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May 28, 2008: 11:38 am : Godcity in Witchcity
One more day of mixing and ready to go home, so far so good...
Checked the news online this morning, and holy Schenectady batman yet ANOTHER former Bush official comes out spilling the dirt on how the president MISLED THE PUBLIC on the Iraq Invasion. The funny thing here though, is not that there is so much damning evidence against the Bush administration lying to the country, its the more startling fact that there is no outrage and overt concern (sometimes I wonder what would it take to get people away from their insulated lives for just 1 day and take to the streets...WHAT would it take?)
In the Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death Dept: Memorial Day weekend just passed here, and in and around our hotel in Salem and Danvers, MA,it was congested with shoppers swarming malls and shopping centers, of course, to presumably honor our war dead through the sacred act of buying shit! Thats right, in America, the land of the commodified holiday, we honor those who gave their life for this country, not by having the daily 'moment of silence' (that is, closing down the shops and spending time with loved ones), but by opening ALL the shops and having half the population still at work, and the other half out buying shit...the same way we honor our work force on Labor day, and Jesus Christ on X-mass - by loading up the house with tons of cheap imports! Sing it everybody : "Aint that America..."
May 11. 2008: 12:19 pm.
Holed up in Salem, Mass for 2 and half more weeks, just having completed the first week of recording today -drums are done and starting on guitars tomorrow. The record, tentatively, and likely, to be named ÒTraitors,Ó is due out in Sept, will have 10 tracks, with all the riffage and lyrical bite therein one might expect.
So this fine Sunday morning, I checked out the Boston Globe from the convenience store across the street from the hotel, and come across a slightly inspiring article. A small British coastal town has decided to ban the ubiquitous plastic bags that once used in the community, seemed to find their way insidiously into the local environment and cover the seabed along the coast like leaves. We are all familiar with this, those chemically-born bags that never die, and ultimately seep into local and national environments just to end up in the stomachs of birds, and other similarly destructive situations. Well, in the story they made the switch to the corn starch-based 'bio bags' that are degradable -but perhaps such corn products should be going to other uses than disposable bags, especially in light of increasing global food shortages? But the real shift must be in the public's consciousness, for there is no reason why we cant bring our OWN reusable bags to market (perhaps some nice sturdy hemp bags?) and do away with the damned disposable store-bags forever.
Additionally, a big shame on Burma/Myanmar's military government for restricting aid workers entry into the country to assist with cyclone aid operations, for once, can not the inhuman machinations of politics at their worst in this police state, stand aside, if only for the sake of the lives and health of their own desperate citizenry?
April 30, 2008. 12:35 PM
Weltschmerz Abounds:
On its front page today, the Washington Post (American newspaper of record) ran a picture of a dead 2-year old child, pulled from the rubble of his home after a US airstrike in Baghdad. They don't run such purportedly ÒsensationalÓ imagery on the front page often (in fact the image on the paper was a close-up of the one that is linked above), but as certain Washingtonian's get to stare at it over their morning wheaties and coffee, maybe they can pull themselves out of their self-absorbed career-driven excuses for a life, and (just maybe) ask themselves, Òjust what the fuck are we doing in Iraq, and how is shit like this going to solve anything?Ó
<<<As an aside, to see the globally nuanced interpretations of the event, its interesting to see that the Jerusalem Post reported only that "terrorists" were being killed in recent strikes...while Reuters India quoted U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover: "I would like to emphasise that these are not 'violent' clashes, at least not in our definition." Tell that to the mother of three dead children who stated "Let the Americans listen: If they kill all the men, we will fight them. We: the women and the children. And if they take our weapons we will fight them with stones and knives." .....making friends all over the world, aren't we?>>>
But in other upbeat news, the global food crisis (further disrupted here at home from our massive preoccupation with ethanol-destined corn crops) reaches even greater levels of uncertainty, with millions worldwide stymied and stunned by the magic of the capitalist marketplace, as one of the most sacred and basic rights of man- to eat and feed one's family- is inhumanly commodified and priced out of reach for basic staples like rice and grain. Hooray for being choked by the invisible hand!
And lastly, the Post reports that Herr Bush has decided to respond to America's own insatiable hunger for cheap gasoline, and to counter rising oil prices, by loosening environmental restrictions for refineries and re-propose digging in the Alaskan National Wildlife refuge! Holy shit, what a way to rob Peter to pay Paul, and conjure such an eco-friendly solution in these turbulent environmental times. But Bush's audacious plan is only further rendered absolutely incomprehensible by the fact that yesterday BP and Dutch Shell both posted record profits totaling $17 billion from the first 3 months of this year, with Exxon expected to post the same tomorrow- who is really making out here? Certainly not the population, but I am sure Bush's oil buddies back in Tejas, among others, will applaud his efforts.
April 25, 2008. 12:23 PM
Global Food Crisis Threatens Millions:
From OXFAM AMERICA: One fewer meal a day? One fewer child in school? What do you do when food prices soar and you're already on the brink of hunger?
That's what's happening right now in some of the world's poorest countries. A convergence of factors has sent global food prices spiraling upward, forcing families to make excruciating choices and prompting widespread civil unrest.
Donate now and help Oxfam respond to this crisis.
Already 840 million people around the world are chronically hungry, and the shock of high prices is deepening their suffering. Food riots have erupted in Haiti and Mexico, in Senegal and BurkinaFaso, and the World Bank says the social unrest could spread to 33 countries.
What's the cause? A "perfect storm" of rising oil prices, escalating demand for food and grains, conversion of food to biofuels, and weather-related crop failures attributable in part to climate change.
This is an immediate crisis, but it could have long-term effects, as families with no other options sell animals or land to buy food immediately – undermining their future ability to make a living. Give now >>
Oxfam is positioned to deliver an effective humanitarian response when crises hit. With local partners, Oxfam has developed innovative tools that fit local conditions in food shortages like this – like village "cereal banks" in Gambia or food vouchers in Pakistan that also revitalize local markets.
But these efforts are not enough on their own. The system of international food aid needs to be faster, more flexible and cheaper. That's why the Oxfam America Advocacy Fund is pushing Congress to encourage more food aid and to allow for food to be purchased where it is needed, rather than being shipped halfway around the world. Your donation today will support Oxfam's legislative efforts to call for an end to policies that hurt the poor.
Make a donation, and help us advocate for lasting solutions to poverty and hunger.
Thank you so much for your support.
Raymond C. Offenheiser
Board of Directors
Oxfam America Advocacy Fund
April 24, 2008. 1:47 PM
Post Penn Fallout, Omaba and his 'Bitter" Perceptions...
...may have cost him support from rural Pennsylvanians, but he erred in not necessarily what he said, but moreover, because people like him (perceived city slicker uber-politicians) are not allowed, in the American political arena, to ponder such pseudo-intellectual analysis on cultural issues, lest they be stamped with the 'elitist' tag. It is viewed that he cost himself the support of rural democrats because of some comments he made in Indiana earlier this month, primarily:
"These small towns... the jobs have been gone for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," as "the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate. It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
.
An interesting thesis, but one in need of more analysis, and one that certainly can not just be simply dumped into a stump speech without expecting questions and criticism from his enemies. However, adding to that, I can say from much experience in (essentially) coming from, traveling through, and debating with such fine denizens of Mellencampia, that there is more than a shred of truth to his statement- and its not just in small towns, its everywhere and a common reaction to radical cultural and economic change in communities all over the United States and the world, for it is a perfectly natural human reaction to seek out easy, visible explanations to complex and systemic problems (such reactionary, simplistic analysis is what has been fueling right wing talk radio for decades!).
