They seem dorky because they were dorky! We didn't see them as such at the time because we were immersed in them and could not see past the dork in front of our eyes.
I know some of the Beatles lyrics aren't cool by today's standards, but I'm probably going to sing or hum along anyway just because they still remain one of my favorite easy listening or background music sources when I'm not listening to classical music.
Things in the past seem dorky because we've outgrown them.....most of us, anyway.
They seem dorky because they were dorky! We didn't see them as such at the time because we were immersed in them and could not see past the dork in front of our eyes.
Dorky is just another 'man's judgement' word with constant 'flavors of the month'.
The Beatles represented several things. Creativity, rebellion, free speech, music, fashion, entrepreneurism, the adults just couldn't sweep them under the rug like they could everything else. The hairstyles and some of their lyrics are dinosaurs, but their overall impact is still felt.
In April me and 2 believer friends played 8 Beatle songs in a bar that has a Beatle's night annually. We're doing it again in 2 weekends at another bar. The Beatles live, "dorky" or not.
I would draw a line between dorky and delusional. Mainly because I've always been a little dorky ;)
But yes, things are over the top even for dorky little me. I think the main one that was always my #1 pet peeve was singing "SIT" for "Jingle Bells".
With people throughout time that focused on VP's quirks, speech impediments, and phrasing to try and duplicate it I don't think they are dorky, they are more like the scribes in the Bible who "do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God". Like V2P2 in the Sowers ordination. It's more sad over the waste of his life and those who listen to him, because repeating "we're turning the world upside down it's all kitty wompus" is not a Harry Potter spell that will magically chase evil away from you and double the size of your Podunk church.
Dorky is just another 'man's judgement' word with constant 'flavors of the month'.
The Beatles represented several things. Creativity, rebellion, free speech, music, fashion, entrepreneurism, the adults just couldn't sweep them under the rug like they could everything else. The hairstyles and some of their lyrics are dinosaurs, but their overall impact is still felt.
In April me and 2 believer friends played 8 Beatle songs in a bar that has a Beatle's night annually. We're doing it again in 2 weekends at another bar. The Beatles live, "dorky" or not.
Dork it up hoss. Enjoy yourself. Now one thing I always wondered about the Beatles - if you play their White album backwards, do they jaywalk?
I'm reminded of the Monkees. They were told by their creators not to make ANY kind of ideological or political statement, so as to be non-threatening to everybody. Of course, their theme song said, "We're the new generation, and WE'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY."
I'm reminded of the Monkees. They were told by their creators not to make ANY kind of ideological or political statement, so as to be non-threatening to everybody. Of course, their theme song said, "We're the new generation, and WE'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY." :rolleyes:/>
George
But they said nothing when they said they had something to say.
"We're just trying to be friendly" was about as controversial as they got.
(I'm not counting their theatrical release film, "Head", because that
was quickly forgotten and is usually overlooked.)
It's like people who have to tell you they're "profound" because they
never demonstrate it. To the unobservant, they can actually pass along
the idea despite all the evidence to the contrary.
I remember doing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" at Way Family Camp.
Didn't we do "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes?" It's been so long.........
If nobody grows up and learns to think for themselves, they remain dependent on TWI for their entire lives. Could that have been the idea behind having adult humans repeatedly doing mass indoctrination exercises like Father Abraham, Little Bunny Foo Foo, the Crocodile song, etc.?
If nobody grows up and learns to think for themselves, they remain dependent on TWI for their entire lives. Could that have been the idea behind having adult humans repeatedly doing mass indoctrination exercises like Father Abraham, Little Bunny Foo Foo, the Crocodile song, etc.?
Yeah....and on staff at hq, the head table guy asked Walter Cvmmins to lead the song,
My Hat it has Three Corners......with actions and antics, of course.
Plus....all those corps meetings or nightowls where we sat on the floor/ground cross-legged
for a couple of hours listening to the teacher. We were treated like first-graders.....and
Yeah....and on staff at hq, the head table guy asked Walter Cvmmins to lead the song,
My Hat it has Three Corners......with actions and antics, of course.
Plus....all those corps meetings or nightowls where we sat on the floor/ground cross-legged
for a couple of hours listening to the teacher. We were treated like first-graders.....and
afterwards, we got our cookies and milk.
Dorky, dumbed-down dependency.....
Absolutely. With all of these antics, they were establishing a parent->child relationship with all of us. That maintained parent->child relationship was what was most vital in TWI, not the classes, not the Bible fellowships, not the surface material.
