Frank Zingroni was my teacher (uncle Frank) and what a wonderful guy. I just wanna tell you again one of the funniest most enjoyable things that happened for me at York university is when your dad and Frank gave a joint lecture. It was brilliant, their learned brilliance was amazing: rapid fire and oh so funny. It was in one of the really big lecture halls, and there was probably 200 of us. They referenced getting in trouble previously for being too critical of the institution and feigned an apology which was a hilarious back-and-forth, they ticked the boxes of saying sorry and at the same time lambasted bureaucracy and melee mouth bureaucrats.
My buddy sitting next to me, Minoo, said something memorable; he looked at me and said , I see now that the pen really can be mightier than the sword.
They were my favourites. At minute 45 of the YouTube attachment your dad says it: the conservative person can be the most radical. They were both gentlemanly but loaded for bear, it was impressive the achievement of their intellects.
I’m in Prince Edward County - Milford - just around the corner from Bloomfield. One day I’ll reach out. Maybe we can say hello in person.
'Uncle Frank' was great. Thanks so much for sharing that story which is actually a little sad - dad should have taught hundreds of grad students, but despite having all the qualifications (ba, ma, phd) universities didn't want him. A shame.
"gentlemanly but loaded for bear" is a great observation. They were that.
Didn’t want him? He was a tenure professor was he not?
I get the impression that the world, our fellow humans, even learned academics, they all find “the medium is the message”, unpalatable. The real consequence of our inventions, the reordering our world and the largely unbeknownst scale of the change is unwelcome news. I’ve read 1000 substack article articles and the majority of them are arguing that it’s how we use our inventions that is the source of the failure. Over and over again.
Nobody made an impact on me like Frank and your father. I am forever saying no; ne c’est pas, it is not how you use it, the transformation is not amenable or negotiable.
No, he wasn't. He ended up teaching (essentially) remedial English to music-industry college kids. He was glad to get that steady job. (I can relate.) Of course he fit in a lot more than that. But no, he applied at many universities and none took him on. People think the name opens doors, and it can, but it closes a lot also. I was fortunate to not choose the academic path.
To your second point - certainly a part of 'the medium is the message' story to be told is the resistance and reluctance of people to accept that it's not about content. The 'the message is the message' people. The 'content is king' people. And yeah, especially the 'it's how it's used that counts' people. (they're all the same people). And the wild thing is they don't tend to be stupid people, just have never really considered anything but content. They never put aside content to ask 'what is a medium?'
There's an understudied human psychological aversion at work. Actually, modern psychology has let us all down by not paying any much attention to or really addressing this. As McLuhan wrote to Maritain:
"There is a deep-seated repugnance in the human breast against understanding the processes in which we are involved. Such understanding involves far too much responsibility for our actions."
So there's quite a lot at stake in ensuring people don't get the message.
We’ve chatted before.
Frank Zingroni was my teacher (uncle Frank) and what a wonderful guy. I just wanna tell you again one of the funniest most enjoyable things that happened for me at York university is when your dad and Frank gave a joint lecture. It was brilliant, their learned brilliance was amazing: rapid fire and oh so funny. It was in one of the really big lecture halls, and there was probably 200 of us. They referenced getting in trouble previously for being too critical of the institution and feigned an apology which was a hilarious back-and-forth, they ticked the boxes of saying sorry and at the same time lambasted bureaucracy and melee mouth bureaucrats.
My buddy sitting next to me, Minoo, said something memorable; he looked at me and said , I see now that the pen really can be mightier than the sword.
They were my favourites. At minute 45 of the YouTube attachment your dad says it: the conservative person can be the most radical. They were both gentlemanly but loaded for bear, it was impressive the achievement of their intellects.
I’m in Prince Edward County - Milford - just around the corner from Bloomfield. One day I’ll reach out. Maybe we can say hello in person.
'Uncle Frank' was great. Thanks so much for sharing that story which is actually a little sad - dad should have taught hundreds of grad students, but despite having all the qualifications (ba, ma, phd) universities didn't want him. A shame.
"gentlemanly but loaded for bear" is a great observation. They were that.
Didn’t want him? He was a tenure professor was he not?
I get the impression that the world, our fellow humans, even learned academics, they all find “the medium is the message”, unpalatable. The real consequence of our inventions, the reordering our world and the largely unbeknownst scale of the change is unwelcome news. I’ve read 1000 substack article articles and the majority of them are arguing that it’s how we use our inventions that is the source of the failure. Over and over again.
Nobody made an impact on me like Frank and your father. I am forever saying no; ne c’est pas, it is not how you use it, the transformation is not amenable or negotiable.
No, he wasn't. He ended up teaching (essentially) remedial English to music-industry college kids. He was glad to get that steady job. (I can relate.) Of course he fit in a lot more than that. But no, he applied at many universities and none took him on. People think the name opens doors, and it can, but it closes a lot also. I was fortunate to not choose the academic path.
To your second point - certainly a part of 'the medium is the message' story to be told is the resistance and reluctance of people to accept that it's not about content. The 'the message is the message' people. The 'content is king' people. And yeah, especially the 'it's how it's used that counts' people. (they're all the same people). And the wild thing is they don't tend to be stupid people, just have never really considered anything but content. They never put aside content to ask 'what is a medium?'
There's an understudied human psychological aversion at work. Actually, modern psychology has let us all down by not paying any much attention to or really addressing this. As McLuhan wrote to Maritain:
"There is a deep-seated repugnance in the human breast against understanding the processes in which we are involved. Such understanding involves far too much responsibility for our actions."
So there's quite a lot at stake in ensuring people don't get the message.
That’s a horrible trueism about us humans, we are so often heavily invested in not knowing. It’s incredible; we are non-credible.
I have the habit of writing things down , two chestnuts:
“It is difficult to get a man to believe in something when his salary depends on him, not understanding it.”
Upton Sinclair
And now the depressing one and this is not a quip, it’s dead real:
“If you want to tell people, the truth make them laugh otherwise they will kill you.”
Oscar Wilde