When humans feel threatened, they seek out constants, stability, security, and most of all, if there is anything to blame for their troubles, it is externalized upon the immediately identifiable- the agents of change around them and anything that is "new" or challenging to the good ol' way of doing things. But of course Obama is first and foremost a politician, and he has to tell people what they WANT to hear, and do away with that intellectual jargonizin'! As we can see, it is dangerous to your political health!
April 16, 2008. 1:47 PM
If "the Future is Now," I Want a Refund
A few headlines caught my eye this morning- the first "US Cites Fears on Chemical in Plastics" was only right above the second, "Maker of Vioxx is Accused of Deception." However, both stories accentuate the distance specialized knowledge has traveled, ever farther away from the general public's ability to comprehend it. With the chemical story, the issue is about an ingredient in plastics "BPA," that is "so ubiquitous in the United States that it has been detected in the urine of 93% of the population over 6 years of age," (how they got my sample, I don't know). The other, essentially a new report on the Merck-Vioxx sacndal, has been well documented, but thats only because they got caught, imagine what the other thousands of drug companies are doing to preserve their stake in the billion dollar pharmaceuticals industry? They spend more on PR, marketing, lobbying and ads than they do on research and development!
Moreover, what both stories accentuate, is the chasm of understanding when it comes to interpreting and reacting to specialized knowledge in everyday life. Whether it be comprehending the processes and effects of genetic modification, hormone growth, or pesticides- many of us simply do not have the time or the will to comb through all the research after a hard day hammering away on the job site. We rely on other institutions to safeguard our interests when it comes to social health and safety, and we cross our fingers hoping they do a good job (shit... I hope that airline mechanic remembered to tighten that screw!).
Furthermore, in the mystified and incomprehensible world of economics and finance, we have periodic scandals such as the recent subprime mortgage crisis and Bear Stearns bailout schemes that are devised, enacted and then "saved" from locked offices on Wall Street or in DC- and yet affect all our lives intimately. In essence, as we have often felt before in our relationship with technology and specialized knowledge, we feel we are aboard the runaway train of modernity, only hoping that as it drags us ahead into the black abyss, there is not some imminent doom awaiting (can we at least party a bit more before we implode?)
But it is also important to remember that the reins of modernity are held by living, breathing, human beings, who have names and addresses, and although (as Joel Achenbach outlined in his article "The Future is Now" in the Post last week) the future is "heading right at us, but we never see it coming," we must never afford technology too prime role in this radicalized modernity- always look beyond to the human hands that guide it - and as we see in these headlines - sometimes stealthily, surreptitiously, and decidedly NOT with the human interest in mind.
April 9, 2008. 12:08 PM
Back from Iceland...wow that is a beautiful place...2 shows with the Index in Reykjavik, and a few days to travel the island....glaciers, seals, geysers, waterfalls tec...pictures should be up next week (thanks Johann!).
Wiki-Ninja-Editor Assassins...The social tool Wikipedia, an entity in constant flux and change, tends to passively influence perception and definition for some, as its subjects inevitably and reliably land in those all-important top five Google search results. Type in a word or phrase and the Wikipedia article gets top standing. So, the battle for defining certain issues and events by its numerous "editors" (anyone in the world who wants to 'edit') is ultimately an up-to-the-minute struggle for defining reality itself. An article today from the New Republic deconstructs the chaos for a moment, and looks at how dedicated and enthusiastic Wikipedia editors work to balance information "democracy" with the open-source mayhem that erupts around polarizing personalities like Hillary and Obama (whose profiles get edited and reedited incessantly)....THE ARTICLE.
Obama's Heresy: "Diplomacy" With Iran
In Omaba's suggestion yesterday that America actually engage and have discussions with Iran, he challenged Bush's eight years of stubborness and hypocritical piety on the issue, and in sense committed the heretical act of implying that diplomacy might be a good thing sometimes (oh we know he is not a real patriot now!)....anyways, I am no fan of presidential politics, and no fan of any of these bought-and-paid for politicians (and no fan of Iran's human rights violations either), but that was a refreshing suggestion from the tired imperialistic rants of "regime change"...ARTICLE HERE
"It's harder and harder trying to do the Lord's work in the city of Satan" John McCain
A Capital City With The Devil in the Details?
March 25, 2008. 1:39 PM
4000
4000 US soldiers dead, an ignominious number by any calculation. Its well-trod territory to carve up the unjust and baseless reasons the Administration gave for invading and occupying Iraq at the start, we all know the 'evidence' was manufactured (no terrorists, no WMDs, etc), so how should we feel about the 4000 dead, and some 30,000 wounded in light of that stark and not-so-recent realization? Does Cheney care that two thirds of the US public wants out? (Hint-He said "So?"). Bush rants about the foundations for peace for years come, but what America has really done is stirred up hatred, fear, and resentment across the Arab and international world as the proverbial hornet's nest has now been whacked, and terrorists and extremists (the only ones who make the news) are being spawned by the hour in the environment of hopelessness, violence, and despair that Iraq has become.
Iraq Body Count.org
On the numerical significance of 4000- when looking at the bias inherent in limiting the figures and perception (in national media) to American dead, it relegates the tens of thousands of Iraqis and others killed by this folly to an unimportant, statistical afterthought. This is how human beings have set themselves apart for millennia, and how it continues today- human life defined, prioritized and calculated by where we live politically- by citizenship- an invented concept itself. Meaning, if we value human life, yet define and reduce its importance to national identity alone, and we report the war dead as such, why not also define and prioritize the dead by what race they were, what languages they spoke, or what their IQs were? As much as we love our own brothers and sisters at home, to begin to understand other cultures (rather than just invade, occupy and slaughter them), we should begin to value and calculate human life on equal scales, not just according to what passport they carry.
March 18, 2008. 1:39 PM
Five Years Later / Five Years Too Many
The dissent and disappointment surrounding the Iraqi folly has been documented through an unending litany of diatribes, editorials and essays (check any out the outsourced indiemedia sheisse to the left), all castigating the "imperial hubris" of the Bush administration in their lust for securing the Iraqi oil fields, and paying for it with the blood of tens, if not hundreds of thousands, and with trillions in taxpayer dollars -all on manufactured "bad" intelligence (remember Colin Powell sitting with his photos and charts at the UN?)- wow so long ago, don't see that brought up anymore do we?)
Today, five years after that ill-conceived invasion (ahh 2003, the memories, the glory days!) that the beloved American media cooperatively supported as cheerleaders of the Empire (Darth Vader should have invested in a media relations department), the "payoff" today is no end in sight, McCain spouting that the US may occupy Iraq for a hundred years, an economy on the verge of collapse, and oil prices at an all time high. Who is profiting from that? Well the money certainly isn't going towards highways, health care or education! Anyways, there are a number of actions and activities going on this week to call attention to the five year mark, in Washington and elsewhere, so lets have a peek....
Five Years Too Many
United For Peace 5 Years Info
Protest.net March Actions
Students for a Democratic Society
March 12, 2008. 12:15 PM
Beijing Blues
The Olympics are once more upon us, and this year China is finally "validated" in the eyes of the world, who have chosen the capable city of Beijing to host this quadrennial event. Therefore, as an olympic host country, one would expect there to be some positive example(s) set that would justify the Olympic committee's choice (aside from its amazing culture and people). However, when we take a gander at the political reality, what is to be seen? Nearly 20 years after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, we still have a massive country of billions with no freedom of expression, religion, or association. No political parties, no free trade unions or newspapers, and a dictatorial government that suffocates all opposition and speech on the internet, in public and in the press.