Now I'm sure johniam will come back saying "I didn't have a child/parent relationship with anyone". No john many of us had much nobler motives and intent. However, the parent->child relationship is what TWI leadership wants in EVERY relationship.
Dorkiness is not necessarily a function of looking at the past. Our parents thought we all looked dorky with our fashion statements in the 60's and 70's and they were absolutely right. Moreover, they did not look at their past fashion styles and think they themselves were dorky at all. People dressed up in their day whenever they went outside their home to do anything except maybe work outside.
Blue jeans were for working men when they, well, worked. They thought the very idea of "designer jeans" an oxymoron, and sneakers were just, sneakers. Then we come along with our tie-dyed jeans and bell bottom pants, preferably with holes, and you know the rest.
10 years later we look back at ourselves and laugh at how dorky we looked. 10 years after that, we laugh at ourselves at the way we looked when we were laughing at how dorky we looked 10 years before that. 10 years after that we looked at ourselves, started to laugh again, and then began to realize we are completely oblivious to our own dorkiness in the present moment.
The reason things in the past seem dorky is because we are, in fact, a bunch of dorks but are blind to it. We become aware of it later when we look at the past objectively. Yet we remain unaware that deep inside we continually perpetuate dorkdom. Instead of hiding from it, we should embrace it. Facing reality is the first step toward freedom.
It's perhaps no wonder that a couple of years ago, I had to post something to JAL to (symbolically) give him a slap to wake up and realize that we are no longer little kids but grown ups who have had to figure out our way in life.
Anybody see the 1996 movie Harriet the Spy? Nickelodean film. Harriet is an 11 year old girl who keeps a diary and makes observations in it about everything, including her school friends. One of her school friends she thinks is a dork. She writes, "Dedorkification takes time; you have to want to be cured". Not a bad movie Rosie O'Donnell is in it.
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WordWolf
Automatically rejecting anything old just because it's not new is foolish.
However, we're talking about the foolishness of rejecting the new and
embracing the old JUST because it's old. That's demonstrably foolish.
It's like seeing characters like "Disco Stu" who can't grow past their
glory moments of decades ago, in the 70s and 80s. To see it in real life
is sad and cliched. It's watching someone refuse to grow up.
To look back at past decades- the styles and fads, is to look back at
silliness to a degree because styles and fads ARE silly to a degree.
They're popular at a moment in time for arbitrary reasons (generally)
and returning to them for arbitrary reasons when you're the ONLY one who's
trying to return to an old fad is just sad.
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waysider
Things in the past seem dorky because we've outgrown them.....most of us, anyway.
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Broken Arrow
Yes! How thankful we are that modern contemporary music has evolved past that stage!
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krys
They seem dorky because they were dorky! We didn't see them as such at the time because we were immersed in them and could not see past the dork in front of our eyes.
I know some of the Beatles lyrics aren't cool by today's standards, but I'm probably going to sing or hum along anyway just because they still remain one of my favorite easy listening or background music sources when I'm not listening to classical music.
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WordWolf
Nicely phrased, from both of you.
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hiway29
Most things seemed dorky and frankly embarrassing to me when I was in the way- still do.
But the Beatles will never be dorky.
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johniam
Dorky is just another 'man's judgement' word with constant 'flavors of the month'.
The Beatles represented several things. Creativity, rebellion, free speech, music, fashion, entrepreneurism, the adults just couldn't sweep them under the rug like they could everything else. The hairstyles and some of their lyrics are dinosaurs, but their overall impact is still felt.
In April me and 2 believer friends played 8 Beatle songs in a bar that has a Beatle's night annually. We're doing it again in 2 weekends at another bar. The Beatles live, "dorky" or not.
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chockfull
I would draw a line between dorky and delusional. Mainly because I've always been a little dorky ;)
But yes, things are over the top even for dorky little me. I think the main one that was always my #1 pet peeve was singing "SIT" for "Jingle Bells".
With people throughout time that focused on VP's quirks, speech impediments, and phrasing to try and duplicate it I don't think they are dorky, they are more like the scribes in the Bible who "do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God". Like V2P2 in the Sowers ordination. It's more sad over the waste of his life and those who listen to him, because repeating "we're turning the world upside down it's all kitty wompus" is not a Harry Potter spell that will magically chase evil away from you and double the size of your Podunk church.
Dork it up hoss. Enjoy yourself. Now one thing I always wondered about the Beatles - if you play their White album backwards, do they jaywalk?
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WordWolf
There's 2 things about the Beatles- the music and the zeitgeist.
As for the music, much of it stands the test of time and I'll listen to it or sing
along depending on the song.
