[microsound] privilege, boundaries and class

[Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I undoubtedly feel privileged to be a
> musician, to be able to think about such things, and to live in the 
> country in
> which I live, the recent political situation notwithstanding.
that statement is another discussion altogether...but in passing: why 
do you feel privileged to live in your country - which I am assuming to 
be the US given the reference to the 'recent political situation' in 
your statement...but most countries have had 'recent political 
situations' and I could be wrong here...

also, aren't borders/nation-states et. al. just 'artificial' constructs 
that we are sold through indoctrination and media? and if they are 
artificial why do we cling to them? what real purpose do these 
boundaries serve?

in any event, by using the term 'privilege' I didn't mean 'the feeling 
of gratitude' but an 'immunity' from the underlying mechanisms and 
agendas of consumer capitalism...a state of 'privilege' tends to blind 
those who have had life-long indoctrination by western power 
structures...our privileged way of life colors how we see things (or 
not see things), our unquestioned bourgeois life-style of convenience 
which some person in a remote part of the planet has made available to 
us through their labor...we wall all this off so that it remains 
hidden...this is the psychic defense mechanism of 'freedom' we learn to 
acquire in a late stage capitalist society...a system where markets 
aren't free but manipulated and programmed to benefit the corporate 
power structures that sustain them...
unless of course it's fashionable to participate in a PC-feel-good 
fashion marketing plan...e.g. last night I heard something on NPR w/r/t 
Bank of America building a 'green' skyscraper in NYC - Bof A's real 
motives are submerged while the consumer gets the friendly face on all 
this posturing...if BofA were really to be effective at being 'green' 
they would take their resources and re-distribute it to building an 
infrastructure of greenness rather than erecting a monument to their 
own political-correctness...not that what they are doing is 'wrong' per 
se but that is another discussion and I am digressing...the point being 
that privilege creates a state of being made politically unaware and 
isolated by the very act of consumption...

sorry for the fragmented scattered thoughts but still nursing my first 
cup of French roast! :)


>   However, for
> anyone who owns a computer to take someone to task for a position they 
> see
> as bourgeois is beyond rich, in my opinion.
you are misreading the term bourgeois...I mean it as more of a mind-set 
and less of a power to consume afforded to particular class 
structure...


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