I ranted
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My friend sent me this link about digital music and the end of rock snobbery and asked what I thought about it:
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=…
Considering that digital music, politics and technological progress are my pet peeves I responded with this rant:
I don't know - has VHS, DVD, TIVO, Cable, etc.
fundamentally changed the way humans view and
emotionally interact/imprint the medium of moving
pictures? Are movies less emotionally personal now
that you can watch whatever you want whenever you
want wherever you want? Has that created fewer "film
snobs" or more? Has the proliferation of Special
edition and director cuts put MORE snobby information
in more hands and served to raise the general
awareness of the minitue of the art form for a wider
population?Humans have always made music. It has always had
emotional resonance with us, especially the songs that
define our own experiences and the experiences of our
particular generational trip through time. DOes
digital music and digital music delivery systems
threaten this fundamental human thing? Nah. It
threatens an industry and a particular established
form - i.e. Rock SNobs, who in turn, in typical human
fashion try to stop and hold fast against change
becaus eit undermines their a) livelihood and/or b)
their sense of personal identification in relational
and temporal ways.Maybe this generation will have a weird sense of
identification with the iPod? Or particular websites,
or those musical screen saver things in WIndows. Who
knows. The LP cover, as great as it was, has slipped
into irrelevance, and in doing so has gained a
granduer in nostalga that it hadn't otehrwise
possessed. SO why lament listening to an entire album
as a primal and essential listening experience? Heck
prior to the development of the LP and the technology
that made such a thing feasible - not all that long
ago in the history of recorded music - recorded,
reproducable music was made on 45s and 33s - much
shorter forms. The origin of "singles" predates LP's.Rock music in particular, and music in general is
under no threat from digital recording and
distribution. In fact, other than the actions of a
distribution industry who is fighting this
technological development tooth and nail to protect a
dead and unwholly unneccessary industry, this is seen
as a tremendous boon to the art of music in general.
It's as if the blacksmiths had someone successfully
prevented the establishment of an auto industry - "You
are taking away our livelhood! You are using our
precious metalurgical resources with no regard to my
starving family! You don't respect the craftsmanship."The scary part is that the luddites are no winning.
In political science circles a decade back it was
fashionable to talk about the Developing world's war
against Modernity, as indigenous societies had a hard
time coping with and integrating tachnology from the
modern West, and the attendant social paradigms that
are needed to support the spread of such technology.
Traditional societies are disrupted by the
introduction of technology, and the entrenched ind
established intrests tend to fight or seek to
control/copot these forces to maintain the social
hierarchy.It is both fascinating and frightening for me to see
this same anti-modernity tendency now take root in the
very nation that fostered the headlong ruch into
modernity - The United States No nation was as
pragmatic, practical and accepting of using technology
and it's inherent progress (and the deep belief in the
very notion of "progress" as a positive and life
affirming value) as the United States was, especially
throughout most of the 20th century. To see the
anti-modern forces reclaim sections of the cultural
psyche and political power is ominous.Part and parcel of this is the mainstreaming of
"traditional" religion into political power positions,
the undermining of evolution by quack "intelligent
design" theories, the collusion between entrenched
corporate intrests with these forces to seek to
control and stop technological advances to protect
their industries (music industry, media - the
extenstion of copyright laws), the ties between a
growing security state and these interests. It is the
seeds of an AMerican Fascist movement.The most scary thing about the Bush administration is
the loss of transparency in government - withholding
the machinations of the process from view of the
public - nothing could be more ominous and more
un-american.Here's a question for you - what is the "AMerican way
of life"? that everyone babbles about. I mean the
touchstone on that is the two cars, your own home,
etc. - all the material possessions and the access to
the means to get them. But what was the AMerican way
of life before America was a technological force? WHat
was the American way of life in 1789, just to pull a
year out at random. Or 1834? There was a distinct
AMerican character and way of life - and it is far
different from our current one it seems. If the oil
gets scarce, and the government takes more control and
the corporations protect their interest with private
armies (don't think the re-introduction of mercenaries
to the battlefield in Iraq is a fluke. Mercenries have
been gone form the Western war making method since
Napoleon. They're back. Ominous.) whither is the
AMerican way of life?Sure, what does htis all have to do with digitial
music, primary experience of said music and rock
snobbery? Nothing. Or everything. Systems die.
Americans should not be afraid of progress, or the
rational assessment of and belief in the future. We
are becoming afraid - both large and small scales. "Oh
no! What will happen to my beloved rock snobbery! My
knowledge of this tiny little world where I have some
of my identity!!!" WHo cares. We're americans. Rejoice
in the beauty of this stuff we can use and abuse. Mix
it up. When we stop moving and stop believeing that
what we invent today will make us better tomorrow - as
opposed to thinking that we are by our own actions an
dinventions undermining our own existence (i.e. fear
of modernity - see also "apocalyptic thinking") - we
loss something very fundamental about our national
character, and open the door to older more sinister
forces that have plagued society and civilization form
the begining.Download. Kill Rock snobs.
- Rant Over -
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I am insane.
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yeah, ok.. and you want me to read all that?
i mean does it end with something like:
"fuck you you fucking clown!"
?
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me too
- designshowcase0
summary please
- spongebob0
short version pls.
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in short:
despite technological advances music has never changed. people always had a passion for making wonderful music.