The debate has been raging, but the situation is the same, China is obviously a global power to be recognized and that is what is being rewarded here, not the inhuman system of oppression that controls its people through fear and dread, but these and other human rights violations should not be left in the background, even as the Olympics are carried out through the sanitized lens of the sports arenas...
March 11, 2008. 10:31:
Mother Russia
Back from Europe, and an extended break. The last tour was the best in a while, mostly Western Europe, but particularly- Russia. We had 5 days in Russia with 2 shows- one in Moscow, and one is Saint Petersburg, and that part of the journey was the obvious highlight. From standing in front of the gates of the former Czar's Winter Palace, to walking through St. Basil's Cathedral at the end of Red Square, and to simply see firsthand the 'real' Russia by talking with people at the shows and on the overnight train between the cities, left a lasting impression on my idea of Russia and its vastness- the permanent 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' that it remains today...
A White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said late Saturday: ÒWe call for an end to violence and all acts of terrorism directed against innocent civilians. There is a clear distinction between terrorist rocket attacks that target civilians and action in self-defense.Ó
So, on the morning after I get home, as always, I get up early in the AM and read my newspaper. Of course, without fail, the glaring hypocrisies then come screaming at me over my morning coffee: Last week, in the land of permanent war, the Media's murky interpretations were on display once more with their reporting on Israel's invasion of Gaza, followed shortly thereafter by the retaliatory strike from a lone Palestinian gunman on a Seminary in Jerusalem. The issue here is, as it always should be at its heart- the loss of human life and the way such losses and suffering are washed over and mediated so as to justify the actions of one actor, and to deprecate the actions of an opposing actor.
Both acts of violence are equally reprehensible -but to see how international governments interpret, and how international media frames the murder committed by the soldiers as legitimate and consequential, and the violence of the individual/non-state actor, as an act of terror, demands a closer look. Why were the one hundred+ killed by the invading Israeli army necessarily and justifiably killed (half of which were civilian), in the official, sacred eyes of world governments, and the retaliatory violence that was civilian-on-civilian in Jerusalem, not both equal acts of terrorism? Why is the violence of the state never questioned and equally condemned?
Perhaps global governments do not want to weaken their own untouchable status as the arbiter of sanctioned, state violence, but this perception nevertheless allows Israel to continually and permanently terrorize, destroy, and murder Palestinian refugees at will, with the understanding that they are not terrorizing hundreds of thousands, but "defending" their land. In the consciousness of the global media and politics, Israel operates under the guise of a nation state defending itself, thus it has the green light to terrorize in a more "official" way (thus winning the hearts and minds of the Palestinians as well, and forwarding the Peace Process?). However, when the Palestinians fight back, as they only can as individuals, or in organized groups, its pure terrorism. I abhor the violence of both sides, but detest even more the hypocritical way the situation is contiually mediated and mystified in favor of the State.
NYT: Article on Gaza aftermath
NYT Israel Takes Gaza Fight to Next Level in a Day of Strikes
Reuters: US Codemns attack on Seminary
Reuters on Rice visit ("Israel says it is acting in self-defense to curb an increasing number of rocket attacks by Hamas Islamists and has shrugged off a U.N. accusation that it used "excessive force.")
"This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe"
Additionally, last Saturday, Bush vetoed the Bill that would ban waterboarding, thus inviting the world to once more question America's haughty moral posturing, and see this beloved nation as a principled democracy in rhetoric only. When you begin to think and act like the "forces of evil" you are attempting to vanquish Mr. President, it is time for a bit of self-reflection. Reducing the moral standard of the nation (if there is any left) to sanctioning torture only bolsters the opposition's claim that you are the leader of a tyrannical nation bent on empire and will enforce your desires through whatever nefarious deeds you seem fit. (Also, a friendly reminder to the frat boys who will be running the nation in years to come- the beer bong is NOT a form of waterboarding).
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Movie of the week...THEY LIVE....a late 80s low-budget gem from John Carpenter, features not only some of the most hilarious one-liners from former pro-wrestling king "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who here portrays a working class hero who finds a pair of sunglasses that allow him to somehow see through the ubiquitous media imagery around him to the core of its subliminal text-i.e. "consume," "obey," "marriage and reproduce," "do not question authority," etc, as well as seeing certain people around him as aliens who are controlling humanity through a rigid class system. Its only an hour and a half and the fight scene between him and Keith David is worth the film alone ("Just put on the glasses"!!!).
December 9, 2007. 3:04PM
Torture, By Any Other Name...
Amid all the fuss surrounding the CIA's destroyed torture videos, and the sudden "discovery" that CIA agents use (or used) "harsh interrogation techniques" on fellow human beings (aka "torture" -in weakly coded vernacular), one must wonder how and why such revelations are getting this front-page attention only now (...as if the Cold War was an Age of Enlightenment?). To think that a government as powerful as the United States has never used such ugly, repulsive methods in the maintenance of empire, is perhaps to be exceptionally naive (but, if you learned US history from a high school textbook, you would probably think we already lived in a virtual Disneyland).
However, as taciturn government officials seem clueless or disinclined to elaborate on the subject of torture, it has lately developed its own media buzz in the wake of incidents like Abu Ghraib, the "secret" CIA detention centers in Eastern Europe (aka "Black Sites"), and other notable excesses discovered in recent years. While the media apparently still does not want to use the word "torture" to describe waterboarding and other so called "harsh interrogation techniques," I would ask the wary newspaper editors, as well as gentleman such as Attorney General Michael Mukasey, to try out the "technique" on themselves, and then ask if they were tortured, or simply "harshly interrogated."
As elected leaders and government officials would say, the United States has a responsibility to uphold the moral standards of its own rhetoric of freedom and justice, and the inability to take a stand on the definition of torture represents another stinking verse in the long litany of hypocritical blunders. Perhaps, in the philosophical language of the current administration, it can be justified through a prayer for forgiveness, as in -"Oh lord, forgive us for our transgressions- for we do them in the name of freedom!"
As an aside, for an excellent essay this year on the subject of torture, read George Gessert's "An Orgy of Power" from the Northwest Review. Available in the book "The Best American Essays, 2007".
December 5. 2007/12:19 PM
National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute
(From the Associated Press story here)
As a nation whose primary consumption ethic is based on gluttony and excess, we work oppressively long hours and sell our lives away for some semblance of a better life to materialize (at least sometime before we die). For most of us, that means more money to buy shit we don't need (or shit that will be obsolete in a year anyway-you got LAST year's Ipod? whoa you are fucked!). The cycle of 'work to buy more shit' permeates the culture, and as we approach Christmas, it achieves an almost orgasmic state of activity. Seen in recent years as some patriotic duty, we can now see the overabundance of shit as an extension of our dreams getting ahead of our ability to pay for them, as the credit crisis at the local and national level approaches levels that tip capitalism into the zone of recession/depression.
...If Rome could last 500 years, oh what gluttonous empire will next throw the wrench into its OWN gears?
December 4. 2007/12:24 PM
For all the Coors Light Drinkers...
As if it was not a shitty enough beer already - a tasteless, water can of empty swill (as all of Coors beer essentially is), please keep in mind the intentions of the Adolph Coors Foundation, and that every dime you spend on that shit, it goes to help fund conservative, religious-right causes and interests across America. Yes, the Adolph Coors Foundation is the big, sinister force behind plans like trying "reclaim our Christian heritage in our public schools." That can of rat piss is not worth the thrust back 200 hundred years in history where these nuts want to take us. Drink some Miller Light, PBR, or Natty Boh instead. (burp!)
