Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sunday Frank: Zappa in Czechoslovakia with Václav Havel, 1990



This is some wonderful footage of Frank Zappa in 1990, when he visited the late Václav Havel in then- Czechoslovakia shortly after it became autonomous. This is Part Three of Four in the collection posted on YouTube (thank you, reldditmot). (Here are the others, which are very much worth watching: Part One, Part Two, Part Four.) It's an interview Zappa did with Czech press, covering various political topics, including what Zappa saw as a sort of institutional stupidity that had taken hold in the States over the past decade or so.

This stupidity condition, Zappa said, has largely been imposed on the citizenry by popular culture and religion, then aided and abetted in its contagion by a leadership with its own nefarious reasons for keeping everything and everyone dumbed-down.

Do watch it. Zappa was, undeniably, a curmudgeon. His opinions can rub liberals the wrong way (I certainly don't agree with everything he ever said, but then, about whom can any of us say that?). But as you'll see, he was right about the consequences of not funding education properly; of allowing the shortages of teachers, especially in critical subjects, to continue; of spreading teachers too thinly and having them teach subjects other than the ones they've trained in. (Zappa points to geography as one overlooked, underfunded subject, and expresses his dismay that many American kids can't identify their own country, much less foreign ones, on a world map). And he points to a dangerous problem--one that has only worsened in the years since--namely, the control of textbooks and their content. Textbooks should of course contain only facts, but instead acquire an overtly theist framing--and thus bias--due to their having to pass muster with Christianist censors (and be edited accordingly) before the public school system can buy and use them.

And finally, oh dear, was Frank Zappa not scarily prescient about what happens when a national complacency pandemic takes hold--usually during strong economies--and people are comfortable and not paying attention to the the goings-on within government, meanwhile politicians begin stealing and pulling tricks that benefit a tiny minority?

RIP Václav Havel
RIP Frank Zappa

3 comments:

  1. "Institutional stupidity," yes.

    But "This stupidity condition, Zappa said, has largely been imposed on the citizenry by popular culture and religion, then aided and abetted in its contagion by a leadership with its own nefarious reasons for keeping everything and everyone dumbed-down" -- eh, not quite.

    There are millions of people who've had every break in the book, who are highly educated -- nay, hyper-educated -- well traveled, well read, well exposed to other ideas, who are privileged, not mesmerized by every trick and treat of popular culture or religion (since many are atheists), have the means to see and review evidence, weigh arguments, ponder historical precedent -- and they still, still refuse to acknowledge what's right in front of their faces.

    We can't blame "the culture" for this one. These people need to look in a mirror.

    Genuine ignorance is one thing; willful ignorance another. I can still muster some sympathy for the former, but not for the latter.

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  2. I couldn't agree more, Lisa. Both cultivars of stupidity exist in excess.

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  3. Deborah,

    I came across this late. It's amazing how thoughtful and well-informed Zappa was on so many topics. A musician who actually had grounds for pontificating. Thanks for posting.

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