good morning Hank it's Tuesday I am a
vast Paramecium of worry that swallows
any nearby worry it confined so that I
can become an ever larger Paramecium of
worry but i don't want to talk about
that today i want to talk about a really
good youtube comment so last week over
at the art assignment sara and
complexity producer brandon Brun card
made a brilliant video called the case
for video games it's great you should
watch it in in response a youtube user
named 33 ron jet wrote this video helped
me put a finger on why I keep coming
back to art assignment videos and why
they moved me so much it's a way of
looking at the world and especially at
what humans do and experience that does
not shirk from mentioning problems and
challenges but never ridicules or
degrades others in a way the art
assignment videos are exercises in
consciously experiencing human dignity
in others and ourselves I only realize
this in having it articulated for me by
33 Ranjit but exercises in consciously
experiencing human dignity are what I am
looking for in novels and poetry and
YouTube videos and philanthropy and
video games and much else
now I'm not always after consciously
experiencing human dignity like when I
watch videos of extremely high level
tetris playing for instance which I do
literally every day I am seeking a
strange mix of calm and wonder and I
often look to art for distraction
because sometimes I need to be
distracted from the world and its
worries from navigating the complexities
and vulnerabilities and uncertainties of
being a person but when I am ready to
look at the world and the people I share
it with I want exercises in consciously
experiencing human dignity
I mean dignity in the sense of being
worthy of respect and honor I really
believe in acknowledging one's own human
dignity and also in recognizing it in
other people especially people who have
been told by the social order or by
structures of power that their lives are
less valuable or less central to the
human experience and I love art
assignment videos because they find so
many ways of doing that from focusing on
artists who don't generally get the most
critical attention to focusing on kinds
of art like say video games that are
often treated as if they aren't proper
art and so over the last six years Sarah
has shown me
and millions of people what's
interesting and important about the art
world but she's also shown the art world
what's interesting and important about
the rest of the world and in doing so
she really has created exercises in
consciously experiencing human dignity
which is a phrase I keep repeating
because it's just that good
look I don't labor under the delusion
that our species is great or anything
we've certainly done a lot of harm I
mean despite being a species obsessed
with the apocalypse we seem blissfully
unbothered by the fact that too many
thousands of earth species we are the
apocalypse but I also think that humans
are overwhelmingly the most interesting
thing that ever happened on earth it's
easy to forget how wondrous you are how
strange and lovely I mean through
photography and art you've seen things
you'll never see the surface of Mars the
bioluminescent fish of the deep ocean a
17th century girl with a Pearl Earring
and through empathy you've felt things
you'll never feel also you're the only
part of the known universe that knows
it's in a universe of course we must be
better to ourselves to each other to the
world but I think we've become better by
consciously experiencing human dignity
in ourselves and others through
understanding the incalculable value of
every human life including yours
thanks to 33 Ron Jewett for showing that
to me and thanks to Sarah for always
seeking wonder and dignity and meaning
wherever she can find it Hank I'll see
you on Friday
PS sarah has a book coming out in April
it's called the you are an artist it's
wonderful it's available for pre-order
now you should get it also Sarah and I
will be touring together in support of
that book the tour dates will be
announced on March 9th on her Instagram
links in the doobly-doo below okay I
think that's it bye hope I didn't go
over four minutes it's always a worry