---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment In a message dated 1/18/01 8:19:06 PM Central Standard Time, kam544@flash.net writes: > Your example of George Orwell's _1984_ to help support your presentation > definitely got my attention. > > I am in complete agreement with you that people do have the right and > ability to question things, but using _1984_, unfortunately, fails to > support your proposition. Somehow you managed to *not* mention the outcome > of this particular story for one engaging in such actions. > > Maybe you didn't read the whole book, maybe you forgot what happened in the > end to the main characters, Winston Smith and Julia, especially Winston, > maybe it was something else. > > Regardless, _1984_ is certainly not the best example to cite to others for > substantiating and promoting a platform of resistance against a controlling > authority. > Well, Keith, that's a matter of opinion. Yes, I did read the whole book and as I recall, I read it 3 times. I had read it in High School, again in college, then when the year 1984 came around, I read it again. I have also seen two film adaptations. However, 1984 was a long time ago. I certainly do remember what happened to Winston, that is the point of the whole story. I must admit I forget what happened to Julia. Didn't she turn him in or something? (From my recollection), "You want a vision of the future, Winston? Imagine a boot stepping on a face for eternity", said his tormentor. Now I fully realize that the subject I am interested in is an art, the art of tuning. But there have been other periods where authority controlled and dictated what was good art, what was *permissible* as the Luthier Guild puts it, and not. Although I fully realize that the Luthier Guild document was written to *help* people try to tune the guitar to get the best musical sound out of it and nothing more, the way things are phrased gave me a chill. It reminded me of the tormentor holding up 4 fingers and dictating to Winston that what he really saw were 5 and that Winston was tortured by increasingly strong currents of electrical shocks until his spirit broke and he agreed that 4 was really 5. The document says, "Learn to expect and accept slight sharpness of the major 3rd in each chord...Train your ear to accept tempered intervals and you will be much happier with your guitar". Later, it says when trying to, shall I say, "brainwash" the subject to accept the sound of ET against his/her will, "Play an open E major chord. Listen to the G# on the 3rd string and you will most likely want to lower it very slightly. Don't do it. Ignore it. Enjoy the overall beauty and resonance of [the] chord just as does the pianist." Now, picture the same tormentor from Orwell's story in the bare, white room with the glare from the one white light overhead and no sound but the constant hum from the ventilation unit. He has a guitar tuned in ET. He strums a chord and says, "There Winston, isn't that a beautiful sound?" Winston's jaw is tight, he is tense and nervous but immobile, being strapped into a chair so that he cannot move. His mind, his sense of artistic beauty based on past life experience, the kind of thoughts that Big Brother says do not even exist, and *never* existed, believes that the chord could be a bit sweeter and he says so. (Winston remembered the books that had other alternatives but which had all been burned and new ones written to say that there has always been only one way to tune and that no other possiblity exists. It had been *his* job to destroy the old books and rewrite them according to Party guidelines). Once again, the energy dial is set higher and a longer, stronger jolt of painful, tortuous electric shock waves fill Winston's body as he screams in agony until he nearly passes out. The tormentor slowly lowers the voltage and waits for Winston to recover. "Let's try it again, Winston." He strums the ET chord and says, "There Winston, isn't that a beautiful sound?" This keeps going until Winston's spirit of resistance is finally broken. He finally succumbs to the will of the tormentor and says when the ET chord is strummed, "Yes, that is beautiful". The tormentor then asks, "Is that the *only* way a chord can sound beautiful, Winston?" Raising his voice, the tormentor repeats, "Winston?!!!" Winston replies haltingly, choking on copious amounts of phlegm and in a weak voice, "Yes". "All right, now, Winston, that is much better!", the tormentor says, "You can rest now". They allow Winston to rest, they treat his wounds, pull the rest of his rotting teeth and give him a set of dentures made to the specifications of the authorities. He is given a clean, new Party uniform, a "one size fits all". (Those who are too big in girth to fit into the Party uniform are taken to a place which corrects that problem, making the person conform to Party specifications). He is allowed to return to the cafeteria, eat the communal meal of food, the only food there is, that which is supplied by the Party. After his work for the day is finished, he is allowed to go to the Party Pub where he is allowed to drink the Party gin, the only gin there is and the only beverage of that kind available and *permissible* and he is allowed to smoke the Party cigarettes. He is allowed to watch whatever entertainment there is on the many TV screens there are but which are always on and which have no choice of channels, only the official Party channel. When there is musical entertainment, the music is chosen by the Party and all instruments are tuned in ET and only ET, the official temperament of the Party and according to the Party, the only possibility there is. While watching some musical entertainment, another Party member turns to Winston and says, "Isn't that beautiful?" Winston shakes for a moment but manages a smile and says, "Yes". Winston is awakened the next morning at 6 a.m. sharp by the loud siren which sounds each morning. The siren has two horns tuned in an ET minor 3rd. He drinks his Party coffee sweetened with saccharin and shaves painfully with his month old razor blade. Lively sounding electronic music in which all pitches are strictly ET, according to Helmholtz' table, blare from the TV screen in his room. He has no control of the volume. He must listen and accept whatever Big Brother presents, and he must say "It is beautiful" when questioned. ********************************* I'm sure Glad that PTG has not yet gone to the point of officially dictating ET as the only acceptable and/or *permissible* way to tune the piano the way the Luthier Guild has gone on record for the guitar. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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