slowpencil__notebook_

notebook rant_00001

I have to laugh at you stupid, greedy morons.

Reading love poems from centuries ago, I was suddenly struck with the monumental stupidity and selfishness inherent in the trade, rather, commerce of popular arts (and perhaps anything at all).

Words, sound, pictures, theater.

Bound and commodified, these basic units are being colonized by corporations not for distribution but for purchase.

The only reason I could experience the thoughts and words of humans centuries ago was my ability to share my girlfriend’s book. And it was without any sort of permission beyond an understanding of respect for belongings in a shared space. No actual verbal written or technological pass was granted. Sometimes I get a terrible pain in my chest when I think of public libraries.
Maybe where you come from they are more appreciated, widely utilized and supported.

In the larger world, sharing is strictly forbidden because anything needed is of value. Anything with value can be given a price.

And then there’s technology, “formats,” and the internet.
I shudder when I think that behind all the advances and grandeur of human-kind
lies nothing but a giant multi-level marketing scheme.

If the acronym D.I.Y. ever sees the light of day its almost assured outcome is bound for a single and very depressing fate, either due to original intent or inevitability. Everything is taken to market? Surely, I must be mistaken.

It’s often mentioned that everybody needs to make a living. Is this manifest destiny played out on the world’s culture providing a benefit to humanity’s minds or souls? How do you market a cell phone to an aborigine running away from fires, bulldozers and the bane of progress or a farmer in the middle of “nowhere” that’s just past the hump and down in the crick out of range?

How did monks and professional scribes fight against the printing press?
Did they feel secure in their history of scholarlship and the superiority of their creations? Surely the corporate stewards of today would mock their possible naivety. Should I just shrug my shoulders as an advance in technology shifts upper echelons of power or replaces one business with another? While contentment doesn’t build character, obsolesence has developed into a tool, method and advantage.

While many may assume that consumers pay for the format and presentation of “things” (including the aforementioned words, sounds, pictures, theater and more), industry of today has decided that the products they make available for purchase include not only the presentation but also the words, sounds, pictures, theater and often times the minds and persons of their original composers. The terms “intellectual property,” “artifact” and “product” confuse my notions of human work and play as well as the acquired and commodified representations thereof.

An old or new format of a “thing” for sale has rules and regulations regarding its use as well as a bureaucratic and technological trail that is linked inexorably with the “rightful” owner. And what of single human entity owner/creators?Perhaps Sasquatch or Nessie knows where to find one.

Do we really need to have everything that exists dispensed to us on a per-use basis in order to preserve fairness and the modern spirit of competition?
Markets, as they seem to exist today, are rarely created by masses of individuals. Markets are created by the conglomerates who have something to sell. What will it take to get this power of creation (or any sort of power of decision) back to individual human entities. Was it ever ours in the first place?

There seems to be an amazing amount of confusion with the terms fairness and sharing. Humans have a basic familiarity with the need of other humans to survive. Most humans hope to better themselves in any number of ways.
Why can’t we seek out and participate in the human life experience while avoiding filling the coffers of institutions and corporations that benefit from the
exploitation of culture and its artifacts.

Or maybe I’m making no sense with all these generalities.

Put simply, it’s the sharing and learning that counts.
I don’t know exactly what percentage of knowlege I’ve received from other humans. A good guess would include the words, “overwhelming majority.”
Society’s well oiled machine is paving the way for corporate colonization vehicles. It’s part of the reason teachers are paid a pittance and get treated like curses.

Maybe my wish is to get on my bike and ride without fear of this “traffic.” Maybe I just want to have the option to walk through the grass while it’s still here.

Humans need to figure out how much of their culture they would like dispensed to them at a cost and hopefully or inevitably, what portion of their culture they would like to share and explore amongst themselves.

I’m pretty much fed up with being told who is really in charge of culture, knowledge and experience. If a corporation can look out for it’s best interest maybe we should start looking out for ours as well. Together.

If the very first sentence of this rant causes you offense,
perhaps you should explore what you are doing for yourself and others.
I have a good deal of contempt for myself for an abundance of ambition shackled to a lack of initiative. When that first sentence leapt out of my head it was mostly aimed at the inhuman corporate and bureaucratic system. Second thoughts have me verifying whether you and I aren’t helping grease the cogs.

Just what are you going to do to get outside (and stay outside) this system?
I want to travel at hyperspeeds using magnetic-field propulsion crafts in vaccuum tubes just like everybody else but I want to like where I come from and where I’m going.

ALSO:
A big thanks to John and Lisa for lending me Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen, which I was able to polish off during my two flights home. I still don’t know why people read courtroom novels and john clancy when shit like this is around to give their grey matter a fat and happy hand slap. (You know…. that GOOD kinda tingle.)

11 July 2002, 22:08 ::

not sure what exactly i hope to address about this rant, though i find the points common to many, including myself. simply, you make your own space in this world regardless of following, leading, subverting, or deviating. we all want, most have more than needed while many have less, there’s plenty for everyone and not enough desire to spread it around without a profit.
we can blame others or ourselves, but without action and participation, philososphy remains theory.
find your role or create one—participate, it’s complicated

— rmckaggis 2002-07-16 13:31 #

commenting closed for this article

< back | next >