As for the zeitgeist, they were in the right place at the right time
with the message that the kids wanted to hear.
Naturally that took off.
If you give even a NONSENSE message, but the kids want to hear it,
you'll have a fanbase, even if it's only the easiest to lead.
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GeorgeStGeorge
I'm reminded of the Monkees. They were told by their creators not to make ANY kind of ideological or political statement, so as to be non-threatening to everybody. Of course, their theme song said, "We're the new generation, and WE'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY."
George
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excathedra
clap clap clap hear hear clap clap clap hear hear
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WordWolf
But they said nothing when they said they had something to say.
"We're just trying to be friendly" was about as controversial as they got.
(I'm not counting their theatrical release film, "Head", because that
was quickly forgotten and is usually overlooked.)
It's like people who have to tell you they're "profound" because they
never demonstrate it. To the unobservant, they can actually pass along
the idea despite all the evidence to the contrary.
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excathedra
i'll tell you what's dorky perhaps disturbing
all these adults singing and acting out "father abraham" -- were there guests there?
even happy trails was dorky and many other things we did when we had company
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outandabout
I remember doing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" at Way Family Camp.
Didn't we do "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes?" It's been so long.........
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Rocky
If nobody grows up and learns to think for themselves, they remain dependent on TWI for their entire lives. Could that have been the idea behind having adult humans repeatedly doing mass indoctrination exercises like Father Abraham, Little Bunny Foo Foo, the Crocodile song, etc.?
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skyrider
Yeah....and on staff at hq, the head table guy asked Walter Cvmmins to lead the song,
My Hat it has Three Corners......with actions and antics, of course.
Plus....all those corps meetings or nightowls where we sat on the floor/ground cross-legged
for a couple of hours listening to the teacher. We were treated like first-graders.....and
afterwards, we got our cookies and milk.
Dorky, dumbed-down dependency.....
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chockfull
Absolutely. With all of these antics, they were establishing a parent->child relationship with all of us. That maintained parent->child relationship was what was most vital in TWI, not the classes, not the Bible fellowships, not the surface material.
Now I'm sure johniam will come back saying "I didn't have a child/parent relationship with anyone". No john many of us had much nobler motives and intent. However, the parent->child relationship is what TWI leadership wants in EVERY relationship.
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Broken Arrow
Dorkiness is not necessarily a function of looking at the past. Our parents thought we all looked dorky with our fashion statements in the 60's and 70's and they were absolutely right. Moreover, they did not look at their past fashion styles and think they themselves were dorky at all. People dressed up in their day whenever they went outside their home to do anything except maybe work outside.
Blue jeans were for working men when they, well, worked. They thought the very idea of "designer jeans" an oxymoron, and sneakers were just, sneakers. Then we come along with our tie-dyed jeans and bell bottom pants, preferably with holes, and you know the rest.
10 years later we look back at ourselves and laugh at how dorky we looked. 10 years after that, we laugh at ourselves at the way we looked when we were laughing at how dorky we looked 10 years before that. 10 years after that we looked at ourselves, started to laugh again, and then began to realize we are completely oblivious to our own dorkiness in the present moment.
The reason things in the past seem dorky is because we are, in fact, a bunch of dorks but are blind to it. We become aware of it later when we look at the past objectively. Yet we remain unaware that deep inside we continually perpetuate dorkdom. Instead of hiding from it, we should embrace it. Facing reality is the first step toward freedom.
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outandabout
The devil said to Adam and Eve, "Ye shall be as gods, not dorks."
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excathedra
but broken, please.... father abraham
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skyrider
Father Abraham, he had two sons....
Two sons had Father Abraham.....
They didn't laugh, NO....
They didn't cry, NO...
Wasn't this song about someone with epileptic sons....or such?
Yeah, real spurtual there, twi.....
Do you even realize how freakin' absurd it was for us to flail around and sing THAT song???
:anim-smile:/>/>
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Rocky
It's perhaps no wonder that a couple of years ago, I had to post something to JAL to (symbolically) give him a slap to wake up and realize that we are no longer little kids but grown ups who have had to figure out our way in life.
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johniam
Anybody see the 1996 movie Harriet the Spy? Nickelodean film. Harriet is an 11 year old girl who keeps a diary and makes observations in it about everything, including her school friends. One of her school friends she thinks is a dork. She writes, "Dedorkification takes time; you have to want to be cured". Not a bad movie Rosie O'Donnell is in it.
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waysider
Isn't dorkiness really an evolutionary process, moving from one phase into the next?
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