Populist Deception in Venezuela and Russia
This past week, the malfunctioning, nominal 'democracies' of Venezuela and Russia went to the polls in referendum and vote. As is evident, both nations are headed by demagogic, nationalist leadership that effectively manipulates the press and media, shoving the virtually non-existent political opposition to the voiceless margins. In Russia, Vlad Putin and his party secured their position primarily on anti-western rhetoric and populist 'Russia-first' banter (the kind of shit that goes over well in middle America if you just twist the words around properly).
In Venezuela however, Josef Chavez, seeking to solidify his 'president for life' status had his "Bolivarian Revolution" (temporarily?) derailed, when the public, in an act of functioning democratic rebuttal (spearheaded by recent student protests-who were fired upon by government goons), actually defied him with a majority 'no' vote, thus proving that his (oil) money-for-welfare programs don't buy him a permanent seat upon the throne of Caracas (the kind of shit that goes over in America during every election, except its the corporations buying off the politicians).
For all the criticism hurled at other countries, the US does have a bit of effective, if highly flawed history to stand on. However, all systems are in need of perpetual improvement and are far from perfect, and just as the US is more subtle with its political deceptions and failures, it is even more imperative that be honest in dealing with them.
Also, its seems YouTube reinstated the account of the Egyptian Journalist this week. Stating "YouTube told media tonight that Abbas can freely upload his videos again and if satisfactory explanation of the violence is included then they will be allowed to remain on the site.".......Interesting...VERY interesting.
November 28.2007/12:10 PM
"He is filled with the insight that none of us has time to live the true dramas of the life we are destined for. This is what ages us- this and nothing else- The wrinkles and creases on our faces are the registrations of the great passions, vices, and insights that called on us; but we the masters, were not at home"
-From Benjamin Walter (a Frankfurt School Contemporary), in an essay on French author/critic Marcel Proust.
Another working day has ended.
Only the rush hour hell to face.
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes.
Contestants in a suicidal race.
- The Police (Synchronicity II)
Busy, late, speed, run, deadline. What's the race for anyway? A question we all ask in our daily leap with the proverbial lemmings over the cliff. A better life, a better retirement, a better life for our children, or more shit in the garage (or all of the above). The hours shoot by, choking us as we worship at the altar of linear progression, a fetish for some mythical, teleological endpoint, where we will have finally 'arrived.' Always arriving, and never enjoying the ride on the way. For many, the ride is always to be defined by the hours of our life, sold off in incremental units to bosses and companies in a tangled web of servility and needless competition, (as well as to the controlling forces of government, who ultimately appear as the architects of our lives and how we live them). Of course we are not all in the position to immediately opt out of this structure, but we can start by first becoming conscious of its framework, and by personally rejecting its overbearing appearance of inevitability. Our lives are not to be lived on, or defined by the terms of others, if we do wish them to be. There are other, better ways of knowing and living...so what better time than now to answer that door...?
YouTube Gatekeepers Delete Egyptian Activist's Videos
So, it seems that some YouTube Torture videos highlighting police brutality in Egypt were removed this week without reason or comment, other than the standard "this video has been removed due to terms of use violation" reply. The video's publisher, an Egyptian human rights activist, also had his account subsequently deleted.
While the videos were perhaps slightly graphic, they were not anymore so than other politically charged torture videos hosted by the company, including the infamous Abu Ghraib material.
So are we left to assume that some governmental/third party pressure is at work here (perhaps US-backed interests that assist in propping up the Mubarak 'dictatoracy' in Egypt?), that has once more swayed the company to edit its purportedly open and free content? Perhaps, but the broader theme here is, that YouTube can NEVER be relied upon as a solid means of channeling independent media to larger audiences, for it seems here, that as soon as a video gets attention from the wrong people, its deleted.
While other politically damning torture videos remain on the site, the selective removal of others raises the question: who is running the mysterious you-tube selection and editing committee, and who decides what is good and what is not good for the public to see? Seemingly beneficial for its ubiquity and popularity, You Tube appears to be a democratic information leveler, but other channels and means need to be used as well, as it is here obvious that You Tube's gatekeepers need no justification for what they do, or do not, allow on their network.
For whatever reason the videos are still up on Hong Kong's You Tube, go figure.
UK Guardian Blog on the subject, with links.
Global Voices Online Article, with original videos and profile on the activist.
Reuters Article
November 21, 2007. 11:11 AM
This was passed along to me from a friend. Its the official printed statement of policy by the Burmese government, reproduced in the media throughout the country. Just a warning that such "Animal Farm'-isms were, and are always, themes grounded quite well in everyday reality (at least somewhere in the world).
October 22, 2007. 10:50 AM
Blackwater: The Science of Winning Hearts and Minds
Last Christmas Day in Baghdad, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad received a furious phone call from Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi. An American-- drunk, armed, wandering through the Green Zone after a party -- had shot and killed one of his personal bodyguards the night before, Mahdi said. He wanted to see Khalilzad right away. At the vice president's home, Khalilzad found the slain guard's family assembled. Mahdi demanded the names of the American and his employer. And he wanted the man turned over to the Iraqi government. After consulting with the embassy's legal officer, Khalilzad identified the shooter as Andrew J. Moonen, an employee of Blackwater USA, the company that provides security for U.S. diplomats in Baghdad. But he would not deliver Moonen himself. Within 36 hours of the shooting, Blackwater and the embassy had shipped him out of the country. (The Washington Post, Oct 21, 2007)
Hmm, yet another incident among the litany of humiliating fuck-ups prosecuted by the now infamous private security company Blackwater (especially notorious for massacring 17 civilians on a Baghdad street last month). But the difference between outsourced soldiers, and their government-trained, purportedly accountable military counterparts, is that the US can thus by proxy dirty its hands as it pleases, without fear of its 'people' getting arrested and tried in Iraq for criminal activity. There is no accountability, and it seems that even Haditha-style massacres resulting in belated prosecutions back home (only after a reporter might dig up the incident), can be washed over by private companies with payoffs to the family, sweeping such incidents under the sand and allowing the gray area of justice in Iraq to be further distorted.
Furthermore, what these corporate security providers are doing is much worse for the American situation overall, because they are creating, along with (by extension) the US government, a standard of humanity that is in effect telling the Iraqi people that their lives are worth less than American lives, and when they die they simply become statistics whose family's grief can be bought off with US dollars rather than having the accused brought to a trial in Iraq to be held accountable for alleged crimes. The Iraqi's see the example of how the US treats humanity on the ground in Iraq, just as they see through the pious, farcical rhetoric of democracy and justice for all- as it appears to only apply to US citizens...so much for the 'hearts and minds' propaganda front.
October 9, 2007. 12:02 PM
The Record Industry Dug Its Own Grave- In The 80's
The record industry won a yet another victory over the benevolently-challenged consumer, coming down hard last week on a lady in Minnesota who offered her digitalized music catalog for the online masses to peruse via file-sharing network Kazaa. The verdict was $222,000, and the single mother of two who survives on $36,000 a year says she is prepared to literally face the music, and pay up. Although in the legal sense she is purportedly allowing people to 'steal' intellectual (creative) property, she is in essence appropriating available, (digital) culture and likewise appropriating available technology to share such digitalized art/music, something that in one form or technology has been going on for thousands of years.
