The personal blog of Joshua Tuscan

Feb 2nd, 2010 @ 10:22 am

“In the case of a corporation, though, who is it that is speaking? Management? They are not the corporation; they are, as they will argue loudly whenever it is convenient or prudent, simply employees, however overpaid. The stockholders, who are supposedly the owners of the corporation, such as John Doe in Idaho, a few of whose 401(k) dollars are in a mutual fund that (quite likely unbeknownst to him) holds a few shares? The directors? I dunno. If a corporation has the same right of free speech as a human citizen, what about voting? Surely voting is a form of speech under our newly expansive understanding of the word. Should corporations have a vote, then? If they can spend millions of dollars for or against a ballot proposition or a candidate, the addition of the vote to their rights seems almost trivial. Or would it be just one vote? There is another aspect of personhood, the obverse of rights, known as responsibilities. Do corporate persons have those as well? As noted, they can’t be drafted. Why? Because suddenly, when responsibility knocks, there’s no one there. Ditto with serving on juries. A corporation is a person, says the law, but there is no one who is that person. They do pay taxes, although it is cogently argued that this makes no sense because the corporation per se has no money; there is only the money belonging to the stockholders, whether it is paid out as dividends (which are then taxed again) or retained as working capital. Once again, there seems to be no one home when you call.”

Free Speech, Inc. (via azspot) (via dalasverdugo)

Jan 26th, 2010 @ 2:10 pm

All of the above

Stephen Worth, director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, on the importance of skill:

Ever since Andy Warhol made “ideas without skill” fashionable back in the 60s, it seems to me that popular culture has been playing a game of “skill limbo”. How low can we go? How badly drawn can a cartoon be and still be considered a cartoon? How many drum machines and sequencers can we stack up to avoid having to learn a real instrument? How much plastic surgery does it take to make acting skills unnecessary?

Gladwellian-10,000 hours come to mind. He continues:

See also:
The multi-part series, “Adventures in Music,” is unmissable.

But when I see someone who has both an idea AND skill, I’m reminded just how doggone powerful and dynamic a creative artist can be. I’m sick and tired of accepting “half a loaf”. Speak to me with eloquence. Dazzle me with your skill. Communicate an important idea. I insist on “all of the above”.

You said it, Stephen Worth, with both idea and skill. And as Richard Sennett reminds us, “making is thinking.”

This is something that really bothers me about current culture. Everything is tweaked, nothing is made.

Reblogged from Bobulate.

Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 12:11 pm

dalasverdugo:

optimisto:

poortaste:

8 minutes on Obama’s first year by Lawrence Lessig

buffleheadcabin: c8h10o2n4

Yes! Portland is still fine-tuning its publicly funded campaigns, but Lessig hits the root problem on the head here. Right now we do not have politicians that care about serving us. They only care about maintaining the status quo through a fake wrestling match dressed up in suits and ties and nice dresses.

I believe that there exist among us true public servants who would work for the public good, but I don’t believe we will put many of them in office under the current system.

I also believe this, but fear that advertising rules all, and what are political campaigns but advertisements for a candidate. The masses believe advertising. And those who advertise best are those with the most money.

Reblogged from Pseudolectual.