Marina K. wrote:
What do I think is amazing in Brian activity?
Certainly he can't stop it. But HE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING. He, who is a rock star, who is a scientist, who is astrophysicist, who create music, such people are very very far away from all these problems!! How can he find forces on all it!!! He is very strong. Believe me, to enter this fight you must have very strong spirit and belief! It's very hard... very...
He's trying to make our world better, trying to help people and animals in spite of the fact that he has everything and he can just enjoy himself, his life, money and fame somewhere in Tahiti...
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Yes, Brian is rock star. Years upon years of really, really hard work. That is a special accomplishment, and we're all so lucky it's so. He's also an astrophysicist! Very cool. Not too many rock stars are also Ph.Ds, needless to say. However, that said, there are a lot of people who earn doctorates in a lot more difficult circumstances than he did. I dated a man for 4 years earlier this decade through the early and late stages of earning his, and it involved tremendous sacrifice. First, he threw over a lucrative career to chase this dream and made huge financial and lifestyle sacrifices to do it. He worked very hard, and we (and often just he, away from me) scrimped and saved to travel extensively to present papers at many conferences all over the world in order to create opportunities for himself in the future. He lived like a gypsy in four different cities to build his teaching resume in hopes of eventually landing a tenure track position once he completed his studies. It was an enormous gamble, and incredibly hard work. Even though our relationship eventually didn't survive that process, I'm happy to say he's achieved his dream and is now teaching in the United States. The endeavour is always hard, hard work, and always a tough victory over tedium to a degree, but compared to others Brian sacrified very little beyond time. He's not a working scientist and he seems to have made statements implying that he never will be. So, once again, very cool, but not amazing.
And there's certainly nothing remarkable about not being in Tahiti if you're already right where you want to be doing what you want to do. Brian's Soapbox had made it clear for many years now that he *likes* talking to people and expressing his thoughts and opinions on things. He is a smart, principled man with a strong and sometimes offputting belief in his ability to correctly interpret the world and communicate that worldview to others. There's no sacrifice in that, just like there's no sacrifce in me typing on this forum. I want to.
With SaveMe he's putting his reputation and celebrity on the line for a cause he believes in. I've said before that I respect that very much. He also puts his money where his mouth is, and that is something that is always universally respected I think. But with the move from sharing thoughts on a Soapbox to leading a movement that intends to shape public thoughts and actions then it's no longer adequate for us to give him gold stars for good intentions. We have to ask if he's impacting the issues in a responsible way. And I think the jury is way, way out on that still. So I don't see amazing just yet.
Well GratefulFan, what can I say?
I'm not trying to convince you, I'm just trying to explain my thoughts, express my thoughts...
I admire his personality first of all, his talent and versatility.
You wrote: However, that said, there are a lot of people who earn doctorates in a lot more difficult circumstances than he did.
Yes, but are they great rock stars, great composers and great guitarist IN THE SAME TIME?
An amplitude of his abilities is amazing! How can the same person be great rock musician-composer-guitarist-scientist-PhD-rector-struggler-for-animal-rights?! I do not understand, how such is possible. These are absolutely different areas, they are far away from each other. How can one person be involved in all of this?! And have such outstanding results?!
People put all life only to become someone from this list! Good musician, good composer or guitarist, PhD (like the man you told about), scientist and so on. That is amazing for me.
And you know there're a lot of thoughts in my head about this.. I can't express all of them here and our discussion seems to be endless :))
There are people firmly attached to their beliefs about fox hunting and the treatment of other animals. The attempt to change their opinions is a mission of love, really. I don't think he is doing it because he knows he can be successful. He might already know that failure is more likely.
Discussing music with the press is different than discussing hot political issues and there are different things to consider before making statements. I don't think he will make the same mistake twice (his initial comments on the recent fox attack situation). But his mistakes may bring more discussion and attention to the cause, and perhaps more progress can be made because of this.
Anyway, he is multi-talented, which does make him (as a person) pretty rare and amazing. I liked the quote from the Guitar Player magazine article (January 2008): "You don't compare this guy to other musicians. You compare him to true Renaissance men like Thomas Jefferson and Leonardo da Vinci." I think Thomas Jefferson would be impressed by Brian!
I think Brian's biggest problem is not having enough time to do all he wants to do in this life. He is not perfect, but he is amazing, I say.
OK, last thoughts on this for now, and hopefully a clarification. The intention is not to gratuitously diminish Brian in any way. Believe me, I think it's absolutely fantastic that my favourite band has a member like this. Fantastic and inspiring. My issue, for lack of a better word, is the word 'amazing'. Amaze by definition means to "overwhelm with surprise or sudden wonder; astonish greatly". People who are overwhelmed and astonished aren't in the best position to make neutral and impartial judgements. Which wouldn't matter one hoot were it not for his recent social/political activities. He has at times behaved like a fanatic, and nobody challenges him or tempers the collective thinking because they're all too busy telling him some flavour of 'you're so amazing'. It's no favour to him. That Facebook page was on occasion a cesspit of violent incitement and utterly uncivil discourse. People are talking about him and he's harming his reputation - you can bet your next paycheque on that.
