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上周和一个关系不错的博士朋友聊天，彼此都不约而同地对自己的文字和研究成果所能造成的社会影响而感到沮丧。于是我周末又找来了「老法师」 Alan Moore 的访谈视频回味了一下，觉得又找回来一些勇气。贴在这里，与众多想通过文字对社会作出积极改变的人共勉。
“There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magic. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”. I believe this is completely literal. I believe that magic is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events. A grimmoir for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar. Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people's consciousness. And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman.
“关于魔法究竟是什么，人们有些困惑。我认为只要看看对魔法最早的描述，这个问题就可以解决。魔法最早的形式通常被称为“艺术”。我相信这是完全是字面上的意思。我相信魔法就是艺术，而艺术，无论是写作、音乐、雕塑还是其他任何形式，都是魔法。艺术就像魔法一样，是操纵符号、文字或图像以改变意识的科学。关于魔法的语言似乎既在谈论写作或艺术，也在谈论超自然事件。例如，一本魔法书，一本咒语书，只是一种表达语法的奇特方式。事实上，施咒就是拼写，操纵文字，改变人们的意识。我相信这就是为什么艺术家或作家是当代世界最接近萨满的东西。
I believe that all culture must have arisen from cult. Originally, all of the faucets of our culture, whether they be in the arts or sciences were the province of the Shaman. The fact that in present times, this magical power has degenerated to the level of cheap entertainment and manipulation, is, I think a tragedy. At the moment the people who are using Shamanism and magic to shape our culture are advertisers. Rather than try to wake people up, their Shamanism is used as an opiate to tranquilize people, to make people more manipulable. Their magic box of television, and by their magic words, their jingles can cause everyone in the country to be thinking the same words and have the same banal thoughts all at exactly the same moment.
我相信所有文化都一定起源于 cult。最初，我们文化的所有方面，无论是艺术还是科学，都是萨满的领地。但我认为，在当今时代，这种魔法已经退化为廉价的娱乐和操纵，这是一场悲剧。目前，利用萨满教和魔法塑造我们文化的人是广告商。他们不是试图唤醒人们，而是将萨满教用作麻醉剂，使人们更加容易操纵。他们的电视魔盒，以及他们的魔法词和广告歌可以让全国的每个人都在同一时刻想到相同的词，产生相同的平庸想法。
In all of magic there is an incredibly large linguistic component. The Bardic tradition of magic would place a bard as being much higher and more fearsome than a magician. A magician might curse you. That might make your hands lay funny or you might have a child born with a club foot. If a Bard were to place not a curse upon you, but a satire, then that could destroy you. If it was a clever satire, it might not just destroy you in the eyes of your associates; it would destroy you in the eyes of your family. It would destroy you in your own eyes. And if it was a finely worded and clever satire that might survive and be remembered for decades, even centuries. Then years after you were dead people still might be reading it and laughing at you and your wretchedness and your absurdity. Writers and people who had command of words were respected and feared as people who manipulated magic. In latter times I think that artists and writers have allowed themselves to be sold down the river. They have accepted the prevailing belief that art and writing are merely forms of entertainment. They’re not seen as transformative forces that can change a human being; that can change a society. They are seen as simple entertainment; things with which we can fill 20 minutes, half an hour, while we’re waiting to die. It’s not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience. They would be the artists. It is the job of artists to give the audience what they need.”
在所有魔法中，语言成分非常大。吟游诗人的魔法传统将吟游诗人置于比魔法师更高、更可怕的地位。魔法师可能会诅咒你。这可能会让你的手变得奇怪，或者你可能会生出一个患有马蹄足的孩子。如果一个诗人不诅咒你，而是讽刺你，那么这将会摧毁你。如果诅咒是一篇巧妙的讽刺作品，它不仅会毁了你在同事眼中的形象，还会毁了你在家人眼中的形象。它还会毁了你自己的形象。如果这是一篇措辞巧妙、巧妙的讽刺作品，它可能会流传下来，并被人们记住几十年，甚至几个世纪。那么在你死后，人们可能还会读到它，嘲笑你、你的悲惨和你的荒谬。作家和能言善辩的人被人们视为操纵魔法的人，受到尊敬和敬畏。我认为，在后来的时代，艺术家和作家已经允许自己被出卖。他们接受了普遍的信念，即艺术和写作仅仅是娱乐形式。它们不被视为可以改变人类、改变社会的变革力量。它们被视为简单的娱乐；可以在我们在等待死亡时用来打发 20 分钟、半小时的时间。艺术家的职责不是给观众他们想要的东西。如果观众知道自己需要什么，那么他们就不是观众了。他们会是艺术家本身。艺术家的职责是给观众他们需要的东西。”
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