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Re: [microsound] [ot] passports





On Oct 15, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Kim Cascone wrote:

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...

one of the modes at work within the u.s. is that citizens want to be innocent and proof of this innocence is getting a passport, thereby clearing any of the obstacles or possible watch lists. the u.s. passport has become a national ID card within the u.s., to some degree. it is a distorted ID card, similar to how a Social Security card was never meant or designated to be the carrier of your identity or credit health. i am pushing the limit of the passport being a travel tool and seeing it more as means to an exclusive group of "clean" citizens.

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... 

i agree.


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...

i mean a passport as being a measurement of a citizens worth as a citizen, against the growing lists and restraints on naturalized citizens, etc.


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...

i agree also, i spend most of my time traversing one border or another. :)

> earphone (marc mcnulty) - http://www.earphone.org





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