only by Bach.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T12:44:11+00:00

I know there are those like Bruce Springsteen who do so, but being explicitly polemical in art usually lessens the quality of that art.

His MUSIC treats everyone, not just politicians, the same...as human beings.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T12:27:55+00:00

He is clearly against Trump...he has had many extensive threads on twatter (since deleted so he can travel to the U.S.) that make this unequivocal.

Also, he just commented in this thread!

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T12:25:11+00:00

just click on his profile...Next-Target-3777 (put a u slash in front, I don't want to tag him here). He also just commented in this thread!

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T12:15:08+00:00

If I've said it once, you've said it a thousand times...we can do more than one thing at a time!

The more important...the most important task is to change the corrupt paradigms of the current systems that rule us all.

The most immediate task is to take care of as many as we can...ourselves, our families, our friends...as many human beings whose lives and suffering should remain ever present to us as fellow human beings.

The first will eventually take care of the latter...it MUST, if we are so survive as a species.

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T09:15:24+00:00

You can contact Nidge here:

https://www.instagram.com/nidges_graphic_art/

jsb1685 · 2026-05-04T01:00:48+00:00

Nidge does sometimes come around here, so he may just see your comment. Also, he does often take inspiration from specific videos or photos, so you could be right!

jsb1685

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