[microsound] Re: microsound Digest 19 Feb 2005 17:10:31 -0000 Issue 1356

[David Powers <dpowers3@xxxxxxxxxx>]

First, I buy almost all of these cheap electronics USED.  They are cheap
because they are obsolete.  They may not have been cheap originally. 
And people are exploited somewhere for almost every new item we buy here
in the USA.  Anyway, new musical instruments aren't actually cheap at
all here, at least typical gear might cost an entire month of my wages.

Second, the developed world - and here I can only speak from experience
of the United States - has quite a few of those truly destitute people. 
I see so many homeless people everyday here in Chicago, it's quite sad
really.  And if you go into the worse off urban areas things are really
bad.   Average working people are still exploited in the United States,
regardless of a somewhat better lifestyle, and wages have generally been
decreasing over the last few years.  Meanwhile, prisons are growing
larger and larger and entire communities are devestated by drug laws
which systematically remove "delinquent" parts of the population.  Most
workers here hardly have lifestyles that are "opulent."  Many people are
one paycheck from being homeless and broke.  Depending on where one
lives, one may have more income but it all goes towards higher rent. 
Better off than workers in underdeveloped countries, sure, but hardly a
new aristocracy.  Finally, a greater purchasing power vis-a-vis other
workers does not translate into political power and autonomy -
characteristics which one would expect to in an aristocracy.  

Third, yes, exploitation of labor in underdeveloped countries is a
serious global political issue.  But I think this focus on consumption
is problematic.  There are many conscious people that try to make
reasonable purchases for only things they really need and do not live
the hyper-consumer lifestyle that is promoted on television.  I suggest
that a politics of guilt is in appropriate in this issue.  In this case,
the focus needs to be on what can be done to better the working
conditions and increase the bargaining power of the workers in
underdeveloped countries.  In this area it is still the struggle between
workers and global capital that is most important.  Reducing the
position or income of, say, American workers isn't going to bring any
advantage to other workers in underdeveloped countries.

Can I go back to button-pushing music now, PLEASE?! ;)  

As soon as I get off work, I'm going to play my lovely DX-21 with three
broken keys (luckily only at the extreme registers) thought I bought for
$100.

~David


David Powers
Secretary
DePaul University, School of Education
Department of Leadership in Education, Language, and Human Services
773-325-4806

>>> guelfert@xxxxxx 02/20/05 05:33PM >>>
Before you get too carried away, do not forget that those "cheap" 
electronics are cheap largely because of the continued subjugation of 
the truly poor who comprise such a huge part of our manufacturing base

today (and who do not own computers). We in the developed 
(overdeveloped?) world are all, with the exception of a few truly 
destitute, the elite, privileged, aristocratic few, and the opulence of

our lifestyle rivals that of noblemen throughout history. The 
separation of rich and poor has not changed, it has merely been 
globalized. At least, that has been my growing impression lately.

Galen


> So if I can create music through the use of buttons and sliders,
> computers, cheap consumer electronics, and anything that is readily
> available and affordable to the working person, that's an incredible
> opportunity!  I'm a piano player but I don't own a piano, so the
> availability of cheap keyboard instruments is also an amazing asset. 
I
> don't understand why some people want music to be an elite activity 
> only
> available to a privileged few. 
>  

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