It's All About the Benjamins

I decided if this title was to work, that I had to at least find 3 Benjamins that have something important to add to this world.

Benjamin: "Son of the South" "Son of my right hand"

1) The philosopher: Andy Warhol is the featured artist at the Contemporary Art Museum of Amsterdam. The same Andy Warhol that first had the idea that everyone will have 15 minutes of fame (which culminated in Grant's famous ideal mate of knight to F4). Amsterdam is also the home of the Van Gogh museum and the Riechs museum. The difference between these three museums is the subject of the first Benjamin. Walter Benjamin: who wrote that "In the absence of any traditional, ritualistic value, art in the age of mechanical reproduction would inherently be based on the practice of politics." Laymen's terms: art is a tool. Past artists only wanted you to view the art and appreciate it. They wanted to point you to some perfect vision of the world. The idea was that if everyone simply did what they wanted that somehow God would make everything work out for everyone's best. Everything was working out for good on its own... People no longer believe the world is perfect, and that in order to make the world better we actually have to do something about it. The modern artists make you react to their art, they demand something from you. They push you in a direction and put a gun in your hand and tell you to fight the injustice and poverty in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction

2) The writer: Benjamin #2 is a political blogger, Benjamin Barber. His title today, "Bush is a Liar..." leads me to suspect that he is a Democrat. But the second part of his title "... but Intelligence is an Illusion" tells me that even being a Democrat he has kept some sort of good sense. He somehow links back to the first Benjamin because he approaches writing from the same belief as the modern artists... that you have to actually make the effort to change something. As Andy Warhol said, "They always saytime changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

http://blog.civworld.org/?p=43

3) The doer (Talking about it is so easy): "Be the change you want to see in the world" was definitely not a quote from this next guy, but this is a guy that lived it. "How you spend your days is how you live your life" was also not a quote from him, but it follows from the first quote. You want to do something with your life? Start doing it in your days... And the start of all of this is where Benjamin comes in. Benjamin Franklin. Habits. 90% of life is unconscious habit. You want to change yourself, you want to change the world around you? develop good habits. You want to score 50 goals in hockey this season? Develop a habit to shoot the puck, to be in front of the net and jump to every rebound after the shot. Coach's always say go with your first instinct cause it's usually right, I say only after you've learned and practiced the right way until it is an unconscious habit. You believe that your conscience magically tells you the right thing to do no matter what? The way I've heard it said though is that your conscience tells you only what you've already told it. How you act or not act is how you choose your life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin