I like to consider myself a worldly gentlemen. Classically sheik, drawing my wardrobe from the 20s. A fool can look like an Oxford sophisticate wearing a vest, slacks and a fedora on those extra special occassions. I am a glutton for knowledge and make no distinction as to what is “bad” knowledge and what isn’t as in my eyes everything I see, hear, taste, touch and smell will make me a better and more well rounded person.
This outlook on the world as a whole came up over the weekend when I was visiting my old D&D group and one of them who I haven’t seen in a good long while said that he had a show for us all to see. The dubious and frighteningly descriptive title of “Church of Fudge” should have been the first warning sign to myself and the assorted basement dwelling D&D players from my past.
Before I delve any further into that section of the story let’s first look at the definition of a renaissance man.
Renaissance man –noun
1. A cultured man of the Renaissance who was knowledgeable, educated, or proficient in a wide range of fields.
2. A present-day man who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.
This definition from Dictionary.com goes a bit of the way in describing what this term should be defined as. Looking further into the possible meanings brings us to the American Heritage definition:
n. A man who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences.
This fits more in line with my views as it can be summed up by the word “worldly”. A renaissance man is someone who at his/her core attempts to be “in the know” about as many topics as possible. When I’m at a social event I pride myself on being able to speak about any topic to a level of reasonable competence. It’s a skill that sadly few people display nowadays with interest in politics falling to the wayside when compared to the new Lil Wayne album and when the topic of modern authors arrises people stare blankly for a moment and then once again begin prattling on about last night’s episode of The Office.
Now let’s hook back to the matter at hand, my accursed friend Jay. The group, knowing Jay to be a shady character, inquire about the video he’s eagerly buffering on some less-than-comely website. He said it involved “cosplay”, everyone’s on board, including his wife. Then he said it contains “scat” and half the people leave the room.
Now before I continue I want to say that this is not my cup of tea. At all. But again, I’m a modern renaissance man, and refuse to not view something based on my personal distaste for it.
Now I watched the video for about the first 5 minutes, according to Jay it continued for another 25 and shutter to think why. After disabling the filth playing on the television (yes the 52 inch television was acting as the computer monitor) the rest of the group returned and questioned how I could watch it.
My answer was very simple. I believe that, barring topics which bring about legality issues, all information should be experienced. Someone could have told me events of the video and I would have “understood”, but without watching it I would not have fully comprehended the gravity of it.
I’ll use the analogy I used that night as some pathetic defense to their accusations of high perversion. If someone explains to you what the grand canyon is you understand that it’s a large hole in ground in the mid west. If you are shown an image of it you begin to grasp the sheer magnitude of the place, the majesty seen therein. Now a picture is only second best of course, because you never truly have full knowledge of something until you experience it for yourself.
That being said please visit the grand canyon it will make you a better person, and only watch Church of Fudge.
\\drew
