Astral Facts, September 2009

Value in the Masses?

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

This month the John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation awarded half million dollar genius grants each to a Seattle documentary filmmaker for his work among poor and disadvantaged people in the Middle East and a 61-year-old poet currently teaching at the U of Washington. The response was interesting, as one person commented online at the Seattle Times:

I'm good with a filmmaker who's taken brave risks to life and limb to bring information to the world getting this kind of financial support. That kind of work is important and expensive, and this money will be well spent. However, to give a tenured professor who writes poetry, basically a zero expense activity with very little exposure, at 61, seems pointless and probably political. This lady prob makes 100k per year already, and is likely past the best work of her career. I respect poetry more than many, but its a dead art except inside of music, where it has enormous power. Novels also have far more exposure. If these awards are meant to foster progress, then give them to younger people who are less established, and give 5 $100k awards. You will get far more bang for your buck. $500k to a tenured poet just proves that the people with the runaway egos are the arts administrators, not the artists.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009915541_webgeniusgrants22m.html

This makes me think of the “values clarification” exercise with the lifeboat. You know the one - a ship is sinking and the lifeboat can only hold nine people, so which one of the ten people should be left behind? The candidates are always a mixture with such people as a pregnant sixteen-year-old, a forty-year-old former Olympic gold medal winner, a taxi driver from New York with a wife and two children at home, a college basketball star, etc.

I always notice they never include an English instructor – that would make it all too simple.

Or would it?

Nor does the exercise suggest finding some way to save all ten.

Feel free to post your comment or reaction to any or all impact you see here and elsewhere going on between the Humanities and humanity.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.