Of course, the commodification of such art/music automatically destroys the initial, human relationship between people (in this case people sharing for mutual enjoyment), and turns those relationships into economic, codified relations driven by profit. This is how the industry was created, and one that stands today corrupt and dying. As a musician myself, I understand the need to survive, but these are terms of survival dictated by the market interest alone, and not by people. People would and do gladly pay for a live show, and music as well, but the very nature of this particular commodity form - the compact disc, and its digital format, by definition allow for media to be liquified (digitalized), disseminated, and manipulated outside of its initial structure and context (outside of capital).
The Recording Industry pushed very hard for this transition to digital in the mid to late 80's, salivating as they hungered to destroy vinyl as the primary medium, and replace it with a more durable, (supposedly) better sounding format that could be charged higher prices for, and made more cheaply. As they sowed this self-destructive seed with glee over the following decades, we now arrive at the era of the MP3 (coupled with the technology of dissemination), wherein these poor companies grovel for reparations from the very consumers they have exploited over the years, as they dumped overpriced, sub-par music upon the market, laughing to the bank. Boo fucking hoo! (and what next?)
October 8, 2007. 11:55 PM
Reimagining Iraq's Quandaries
A recent Vanity Fair article by the well-versed writer Christopher Hitchens documents a personal experience with a reader and fan of his, who subsequently enlisted to fight in Iraq after reading Hitchen's influential moral justifications for the American occupation. The soldier, Mark Daily, is described as a stellar citizen with a heart of gold, and a firm, dedicated belief in the order of representative government and the infallibility of individual freedom. Daily's politics were conscious and objective, his writings eloquent and he viewed his purpose in Iraq as a natural extension of his beliefs and followed through with them to admirable levels of execution. Hitchen's paints a heartwarming story that seeks to connect his initial observations on the justification of the invasion and it's aftermath to the ultimate path that Daily took, and to reconcile the events and aftermath within the context of the present occupation and its ongoing necessity.
However, to step outward a bit, and add a dose of now mystified history to the tragedy, we still can not ignore (as Hitchen's does in his article) the now-tired facts that were present (yet hidden and twisted) before the invasion, which argued that Iraq posed no immediate threat to anyone, that accusations that he had nuclear weapons were based on manufactured and dubious evidence, and that Al Qaeda had no established presence in, and nothing to do with secular Iraq. In the halcyon days prior to 9/11, there was no support for such ridiculous assertions, and only with the mainstream media towing the line of the President and his CIA puppet at the UN, Sect. Powell (dutifully spinning his fairy tales), could the American public be so duped into this (choose your own word here) quagmire, conundrum, debacle, etc.
The real tragedy is then that fellows such as Sir Hitchen's continue to ignore the history of events prior to March of 2003, and seem to think that the justification for the war can now be better cloaked in some grander self-evident morality based on selective doses of superior Western ideology, that must be bestowed upon the Middle East in order for them to save themselves. All arguments of economic interest aside (what, you mean Iraq sits upon the second largest oil reserves in the world?), it is safe to say that if the US wanted LESS terrorism, they would have joined with the rest of the world (the REAL coalition of the diplomatic willing) and made even a moderate attempt to shore up peaceful methods of diplomacy, rather than showing the Middle Eastern people that we bomb first and then proselytize the wonders of capitalism later. Meanwhile, despite all the admirable, good intentions of many Americans there, the occupation is only creating more terrorists by the day, where before, in a secular Iraq, there would have been open ears for the ideas of noble human beings such as Mark Daily, who perhaps need not have entered Iraq as a soldier and occupier.
October 1, 2007. 3:10 PM
Puttin Those Mad You-Tube Bomb Makin Skillz ta Work, Yo.
A 12 minute video lesson on how to make a bomb detonator was posted by a University of South Florida engineering student on You-Tube over the summer. The knowledge of such activity has always been available, however the capacity and ubiquity of new mediums permits the ill-intentions of the planet's less humanistic humans to engage in more streamlined methods of spreading the ideology of violence (as means of change). From bored teenagers in Iowa playing with chemistry lessons extracted from the Anarchist Cookbook, to the details of bomb making attainable within seconds of a Google search, the curious innocent and the sadistic zealot alike have easy access to the knowledge of manufacturing violence.
The video in question has since been removed, but apparently was up for quite a while without complaint. However, You-Tube censorship matters not, as such video media are so defined by their fluid and digital construct, that when tossed into the ocean of the global network are easily plucked out and posted and reposted elsewhere. So, in essence, there is only the digital plain where all that is vile and all that is beautiful about man exists in available, naked representations. Here, where purportedly all knowledge has the potential to be accessed by all, sits the Pandora's box of human curiosity. No policy, no institutional control, and no other action by You Tube can or will change anything in the short or long term.
At the root of this story is the fact that there is good information and bad information, and the need to define what information or content is harmful for the social good, and who gets to decide what is and is not harmful, and how to control access to the bad shite ('control' being the natural red flag here for all info freedom warriors). But the very structure and systemic order of the internet itself appears to negate this entire discourse, for the obvious, exploitable capacities of the internet are inherent to its design...and it seems that those who seek to control it simply do not have enough fingers to plug the leaks in this dam.
September 22, 2007. 4:55 PM
Highlights from this past week in the Shitstorm:
The US Homeland Security's digital eye on our lives is much greater than ever previously acknowledged, as an 'Automated Targeting System' (said to be the "largest system of government dossiers of American's personal activities that the government has ever created"), compiles swaths of personal information from just about anyone on anything, with proven data files obtained that showed where and when one traveled in the world, what books they read, and who they associated with, in what may be a clear violation of the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering of information related to American's First Amendment Rights. Make sure you hide that copy of "The Motorcycle Diaries" under your clothes next time you fly!
U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read- by Wired News
The Identity Project
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Also, we have a new economic report on the actual cost of the Iraq war, compiled by Nobel Prize winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard's Linda Milmes, stating the war is actually costing the United States 720 million Dollars a day, or $500,000 a minute. Add that to the 73,000-80,000 civilian casualties, the 4000 American fatalities and 28,000 wounded, and only then (maybe) we can go to sleep at night feeling safe with our consciouses clear, knowing that we are bringing democracy to Iraq and getting thousands of more people to hate us each and every day. Mission accomplished again!
Real Time Cost of Iraq Occupation
Finally, It was surprising to see on the front page of Myspace.com last week not some shitty advert for a new sitcom, or a vomit inducing Britney Spears video - BUT low and behold, a link directly to Naomi Klein's/ Alfonso Cuarón new short film "The Shock Doctrine" hyping her new book .....I guess if you want to get the alter-media ideology in front of the eyes of the kids, you got to go where all the eyes are peering....hope it was money well spent. Heck, I will link it for free here, ain't I swell!?
September 16, 2007
11:32 AM: Message not delivered.
Text messaging is a pain in the ass. As a medium it is probably the worst communication form massively adopted in recent years, providing yet another stop on the social trajectory of depersonalization. Of course it has its uses, in some cases, but text messaging has reached a hyperbolic saturation in culture, as a bastardized form of real human communication replacing the direct with the indirect. An op-ed in the Post today by an NPR reporter named Natalie Moore, evokes similar lamentations. However, where I disagree with her observations is in where she places the blame- on the technology itself.
