Upon hearing an Eric Clapton guitar solo

[fpb]

At times like this, I really do feel sorry for atheists. One has to be grateful for artistry so miraculous, but they have nobody to be grateful to. (And don't give me any crap about "the human spirit" - that is what we owe the Murdoch press and robotic dance noise to.)

Comments

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

Don't you think that if atheists could not experience gratitude, or some other related good state of mind, they wouldn't enjoy beauty altogether?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Gratitude is personal. Gratitude for what? Gratitude to Whom? And at any rate I do not say they cannot enjoy it - the very nature of something as miraculous as the white lightning that Clapton unleashed on this and many other occasionsis that it is open to any person who is decently instructed in music to enjoy it; I just say that the experience is incomplete.

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

How about being grateful to Eric Clapton? Surely, those guitar riffs didn't spend months upon months learning themselves? Perhaps more broadly, to his teachers, and to the general set of circumstances that made it possible for his talent to manifest: it isn't often that things come together so well.

Another thing: if only the "decently instructed" can enjoy Clapton, does it mean, by extension, that it requires education to appreciate God?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And why on God's green earth should Eric Clapton be more talented than anyone else? Why, out of hundreds of thousands of guitarists throughout the world, is there one - or a few - or a few dozens - whose work absolutely shines, which is compulsive again and again? Clapton has no control over the fact that he is a genius at his trade, any more than someone else has no control over the fact that he or she is not. So why should anyone be grateful to a man for something that is outside that man's control?

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

I repeat: for a talent to manifest a lot of hard work is required. If you ever learned an instrument you should know this. Talent alone isn't enough.

Second, there are natural variations both in innate talent and in circumstances which may either assist in its manifestation or prevent it. Thus one could be appreciating the rarity, and hence - the preciousness - of the phenomenon.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The word "natural" here explains nothing. You are replacing an honest question mark with an empty word, and pretending that that word is an explanation. Why is it "natural", if if is "natural"? You are just saying that you expect those things to be there, and that you have never found it worthwhile to wonder about them.

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

"Natural" as in pertaining to nature, as found though empirical observation. The specific phenomenon in question is the normal distribution of the few variables I've mentioned.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

As for appreciating God, each person who recognizes His existence appreciates Him for different reasons - the most basic of which is their own existence. So everyone has a reason to be grateful to God, and everyone's reasons are different. God is not like music, since music did not create you.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I was about to say that - be grateful to Eric Clapton!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

As I already said, that would be most unfair. Eric Clapton did not make himself exceptional. Hundreds of thousands of guitarists have studied as much guitar as he has and ended up ordinary. Being grateful to Eric Clapton for an accident in which he has no merit is an insult to the person.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Dude, I wouldn't know Eric Clapton from your mom. I have zero appreciation for music, so this is kind of a bad example for me. But there's nothing wrong with appreciating someone's talent and hard work, and usually someone's enjoyment of something has very little to do with how well it was produced. I get just as much joy, or often 5 times as much, from looking at my little sister's magnificent crayon drawings as I get from studying Picasso. I'm sure Eric Crapton, as I cannot stop calling him, spent many hours practicing the guitar anyway, and I'm equally sure that there were hundreds of geniuses who had more talent than him but who never were heard by a wide audience. And that's irrelevant! Eric Crapton made you happy with a stringed instrument! It's not complicated; just joyful.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

This sounds to me like refusal to reason. I am not even going to start unpicking all the contradictions and pointless statements in it. I fail to understand your obvious anger, but as I know that you have a hard life - both on the obvious and on the health side - I suggest you do not throw yourself into a polemic that you do not enjoy and that is doing nothing to make you happier.

[cosmolinguist]

Hundreds of thousands of guitarists have studied as much guitar as he has and ended up ordinary.

Really? Eric Clapton has been performing since he was a teenager, and has been highly thought of almost all that time. Even if he never practiced in between, his recorded output and live performances over the last forty-some years would add up to more time bent over a six-string than most people would like to contemplate, and that's not even counting the unknowable time he plays for his own pleasure or to teach himself something new. Where are these hundreds of thousands of others? And in what way are they "ordinary"? Citation needed, I say. ;)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Do you have the slightest notion of how the music industry works? Or of how many session musicians have spent their lives till they were grey and arhtritic "bent over a six-string" and have nothing to show for it but a small bank account, no job security and (in America) no health plan? Once, just once, one such - Gordon Haskell - managed THE HIT, the one great successful song that changed his life; but for one Haskell, let alone one Clapton, there are ten, fifty, a hundred who never made it. Your assumption that they did not work as hard as Clapton is both false and insulting. To quote the queen, wipe those stars from your eyes, and you'll get quite a surprise.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Hey, I love robotic dance noise!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That makes one of us.

[notebuyer.livejournal.com]

Not fair! You made me laugh before I was ready!

[cosmolinguist]

What if we're just grateful to the artist? All the time and effort put in to learning his craft and performing it for us, and the myriad of good people and good chances around him that have brought him to a place where his music can be heard by people who will never meet him or otherwise have anything to do with him.

WARNING: THE NEXT PERSON TO REPEAT POINTS ALREADY MADE WILL BE DELETED AND BANNED

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Good grief, how many times do I have to repeat myself? And do you really think you get any brownie points for repeating unintelligently points that others have already made not just ad abundantiam but ad nauseam? Why don't you people just read the comments thread before leaving the umpteenth repetition of things already answered?

Re: WARNING: THE NEXT PERSON TO REPEAT POINTS ALREADY MADE WILL BE DELETED AND BANNED

[cosmolinguist]

Well it's good to see religion has made you such a nice person. :)

Re: WARNING: THE NEXT PERSON TO REPEAT POINTS ALREADY MADE WILL BE DELETED AND BANNED

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Where is it written that you have a right to intrude in someone else's blog, make no intelligent or novel point, show no empathy or interest, and expect polite responses?

[cosmolinguist]

It's the public internet! We have a friend in common; seeing your comments I thought I'd click on your blog... and if blogs aren't for communal discussion, what are they for? I'm sorry my opinions offend you, but they were expressed politely and it is for that reason I, perhaps foolishly, expected politeness in return. Not to mention that politeness is a good default for new people anyway, I find.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Your opinion, as such, has not enough consistency, power or aggression to offend me. I am just sick of having to answer it - yours was the third time it had been made, and a previous poster had proved remarkably repetitious. Once you actually said something that had not been said two or three times before, I answered.

And public debate does not necessarily involve politeness. Study the history of all free commonwealths from Athens to the present day, if you doubt that.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Buy the video of the Bob Dylan thirtieth anniversary concert - there is an avalanche of great musicians, and he still stands out. I also saw him on the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert - I hope that is available to buy, but if not I can make you a copy. I can only use the expression I already used - white lightning.