----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Cascone" <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: microsound_list <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [microsound] [ot] passports
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 11:32:13 -0700
it does make sense that the number of u.s. citizens holding
passports
has increased now that there is so much concern and paranoia about
identity and travel, but in the end this is a summation of control.
the increase of passport ownership is due to paranoia? I don't
follow...
I would say that one trend I have seen is that more young people
(20 +) are traveling and this is due to the boomers (who have a
disposable income) having kids of backpacking age who want to check
out europe...these same kids represent a huge demographic in the
US right now since their 'buying power' is most likely equal to
that of professional gay men -- I don't have any data to back this
up but if someone has any data on this it would be interesting to
parse thru --
most of the americans I see traveling in europe these days are
either in their 20's or retirees in the 60's...so I would account
for any increase in percentage of americans holding passports due
to the aging (and retiring) work force and boomer offspring
demographic centers of buying power...
and while the consumption of other cultures is problematic in many
ways it is also a good way to get a broader view of the world and
politics...
for an interesting deconstruction of american culture, check out
Umberto Eco's 'Travels in Hyperreality'
http://tinyurl.com/y956et
it is a means to control a populations movements as well as having a
central resource to know what citizens are actually up to.
I find your theory interesting but not sure I follow the logic
here...there are a myriad of ways the gov't keeps track of
us...passports are only one of them...
I'm getting my Italian citizenship (my grandparents were born in
Italy) and passport next year so I'm hoping dual citizenship will
really confuse the panopticon ;)
in the
case of the u.s. i see this increase driven exclusively by a
sense of
pressure from the u.s. culture.
again, I'm not challenging your view so much as wanting to
understand the underlying logic...
the notion of, "if you have nothing
to hid, all is o.k.", is merely a veneer painted on an apparatus
that
looks and smells like the 1930's in a few countries, the end result
was not good then and will result in the same type concentrated
power
that has no social or cultural benevolence.
this is true...especially when those in power don't share in the
accountability and transparency they are foisting on the public...
a u.s. passport is a membership card to the party in control at the
moment
I think I understand your statement but I find this to be one of
the less focused ways in which the gov't controls you...except for
requiring visa's for certain countries and making it near
impossible for americans to travel in certain parts of the
world...my travels throughout Europe have never been hampered by
US Customs...
and secondarily a method travel documentation. it is a means
to an end that appears bleak.
that's odd since traveling is the only thing that gives me hope in
humanity any more...