The problem with accusing/blaming the 'technology,' for inherently human problems, discordances or changes in culture is a convenient observation rooted in deterministic, reductionist thought. She laments at the outset "how technology is killing romance," in the process of explaining how her ex-boyfriend used to text message her dozens of times throughout the day, avoided her phone calls in favor texting, and even said "I love you" the first time through text message. However, to assert that the 'technology' was killing the romance is to wash over the fact that her and her boyfriend were the architects of their relationship, the communication (texting) just provides the capacity to express ideas, or specifically, the extent to which one can use such tools to transmit ideas. The point is the human is the arbiter, not the technology.
An example of this is that if her boyfriend hit her with a broomstick, thus communicating his anger at her, would she place blame on the instrument of anger transference (the broomstick), or would she blame her human counterpart for appropriating that available technology and putting it to such inappropriate ends?
The deterministic veil can easily shroud the actions rooted in flesh and blood behind all inhuman forms. As it is easy to be attracted to the gadgets we fetishize, thus giving them power that they do not have, we often grant them the power of arbiter, providing the impetus for human actions. Yet they are as dead as every machine in essence is, and each communication machine or medium is only the modern incarnation of the cave drawing or the smoke signal, past forms of communication whose components and nature were less shrouded by the myths of the digital age.
Perhaps then, it should be questioned, at what point will the human interaction with such technologies ultimately create the self-sustaining myth that there is not simply some deterministic dialectic taking place, but an interlocked, mutually developing relationship of unquestioned need- where the communication device operates as a virtual appendage of the body itself, in a bond of irreversible connectivity? Or maybe we have already passed this point....
September 14, 2007
Isn't it great when we can learn from history, so as not to make the same mistakes? (Or, at the very least, we can look back and laugh while we do it, eh?)
"Naturally the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."
Hermann Goering, Germany, 1946
September 8, 2007
Free Speech Fantasies
Washington DC, my hometown for many years, and globally recognized as the hometown of the (former) crackhead mayor, former murder capital, and scandal central for politicians on the up and down...oh, and of course the DC punk scene of the 80's (to end on a positive historical note). Well, as the capital where notions of "Freedom" should practically be shitting all over the streets, this overtly politicized city has another negative attribute- the suppression of Free Speech as normalized occurrence.
Today's case in point: We have an Anti-War march in DC the weekend of the 15th, and the organizers were out and about putting up posters to advertise it, until Federal police came and arrested them as they were talking to the press (SEE VIDEO HERE). Well, these sort of glue-and-paste posterings on electrical boxes around the city have been going on for decades, advertising social, DIY, events around the city like Go Go concerts and Farmer's markets. Yet the city is consciously 'cracking down' on it now, and fining the organizers thousands for the efforts to get the word out? The point is, aside from the obvious bias from the city and the police force criminalizing public speech (as it is a violation of federal property to 'paste' the poster on the box), is that there IS NO PUBLIC SPACE readily available to use for such social, communicative actions like postering. Additionally they were arrested for having an 'illegal press conference' prior to attempting to put up the poster- the kind that politicians and other DC powerfucks have on the streets every day.
Many major cities around the world (Berlin comes immediately to mind) provide public pylon bulletin boards for posters and announcements, dotting the cityscape's street corners. And while the US government praises free speech activists in places like Burma and Russia, the activists in their own backyard get hauled away. It is a sick feeling, to live under yet another mythical illusion-but it is particularly bitter to taste here in the nations' capital, where we have constructed yet another un-freedom in the "land of the free."
September 5, 2007
At what point does the absurd reify itself into collective consciousness, and become reality itself? You know, the persistent social myths that seep, fester and merge with everyday life, despite their proven inveracity through purportedly 'rational' methods? (ahh the rational methods...like a study to refute a study, a report to counter a report, an opinion to bury an opinion -and so on).
A recent Washington post article reported on a psychological research study that reviewed the tendency for people to become more attached to misinformation, the MORE they are provided 'truth' to the contrary. Case in point, many Americans still adhere to the idea that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, that the Bin Laden-Al Qaeda group played no part whatsoever, or that they worked together.
Yet while no evidence ever surfaced, none was ever needed! The White House propaganda machine (that grand arbiter of authenticity) cleverly carpet bombed media outlets with associative phraseology that functioned by making repeated references, in essence manufacturing public opinion by using tsunami-semantics that turned myth into reality. As Jacques Ellul discussed decades ago, the "goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief."
All notions of dissonance aside, there are numerous converging phenomena that subsume the public mind in a virtual tug-of-war with reality itself. But the proverbial 'working man,' lost at sea in such mediated modernity, navigates first those waters that reinforce his own ontological security, and perhaps only after (if temporal limitations allow) concerns himself with the nonsense of that distant, far-off world outside his window.
August 30, 2007
So, it seems our men and women overseas are becoming vocal critics in their own right (refering primarily to a NYT editorial page essay). Dissension in the ranks tolerated? Rank and file US soldiers voicing harsh criticism on the state of the Iraq War's prosecution? Well, first of all what 'war'? I am sure they, and all parties involved realize there is no traditional war going on there, as from the day "mission accomplished" was announced, its been little more than an occupation by a foreign army, compounded by the civil unrest and violence surrounding it (hmm, much like when the British once occupied ye olde America, eh?). As no matter what rhetoric spills forth from the hallowed halls of government about 'spreading democracy' and 'fighting terrorism,' these soldiers and the people they are policing know what the score is. Undoubtedly, none want to be there, yet the forces of wealth and power have instilled them there on false pretenses, and with massive loss of life for all involved.
So, given that the experience of a soldier in some peaceful, far off corner of Iraqi Kurdistan will be much different from one stuck patrolling the streets of Baghdad, lets just assume for a second there are actual varying degrees of 'success' in Iraq. But close to 5 years after the invasion, how is such success to be measured? ...By how 'westernized' the US occupiers can enforce the culture there to become? By how quickly we can create a bonafide class system out of the economy, whereby we have a paid-off shell of a 'government' ensuring the safe and steady flow of oil out of the country to fuel the gluttonous needs of Empire? Either way, we have unleashed a tsunami of grief in this land, and to perpetuate it, as the US did with the Vietnam War (that's a great analogy, Mr. President), is to once more play the roll of the clumsy, burdensome hegemonic beast, lumbering across the world, shitting on humanity.
August 27, 2007
As the military faces massive recruitment shortfalls, it was reported today in the Washington Post that they are now resorting to a $20,000 instant payment for those who sign up to ship out to boot camp within one week. What does such a necessity say about the state of the war in Iraq in the eyes of the American public? Many years ago, there once was a 'just war' - a time when hundreds of thousands volunteered to fight the Nazis and fascists. A few decades after, we were then forced to draft the working class into fighting the Vietcong, and for today's imperial escapades we now simply patrol the poor communities of the country, trolling for desperate citizens to sign up for an illegal occupation force a world away. I guess when all other moral arguments fail, it should not be surprising that the capitalist ethic of literally 'buying off' the public is the sad, reprehensible, last resort.
August 25, 2007
Each civilization has its own methods of suicide - Harold Innis
So, I have some friends out on the Ozzfest this year. That said, I rolled up to Philadelphia with Sparky, and 3 others to witness, for the first time, the spectacle of Nascar-mullet culture meets Mall-Metal mediocrity known as the afformentioned, "Ozzfest." Of course this year, its a "free" event, and although you apparently have to sell your soul in someway to get the "free" ticket (providing demographic info to advertisers and marketers etc) , we nevertheless bypassed that shite to slip in on the almighty 'guest list.' So we witness the farce in all its glory, from the side of the stage. By farce, of course I do not mean the good bands (you know who you are), I mean the medium itself- the architecture of the festival and its culture of hyper-marketed garbage from the likes of energy drinks, porn stars, etc...but wait, is that the US Marine Corp? What are they doing here? Aren't they supposed to be a bit more respectable than this? Hmm.
