Ideology & Aesthetics

Safe to say, there are many ways to be in this world. I’m sure that we’ve all met the avatar who claims that for them,

Virtual Life ::= First Life

as well as their doppelgänger who says of their “real” vis-a-vis “virtual” lives:

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Some say The Avatar is a mask The Typist puts on and off.
For others The Avatar is a unique, sentient being.

Considering the ideas contributed to our VB19 – I AVATAR project it seems fair to say that for some, The Typist is a mask!

One inescapable thing — at least until Philip Rosedale creates AI for Avatars, and we can finally be free of those pesky typists and the bondage of their insufferable circadian rhythms — all avatars do have typists.

If we want to write some equations about identity, we could say that we have Typist and Typist.Avatar… If you’ll indulge me, I’d prefer to think about Avatar and Avatar.Typist

Whatever is true for me, is very likely different from whatever is true for other peeps in this world, still, I have noticed patterns myself, and I wonder if, for some of you, they might also ring true?

Specifically, I’ve come to realize that Vaneeesa.Ideology and Vaneeesa.Typist.Ideology are pretty much the same. We share an awful lot of our perspectives on life and culture.

However, Vaneeesa.Aesthetics and Vaneeesa.Typist.Aesthetics are, in fact, rather different. It turns out that Vaneeesa.Typist is also an artist, but her media, style, and techniques are quite different from mine. Yet the underpinning “message,” the conceptual substrate, the world view, is pretty much the same. Vaneeesa and Vaneeesa.Typist have different ways of talking about similar ideas.

It further occurs to me that in fact, Vaneeesa.Ideology ≈ Vaneeesa.Typist.Ideology ≈ Vaneeesa.Typist.Mom.Ideology

and, that: Vaneeesa.Aesthetics ≠ Vaneeesa.Typist.Aesthetics ≠ Vaneeesa.Typist.Mom.Aesthetics

This “similar ideology” yet “different aesthetics” seems to permeate so many aspects of my being. Yet I don’t even need to consider Second Life to realize that this isn’t true for everyone, just with First Life alone, I see plenty of opposite examples where Friend.Ideology ≠ Friend.Parent.Ideology yet Friend.Aesthetics ≈ Friend.Parent.Aesthetics

From Conservative Parents who have Punk Rock Kids, to Hippie Parents who have Neo-Con Kids, there are myriad examples of peeps who’s Ideology is nearly the opposite of their parents. Interestingly, from my limited information, in many of these cases, the ideologically “ungrateful” offspring DO tend to share their parents aesthetics!

If you think about Andy Warhol & Robert Mapplethorpe, their artistic practices and sensibilities were pretty different, but I think their underlying world views were fairly in sync. On the other hand I kind of suspect that while Paris Hilton & Britney Spears seem to have similar aesthetics, that their underlying ideologies are actually different.

What about Marina Abramović & Allan Kaprow? What about Diana & Charles? What about Bill & Hillary? What about Hamlet & Pix? What about SaveMe & Rose? What about Philip & M? What about Philip Rosedale & Philip Linden?

So, whether it’s Parent / Child or Avatar / Typist, what I actually am not aware of are cases where BOTH Ideology AND Aesthetics are the same… or where they BOTH are different.

And so, dear reader, please chime in! What about Y-O-U??? Whether it’s your typist, parent, child, partner, or other, do you share Ideology? Aesthetics?

Let me know!