So when I say that finishing his doctorate was impressive and to be very much respected, but not amazing, I'm not being a pedantic sourpuss. I'm just asking people to consider that he is a very bright man, who came from a family that insisted on his higher eduation and that he was well into a Ph.D when he put it on hold for the band in the early/mid 1970's. That he would go back and finish in his 50's does say something about his character and focus, but it's not 'amazing'. He did get a rather nice title out of it. In fact, the most recent thing I've seen him use his advanced degree for is to subtly (and absurdly) belittle the qualifiations of a medical doctor whose one quoted sentence on badger vaccination in a newspaper article didn't agree with his own stance. I found that distinctly unamazing.
As for the rest of it - 'he's a rock star AND a Ph.D!" - well, everybody who goes back to do/finish a doctorate later in life was something else before. People with intelligence and drive and economic freedom and a great deal of flexbility through semi retirement are capable of great productivity in any direction that pleases them. It's not a miracle. In the end he's a deeply intelligent man, talented, principled, sensitive; he can also be intolerant, inflexible and egocentric (don't underestimate the factor of ego in SaveMe or any other of his endeavours). He doesn't need to be saddled with 'amazing' too. We can love him just the way he is.
The word used was "amazing", not "amazed." One of the definitions of "amazing" is "wonderful" (my dictionary is the 1958 Webster's unabridged).
I think I understand what you are saying, even though "fantastic" probably isn't the word you were looking for. Ha. Just teasing.
I didn't keep up with his facebook page; I only glanced at it once. There didn't seem to be anything substantive, just people praising the cause (and it was all women, which I thought was strange).
Is there a link to what you are talking about? I just checked his soapbox and could only find: "The Badger issue is much more complex, and more difficult to argue from a truly informed position. I've been quite immersed in this, preparing to attend the new Judicial Review in Wales, and I'm hoping eventually to publish a proper corresponding 'Lame Claims" file, or something similar, for the badgers."
If I may venture a small opinion - you can't actually love someone unless you're comfortable with their faults, of which Brian has a raft. He's great. I do wish he liked Never Mind the Buzzcocks, but one can't have everything can they.
Zebonka12 wrote: If I may venture a small opinion - you can't actually love someone unless you're comfortable with their faults, of which Brian has a raft. He's great.
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Thanks for that. Much of what I was trying to say in 16 paragraphs or whatever, nicely wrapped up in a sentence or two.
Donna13 wrote: The word used was "amazing", not "amazed." One of the definitions of "amazing" is "wonderful" (my dictionary is the 1958 Webster's unabridged).
I think I understand what you are saying, even though "fantastic" probably isn't the word you were looking for. Ha. Just teasing.
I didn't keep up with his facebook page; I only glanced at it once. There didn't seem to be anything substantive, just people praising the cause (and it was all women, which I thought was strange).
Is there a link to what you are talking about? I just checked his soapbox and could only find: "The Badger issue is much more complex, and more difficult to argue from a truly informed position. I've been quite immersed in this, preparing to attend the new Judicial Review in Wales, and I'm hoping eventually to publish a proper corresponding 'Lame Claims" file, or something similar, for the badgers."
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Ha ha on 'fantastic'. That made me laugh. :)
My dictionary is whatever online one that most fits my tortured points. ;)
I noted the predominance of women on SaveMe as well some weeks ago on a post here somewhere. I don't know for sure, but I'd expect for many reasons that animal rights movements in general are going to have women in the significant majority. That phenomenon partly accounted for the abundant psychodrama of the page too. It's interesting to note that the SaveMe meta discussion here is dominated by females as well, mostly me in fact, stomping around and being all outraged over the insufferableness. Ha. It's probably a personal flaw.
The link I was referring to follows. I found the whole thing frankly irritating. He wildly extrapolates her one quoted sentence and calls her a 'medic'. She was a former GP (first line generalists who have huge repsonsibility for primary care and specialist referrals etc.), not an ambulance driver or bandaid lady. There's a further reference to his own credentials a few paragraphs down. It was pretty much nonsense, and pretty ironic as well.
http://www.facebook.com/SaveMe2010#!/notes/save-me/a-new-conservative-mp-and-a-very-revealing-lame-comment-on-badgers-and-the-hidde/133808833296245Oooh. That doesn't look good at all. Thanks for the link and for your comments too. This type of approach will not be helpful to his cause. Let's hope he gets it under control (I think he realizes it already).
And thanks to you too, Zebonka. You always get it right, that's for sure. Like a breath of fresh air. Ha. :)