I was a bit shocked (and that does not happen much these days) to see a military recruitment station on site, complete with pull up bar-challenge run by model girls, and even playing (as was told by the band on the tour), Rage Against the Machine through their stereo system (!) Way to hype up drunk kids and get them to join the Marines! I guess I have been out of the loop on this one, cause apparently (I was told) the military shows up at all these corporate music fuck-festivals and 'sells' joining the military right there next to the Jagermeister Tent. What a way to face reality, when some poor drunken sod wakes up the next morning in a hazy stupor, not only with his ears gone deaf from shitty music, but also to find he signed up for the Marines and is off to Iraq in a few months. Ouch!
August 20, 2007
Do projects like Wikipedia necessarily tend to shift towards centralized control, over time?
A new database called Wikipedia Scanner pulls back the curtain on the PR-driven antics of corporations, politicians and institutions to brush up their online image.
"Some of this appears to be transparently self-interested, either adding positive, press release-like material to entries, or deleting whole swaths of critical material."
Spontaneously editing reality, millions of users drop in to alter the information in Wikipedia's article entries, often with the idea of developing or refining information through collective review and criticism. I often go there for a quick reference, and often link to it from this blog (at the very least one can find links to other, more 'valid' sources). But as a growing part of the online culture, should its use perhaps should be relegated more to entertainment, as when everyone can opine and spin in the wiki-world , what in essence is left of the 'truth'?
In the worst scenario, working to prevent such mis-editing could lead to more centralized control, rendering Wikipedia's original mandate obsolete...or will such 'scanners' help restore faith? I wiki-wonder...
August 17, 2007
An American citizen is held for years without being charged and without trial. Locked away in a military holding cell with no lawyer, Jose Padilla was mentally and physically tortured, never knowing his fate or circumstance. After three years, he was eventually brought to trial, and yesterday Padilla was found guilty on all charges, despite incredibly weak evidence. Going beyond what he did, or what was planning on doing, the point is, the precedent is set. The US government has shown itself above the law, and above the constitution. Also reported yesterday, the US is now giving local law-enforcement access to its all-pervasive military spy satellites (oversight anyone?), combine this with the legalization of warrentless wiretapping, and thus the "War on Terror" has a yet another casualty- our purported "liberty."
August 15, 2007
It's interesting to note we are approaching the 2 year mark of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. Most Americans have already flushed the misery and images from their conscience, but hundreds of thousands are still displaced and/or destitute. We channel billions of tax dollars every day into military adventures and global hubris, while in our own yard we ignore our suffering brothers and sisters. I don't think God would bless THIS America, eh?
Katrina Timeline from ThinkProgress.org
Current Katrina Reports from NPR
Current Katrina Reports from the Guardian
Music in the 'Ephemeral Culture'
The other day I was digging through my cd collection to find some picks for an upcoming road trip, when I happened upon two favorite albums, Bob Dylan's "Desire," and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." I noticed after a bit, that they were both recorded in the year 1975 (Apparently a decent year for music, as some other top favs also were belted out that year including Kiss - Alive, Led Zeppelin-Physical Graffiti, Queen-A Night at the Opera, and Bruce Springsteen- Born To Run).
Then I thought to myself, what an upheaval 30 years can be in the course of modernity, whereby (without sounding arrogantly nostalgic or romantic) we have come from an era where singers and bands predominately wrote and performed their own songs, to an era of manufactured 'artists' that are spoon fed their craft by managers, labels and 'professional' songwriters. For a period in the 1960's and into the 1980's, singers and bands recorded their music onto analog tape, under natural settings, using real instruments in a direct expression from their own hearts, imprinted on vinyl records- a durable and seemingly permanent representation of their art and themselves (of course, we can still find such today, but one needs to dig a lot deeper).
In recent decades, mainstream (yes the ever present evil mainstream) music has burned out its own engines in the process of appropriating musical subcultures, hyper-marketing them, and thereby destroying what was original and sincere about them in the first place. This is all common knowledge to most. We can easily look around and see the facade as it grows and gestates around us, where laughable imitations of formerly underground 'hip' bands are sold back to us en masse in a form of pre-packaged cool. Pop music is the land of the musical damned, where 'artists' sell their integrity to be famous based on marketing, and not necessarily on talent (but at least the Pop crap in the seventies and eighties was performed by humans, and in most cases still written by the actual singers or band members themselves (Abba, Duran Duran, etc.), and not dominated entirely by 'hitmakers' for hire.
Many of us lament the supposed "good old days," but I want to put it all in cultural perspective. I want to situate it in the context of the broader cultural shift from the 'real' (or sincere) to the ephemeral, from the consistent to the fleeting, and from the sublime to the banal. Or as Marx said to the point perhaps today, where "all that is solid melts into air." To grasp this shift, one need only look at the methods used to continually reinvent, repackaged and resell people the same shit over and over again (as in Vinyl to Cassette, and CD to MP3). Here we find, that in the drift towards digitization, the irony that the industry voluntarily sowed the seeds of its own destruction. For without foresight (or without care), they shifted all priorities to the bottom line while readily sacrificing artistic sincerity.
Yet the culture shifted as well, from the high-flying 'greed is good' of the Reagan years, to the slacker-cool Gen X 'alternative' culture of the nineties (which in essence was nothing more than the commodification of all that was 'underground' in the eighties), we have arrived in the sobering Bush II years of the zeros, where music and entertainment in general is crassly saturated into an amalgamation of everything that was even remotely sincere of the preceding decades. It's as if an android culture has arisen, where we exist in a world of Blade Runner 'replicants' that mimic the 'essence' of previous decades, but glue it together in a syrupy mix of digital vomit, and sell it to consumer drones pining for a bit of their glorious past. Through rereleases, compilations, and remasters, in continually changing formats, they buy the same 'experience' over and over again ad infinitum as if searching for a former, unattainable high.
To clarify this perspective we need only to look at three examples: The rise of 'American Idol,' the death of the local record store, and the birth of the MP3. These cultural events, when bound together, are but a few of many examples that provide contextual evidence of what I characterize as the modern 'culture of the ephemeral.'
*American Idol, at first glance is disposable media. A talent show where people can engage in some friendly schadenfreude, as they chuckle at humiliated contestants having their dreams crushed one after the other. That is, until the contest nears its end, when the finalists begin to take shape. Here is where the engines of production begin to kick in, and record companies start salivating (almost as much as the network execs who run the hit-show with little or no overhead). Its not so much that the global "Idol" sensation fuels, so much as it embodies the manufactured 'artist.' In other words, the winner, as well as the runner-ups, as recognized and ready-made stars, easily go on to gold and platinum stardom covering 'hitmaker' songs with puppet strings fully intact. This of course is not the totality of the industrie's modus operandi, as some bands are reliable album sellers on their own merit (Coldplay, White Stripes etc.). But the need to produce consistent, high-selling product in a high-speed disposable culture, has led the industry to pump out heaps of formulaic tripe, in order to give the people 'what they expect to hear," and to capitalize on quick turning trends and fads that come and go at ever quicker speeds. American Idol epitomizes this approach to engaging the public by taking it to an interactive level of play with the public, to the point where they almost create the next trend in unison, and the "idol" as commodity can thereby be sold to a public that already 'expects' and knows the product. As all music is commodified at this level, we nevertheless still see the drastic shift from the artist-driven, 'real' music culture of the singer-songwriters and bands of the seventies, to the processed, pre-packaged 'idols' of today.
