Editorial 12 June 2011 Side Street Journal

Sunday 12 June 2011

EDITORIAL

So begins the Weekly Editorial of the Side Street Journal

Not only did I hear it long before it became fashionable for other people to say it; I was saying it long before other people ever heart it.  I’ve been doing it over 40 years.  Almost 50 years.

When I’d watch a television programme and listen to people debate, I would repeat what they said—back to myself.   Backwards.  I would argue the adverse position.

There is a trick known to artists.  If you take a pad and a pencil and sketch a portrait, it may look good.  Then, you hold it up to a mirror.  In the mirror, you may see the eyes are out of balance.  You may see the top half of the head sloping back.  You may see the lower part of the face jutting off to the side.  Perhaps that is how Popeye came to be.

“No, wait.  Keep holding that sketch up to the mirror.  I want to sketch that face the way it looks in the mirror.”

A good artist can draw the face properly.  However, the artist can sketch the face in the mirror to look that way on the pad without the aid of the mirror.

I do that with words, ideas, arguments.  I hold the flawed picture up to the mirror, sketch it as it looks in the mirror, and show it to the artist.  I want to the artist to see the picture he drew with his words.

Sometimes the artist will disavow the image vehemently.  If he does, I will show him his drawing in the mirror.  If he is willing to look.  Some don’t have to look.  They know what it looks like.  Yet, some will say they don’t need to look because there is nothing wrong with their drawing.  Some people will agree with me so they don’t have to look at their sketch in the mirror.

Sometimes, however, I don’t do that.  Sometimes, I don’t say anything at all. Sometimes I just look at the sketch and say, “Very nice.”

Regards,

Slim

Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview