[microsound] [ot] passports

[Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 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...