John Cleese (part 2): Obama, Biden & Fox News

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - I've been playing for 20 years and have been a hardcore enthusiast for as long. I have owned several Fenders and played zillions more. I have built, modified, and repaired many an electric guitar. I know tonewoods, construction, pickups, electronics, finishes, history. I know Fenders from stem to stern. I seriously doubt your having been a Fender clinician at some point gives you any edge in knowledge. And btw you haven't laid a finger on the point I made in my last post on this subject.

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Just for fun, I will give you a list of "conservative values" I hold. I feel that girls & boys should be educated separately. I believe that religious instruction is good, WITH evolution. I believe Nuclear power is THE answer to our power needs. 4 years of math in high school be MANDATORY, smoking should be legal, I am for VIGOROUS English instruction. Because I have the means, I support local artisans, NOT corporate outsourced goods. I support US protectionism(Neocons R PNAC hacks)

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Finishes? No, I mean TONE, brother. The PART THAT MATTERS. I had to replace 1 of my newer strat's pick-ups w/ Lindy Fralins because the tone was so bad. I tour with big artists, they choose me for my playing AND my tone. Fender has inferior product to G & L, Breedlove, Reverend, & countless others. They rely on their past (50's, 60's) to stay in business. Great history, but that's it. U don't still use NEW Fender Amps do U?Vintage or Dr Z all the way!

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Which point did I avoid? I lost track.

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - "Truth is unknowable." How do you know that's true?

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Define "truth"

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Why do you expect me to understand what "Define truth" means? Do words have a meaning that we can understand?

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - The reason guys like Fralin can build toneful gear is that they understand how tone relates to the material properties of the things they build. You seemed to understand this a few posts back when you were going on about alnico II magnets and woods and stuff. Have you changed your mind since then? Either way is fine with me. I'm a tone junkie and can argue on those terms too if you want. Bottom line is that modern Fender guitars have BOTH construction and tone on par with the oldies.

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Words have meaning INSIDE OF our paradigms. Example? We can isolate a "clutch" or an "alternator" on a car. An "equation" or an "exponent" in mathematics. There are BILLIONS of examples like this. Yet, if we are defining "truth" external or transcendent of our minds, we cannot, because we can ONLY use our minds to transcend our minds. We may FEEL transcendence,(We all have) yet this is not "Knowable" in a measurable, empirical sense. Even Our SENSE perceptions are WRONG. U want me to explain?

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - ""Which point did I avoid? I lost track. "" This one: Hand building is required to consistently produce instruments on par with the best, most "magical" Fenders of the 50s and 60s. Those instruments were exceptional and by no means rolled off the production line every time. In fact there are plenty of average and below average old Fenders out there. What's true is that the *average* modern Fender is as good as or better than the *average* old Fender......

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - OK, but you are the ONLY person whom I have met who agrees with that last sentence. I guess numbers are not the only measure.

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - And how do our paradigms come about? Do we form them individually or do they involve interaction with other people? And if it's other people, why can't we know that other people exist? Also, how is it that you assert the reality of paradigms yet believe nothing true can be asserted? I think your skepticism undermines itself since it is itself a positive truth claim. But we can caveat our earlier discussion about parties with *within this paradigm* if that will keep your head from exploding.

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Yeah, well, most peoples opinions of the older Fenders are shaped by 1) hearing what other people say about older Fenders (and no doubt you understand the power of peer pressure and group think in shaping perceptions), and 2) by experiences with magical older Fenders that don't represent the average. I just think there's a lot of folklore and nostalgia involved when it comes to vintage Fenders. And that's fine -- it's nice to have a "creation myth" that we can all relate too.

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - ""Even Our SENSE perceptions are WRONG"" Spoken with such certainty!

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - All of our thoughts are an amalgamation of all previous generations' thoughts over the course of human history. Eugenio d'Or said it best, "That which does not come from tradition, is plagiarism." THis ironic quote summarizes the inherent contradiction and limitations of all human thought.

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - All my "certitudes" are imbued with the inexorable stain of contradiction. The Hindu myth Arjuna reconciles this contradiction elegantly. When Arjuna, a warrior in battle, wisely sees the temporal world as Maya, or illusion, he doubts whether fighting is worthwhile. Krishna scolds him to fight as best he can in the field of cause & effect while cultivating an inner DETACHMENT from the passions of the Maya. The Phenomenal world occurs to us through our senses,yet our impressions are blind AT BEST

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - The only way I could agree with this is if every vintage Fender I played was one of your "exceptional" guitars (It IS possible, people KEPT the good ones in great condition). I have yet to play a Fender post-1973 that I like. Incidently, my FAVORITE pickups are the old DeArmonds. FOr me, there is no greater sound.

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Yet, if you like, I will explain how, EVEN within a scientific paradigm, all of our impressions are wrong. Would you like me to? In other words, What we see, and touch is not, "real" as we perceive it. Our minds create useful metaphors of the temporal universe so we can function as cellular collectives. (Yep, we are NOT EVEN individuals. Our individuality is just a metaphor our minds create to describe our multi-celled collectives. )

MrBrownie145 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - @coco7010 why are you talking about sense experience and epistomology over this channel? if you want to talk about that do it on a philosphy link, stop clogging this page up with all this stuff!

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - He's responding to me. We kind of went off on a tangent. If you're after the usual YouTube BS (versus our unusual BS) you can scroll down into the thread.

1Doz Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Yeah, I've read the Gita and I get all that. But again I have to ask -- why do you believe what it says is true? Why so certain? Unless you've been outside of your senses you have no evidence that our sense perceptions don't tell us things about the phenomenal universe that are true. In other words, why don't you have skepticism about your skepticism? To me it's quite possible that we're equipped with a mind and senses that are competent to perceive the PW in a way that is truthful.

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - Fair question. It is because 1doz was telling me I was wrong and was illustrating that "being wrong? only exists in the subjective hallucinations in our minds. Come on. Isn't my discussion better than the usual, "F*^% YOU, YOu are gay! YOu are an idiot!" kind of pablum that appears on every youtube channel lately? You would prefer THAT?

coco7010 Says:

Mar 7, 2010 - I DID write that all my thoughts are intrinsically contradictory. My point is this. Our basic premises are illusions. We are NOT individuals, each of us a collective of billions of cells acting in tandem, or sometimes not (Cancer) Our minds create a hallucination of "I, " or, "me" which serves survival functions, yet this not truth. We are more like a team, with billions of players on each of our teams. Our teams have names, like, John, Julie, Oleg, etc. yet our individualities are illusions.

1Doz Says:

Mar 8, 2010 - I hear you, but I disagree that the fact that our experiences are mediated by the senses necessarily means that the information we receive is illusory. The fact of mediation doesn't negate the possibility of meaningful correspondence. Obviously we can't prove it one way or the other - so we have a choice. We can choose to believe that our knowledge is either real or an illusion. The problem with the 2nd is it undermines itself (and everything else) if carried to its logical conclusions.

JimmersThomas Says:

Mar 9, 2010 - I'm always complaining that all the decent political satirists are American now and not English, but I suppose it's because the UK political system is so full of bland homogenous anonymous empty suits. The American politicians - for all their lunacy of extremes on both sides - are at least easier to tell apart and that equals more food for lampoonists. I think Cleese is pretty generous saying 5% of Europeans would support Ms. Palin - I assume he's counting the ones who'd want to sleep with her.