Comments on: The Greater Good http://www.swollenthumb.com/2009/08/the-greater-good/ Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:30:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Trey Baird http://www.swollenthumb.com/2009/08/the-greater-good/#comment-3820 Trey Baird Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:21:55 +0000 http://www.swollenthumb.com/?p=914#comment-3820 @ Roman Your political views on that subject are very similar to mine. I choose the phrase "The Greater Good" because I know that it is highly stigmatized. For people to give up their freedoms or whatever "for the greater good" they are familiar with the concept. Now, I don't agree with the fact that doing so is "for the greater good" but that's a whole 'nother blog right there! As far as your comparison to artists, I disagree. Art is highly subjective, which means that if someone were to say that a piece of art sucks, they are wrong. It doesn't suck. That person just doesn't like it. If an artist is truly happy with what they've created, it doesn't make them wrong if someone else dislikes it. You can't please everyone. And besides, when I reference "the greater good" regarding art, I'm not referring to artists using a cop out. I'm referring to an artist having the discipline to trim aspects of his work that he might like in order to achieve a more polished final product. This can be painful, but it's for the greater good of the art. @ Doug You know exactly what I'm talking about. It takes discipline to condense your work. For one thing, it goes against our nature to delete things we spent time on creating. It hurts our ego to throw away something we worked on. But secondly, we oftentimes delete things that we like, and it's not always easy to stay on topic. @ Roman

Your political views on that subject are very similar to mine. I choose the phrase “The Greater Good” because I know that it is highly stigmatized. For people to give up their freedoms or whatever “for the greater good” they are familiar with the concept. Now, I don’t agree with the fact that doing so is “for the greater good” but that’s a whole ‘nother blog right there!

As far as your comparison to artists, I disagree. Art is highly subjective, which means that if someone were to say that a piece of art sucks, they are wrong. It doesn’t suck. That person just doesn’t like it. If an artist is truly happy with what they’ve created, it doesn’t make them wrong if someone else dislikes it. You can’t please everyone.

And besides, when I reference “the greater good” regarding art, I’m not referring to artists using a cop out. I’m referring to an artist having the discipline to trim aspects of his work that he might like in order to achieve a more polished final product. This can be painful, but it’s for the greater good of the art.

@ Doug

You know exactly what I’m talking about. It takes discipline to condense your work. For one thing, it goes against our nature to delete things we spent time on creating. It hurts our ego to throw away something we worked on. But secondly, we oftentimes delete things that we like, and it’s not always easy to stay on topic.

]]> By: Doug Dillard http://www.swollenthumb.com/2009/08/the-greater-good/#comment-3631 Doug Dillard Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:59:18 +0000 http://www.swollenthumb.com/?p=914#comment-3631 Great post Trey with really good examples! The same philosophy can be used when writing a post. Many times I start typing a post and as I am getting into the subject it gets longer and longer. Next thing I know the post is 2 or 3 pages long. So, like a movie director (editor) I have to go in and take out the fluff and shorten it up to a more readable post for the great good of my readers :) .-= Doug Dillard´s last blog ..<a href="http://www.makingmoneyonline.com/i-used-to-be-a-dotcom-millionaire-well-at-least-on-paper/" rel="nofollow">I Used to Be a Dotcom Millionaire, Well at Least On Paper!</a> =-. Great post Trey with really good examples! The same philosophy can be used when writing a post. Many times I start typing a post and as I am getting into the subject it gets longer and longer. Next thing I know the post is 2 or 3 pages long. So, like a movie director (editor) I have to go in and take out the fluff and shorten it up to a more readable post for the great good of my readers :)
.-= Doug Dillard´s last blog ..I Used to Be a Dotcom Millionaire, Well at Least On Paper! =-.

]]> By: Roman http://www.swollenthumb.com/2009/08/the-greater-good/#comment-3553 Roman Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:29:37 +0000 http://www.swollenthumb.com/?p=914#comment-3553 Whenever I see the phrase 'For the Greater Good' a big flashing red light light goes off in my head – warning me that I am being mislead. In politics the term is used to avoid giving the real reason for some negative action. If the people rights need to be scaled back because of, suppression, war, control, the reason is always, 'for the greater good'. The politician does not want to say that he/she want to control you, so they mask the truth by saying they are doing it 'for the greater good'. As for artists, when they are criticized for any reason: sloppiness, poor guilty, not enough music, cut scenes etc. they they can always argue that it was 'for the greater good'. It is a great term because there is no way to qualify it – the reason behind any negative thing can be 'for the greater good' For me it is a cop out term. Used to hide the truth with a vague term that cannot be defined or argued against. .-= Roman´s last blog ..<a href="http://www.howthiswebsitemakesmoney.com/blog/2009/08/19/honesty-increases-adsense-revenue-but-so-do-big-numbers-%E2%80%93-which-is-better/" rel="nofollow">Honesty Increases AdSense Revenue But So Do Big Numbers – Which Is Better?</a> =-. Whenever I see the phrase ‘For the Greater Good’ a big flashing red light light goes off in my head – warning me that I am being mislead.

In politics the term is used to avoid giving the real reason for some negative action. If the people rights need to be scaled back because of, suppression, war, control, the reason is always, ‘for the greater good’. The politician does not want to say that he/she want to control you, so they mask the truth by saying they are doing it ‘for the greater good’.

As for artists, when they are criticized for any reason: sloppiness, poor guilty, not enough music, cut scenes etc. they they can always argue that it was ‘for the greater good’. It is a great term because there is no way to qualify it – the reason behind any negative thing can be ‘for the greater good’

For me it is a cop out term. Used to hide the truth with a vague term that cannot be defined or argued against.
.-= Roman´s last blog ..Honesty Increases AdSense Revenue But So Do Big Numbers – Which Is Better? =-.

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