Progress is never what it seems. It hides behind the mask of deceit. Progress always means change…change means money… but it’s always money for someone who has never had to live with the changes that progress has left them. Anytime you hear that they’re going to do a thing in the name of progress, you can bet that it’s just another way of saying, let’s take what’s beautiful, or intricately crafted, and turn it into something sleek, streamlined, cold…and ugly. Without warning progress will rip the heart from of a place and steal its innocents. It will pull the beauty from everything it touches and leave in its wake a crippled used up shell of what it once was.
Jerry Brotherton
The Backyard Poet
Reminds me of the Joni Mitchell song. “Big Yellow Taxi.” One part of the lyrics goes, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” If you’re not familiar with her song, Google it. Her message and yours are very similar.
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I know the song well. The theme is a familiar one. The animated movie ‘Cars’ has the same theme about a town dying because the interstate bypassed it. I’m sure that caveman Uggg thought the same way.
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You speak the absolute truth Jerry my friend. They often then try ‘beautify’ their monstrosities with equally banal and spiritually bereft corporate appeasement ‘art’.
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Yes, when indiviuality and craftsmanship are removed then the object becomes generic and impersonal. An artist must work from his own emotions. If poetry for example had to follow a mold so as not to offend someone then every poem would be exactly the same. Streamlined and ugly.
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Exactly! Well said!
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I thank you. It’s not that progress is an evil thing. But it seems that individuality and intricacy suffers. We worry too much about making sure everything fits into the same mold so no one gets offended.
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A fiercely phrased perspective, Jerry, and largely, and sadly, true.
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Thanks Roland. But as Pennygadd51 commented, not always.
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Greed, falsehood and injustice are all worthy targets, and I agree there’s a great deal of ugliness created in the name of progress. But don’t you think the problem lies with the greedy men steering corporate exploitation of progress rather than the progress itself? For example, people today live longer, healthier lives than they used to. Children die in childhood far less often. We can easily make friends with people on the other side of the world. We can access most of the knowledge of humanity, and most of its artistic treasures, with a few mouse clicks.
Just a thought…
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True. But as in Newton;s third law states )for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) Every advancement has its consequences. If we have easy access to the worlds art, does it lose its value as a treasure?
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It’s all about greed. The my can sugarcoat it anyway they like and place nice big ribbons on their plans but at the end of the day, money talks.
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So true Jerry, I have seen demolition and destruction in the name of progress, but never see the real benefit. thought provoking words.
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For no reason other than to line someone’s pocket with green. (Can we say Mexican border wall)
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walls and fences that keep good out and evil in
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