*Through decades the record companies marched in unison with record stores. Joined in mutually beneficial symbiosis, they defined the connection between the artist and the fan for decades. I remember waiting at a record store the day Iron Maiden's 'Somewhere in Time' album came out in 1986, salivating just to get that vinyl in my hands with rabid anticipation. From the all-consuming imports selection found in the Tower Records monolith, to the local independent record store, we had a culture in place that extended the food-chain of musical consumption from the recording studio to the nearest mall. This relationship, necessarily organized around varying degrees of profit and value-added services from the store, back to the distributor, back to the label's production house, is still in effect today, but obviously as a moribund model. However, when seeking out what was abstractly 'real' about this relationship (as embedded in the capitalist model it is was), the critical attribute is access. In ages before digital media and communication, the record store was a beacon of pleasure and meaning. The record store embodied the one place where a direct connection to the artist was made, and although the record buyer was the lemming at the end of the line, it was nevertheless a sincere relationship- it did not rely on 'appearances.' The sincerity of the industry, if it ever existed, or counted for anything, made itself apparent in here, where one could have a tangible connection to the recording artist's output, one that could be held, touched, smelled and yes- even played...
*...therefore, the birth of the MP3 in the late 1990's, by its very nature as the digitized replicant of a formerly tangible medium, embodies the culture of the ephemeral like no other aspect of the hollow music industry today. The MP3 rips the album format to shreds, fragmenting the recording artist's collective body of work into an encapsulated format that can be destroyed at the click of a mouse. The disposability of the MP3 is inherent in its very construction as a digital file of random bytes. It can reduce the essence of the music to that of junk food, easily created and easily obliterated. Of course the music is still the music, but that's not the point. The point is the relationship between the listener and the artist is debased, as the essence of the connection is reduced to that of a junkie and his fix, as MP3's are downloaded en masse from sharing sites, given a brief moment to make an impression, and then dragged to the trashcan to make way for more. This of course is the worst view of the medium, and I will not deny its benefits in terms of portability. What I am concerned with here is to exemplify how MP3's and by extension media digitization, as a component of the broader culture around us, embodies a social superficiality that although appears to be a technologically good thing, actually cheapens the human artistic experience among and between people. Many adore the MP3 for liberating us from the chains of the record industry's overpriced CDs (and their one-hit albums chock full of filler songs-another 'normal' consequence of ephemeral culture), and see it as the finall nail in the coffin of 'planned obsolescence.' However, these and other utilitarian aspects aside, I would just ask us to rethink our love affair with the MP3, and in the process to counter the ephemerality of the medium by seeking out artists that speak from the heart, and actually have a full album's worth of great songs that are meant to be heard together- they do exist! Additionally, its always nice to hear live music when possible, and seek new ways to horizontally engage and support the artists themselves, and lastly, to seek out methods to 'humanize' digital media when and if possible.
August 9, 2007
Finally back to work here. Just returned from six weeks out in Europe, with three weeks in Eastern Europe, which included amazing shows in Croatia, Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria and even the Italian island of Sardinia, it was an amazing voyage and its presently being documented in a lengthy tour diary I have begun and will publish here with pictures in the near future.
In getting back to regular updates I want to start off with an exposition clarifying my thoughts on the possibilities of change and realizing alternatives to the present system. Recently, I have undertaken a discussion with a close friend on the matter that is an attempt to discuss such questions as he posited to me:
"There appears to be no vision. There is no feasible alternative, nothing attractive to align our efforts towards. That's why works like 'The Dispossessed' and others are so effective: they provide ideas where once there weren't any. Do you think this is an obstacle to battering down capitalism? The inability to formulate something beyond our present?
First, in everyday life, we have mainstream economics, originating in the realm of illusion, where mystified and beatified economists try to distill divine truths from the illogical and unpredictable habits of men. Yet, in the process of performing such alchemy for humanity, they in turn become figureheads, the architects who predict and 'save us' from the unthinkable. It only shows the way in which capitalism works past its appearance as a solitary economic model, to an all-consuming and integrated cultural force. At the helm is the notion of progress, the teleological force that underwrites all aspects of what we do, as in 'we are working towards something, making humanity better,' and this is the model that ensures such a path. Look around, its benefits are everywhere, and where it fails, well its NOT the fault of capital, its the fault of the people who just are not 'doing it right.'
When such a force "appears to be too immense a thing to change," it is only because it perhaps has been so efficient in consolidating its growth in the last 60 years, as it shifted from a political and economic system, to a cultural system that envelopes human consciousness with its aura of certainty, boosted by a genuine need for humans to 'believe' in its connection to progress. In almost religious fashion, people adhere to the dreams that capitalism tells us, and I think you are on point in seeing it as a 'comfortable' and certain way to go about life, at least for those of us not among the millions here below the poverty level (who perhaps have given into the misery of their situation for other reasons).
As for the middle of the country, the so-called 'Red States,' believe me as I traveled through I asked locals many times what they think of the effects capitalism, meeting with conscious and clever folk from all walks of life with keen insight. Yet, most of the ones I have talked with are apolitical, and believe themselves to be out of the realm of politics (to which I reply everything in life is politics- its nothing that exists in DC alone, its your relations with your neighbor, your community, your environment, your work). As well as others who coming from varying backgrounds, simply think according to their interests- their consciousness dictates conservatism as such thinking reflects their social position. So we can analyze all we want, and get dirty, yet, having done a bit, I have returned not with some pious academic dismissal of their so-called 'false consciousness,' but with a more lucid understanding of the obstacles that we face culturally in trying to get progressive ideas out to a population so soaked and steeped in the values of capitalist ideology.
In terms of getting other ideas out and sowing them into the culture of passivity, I think it works in increments, as you correctly noted- the failure of such overarching socialist ideas is still in the memory of the population, and the bastardization of Marx's thought and sadistic Soviet 'communism' in general served only to strengthen the cultural position of capitalism in the west (and its consequent marketing to the rest of the world in ready-made end of history theories). So while we are not ready even for the most latent of socially driven changes (as in the failure of national health care to take root), I do think that ideas need to be on the table and 'inserted' into culture to have them ready for use when the time is ripe. Meaning, real change comes in periods of crisis, when the middle class actually begins to doubt the validity and sanctity of the system, and as such (like during the depression), socialist ideas begin to take root. As these policies have been dismantled in recent decades, we have seen the pendulum swing back to greater inequality. So, in order to prepare, ideas need to be injected into all aspects of social relations. Every conversation is important in this sense for those who desire change -each essay, book, blog, poem, or lyric written, each webpage designed or hacked, each movie, short or documentary produced- every piece of media that can be used as means of forwarding progressive ideas and nurturing hope.
In this sense, there is no grand blueprint for the 'next system' where everyone is happy, its a realization that history is a mammoth trudging at a snail's pace, and that perhaps ideas may work more organically when appropriated by different communities in different ways. This is why anarchism is so attractive, as to me it naturally stresses methods and flexibility in opposition to stringent doctrine. Its blueprints are malleable while necessarily libertarian, are positioned on a foundation of socialism (as it has been said "every anarchist is a socialist, but not every socialist is an anarchist"). Without getting too far off discussion, I just would like to express by belief in the local, and the need to start getting ideas out in one's community firs