Pages 205-214 - Yikes. Who knew you were a profit? Certainly the global rumblings you mention are taking form. "Which side are you on? Are you for the world or against it? Come on. Join up, take sides." (i.e., you are either with the terrorists or with us.) And the stuff on Islamic nations... Don't make me turn the FBI onto this book. You don't know what might happen. Chris Locke, newest 'detainee'. Talk about foreshadowing. My goodness. You speak the words many of us feel--and you didn't know when you wrote these pages, did you, where we would be now--us and The Evil Ones.
The word according to Locke: "Such either-or thinking constitutes a conceptual booby trap. Although the 'logic' is usually transparent and invisible, when we think this way we are invoking extremely old binary opposites. Spirit good, world bad. World good, spirit bad. But such zero-sum heads-I-win-tails-you-lose alternatives are suffocating and insufferable. I don't want to take sides. I don't want to be lumped into such confining categories. I want an olive tree AND a Lexus. I want a Big Mac AND a jihad."
Wow. Okay, on to lighter matters...
As for the Roland guitar synthesizer--and this may have profound meaning beyond your example--"If you can't play guitar, you can't play the Roland guitar synth." (those, words from my husband, proud owner of same--he knows of what he speaks.) hmmmmmmmmmm. [Ed Note: Write gespro@bellsouth.net for tips. Blog coming soon to a browser near you.]
The evolution of consciousness to the easiest path of purchase--I'm there. Two minutes ago, my flu-bitten child jumped on my lap, in need of a present to make her feel better. Before letting her hijack my laptop to her favorite zoogdisney.com destination, I said, "Let's pick out a treat..." Off to Amazon, toys, Bob the Builder Walkie Talkies - under $20 delivered. One click. She even got to do the click. Done. Now she gets the trill of watching the porch for packages--and I get the thrill of saying, "If you're do that again, young lady, I'll get back on Amazon and cancel that order!" Who needs threats of Santa. Of course, this from a child who looked under the Gonzo book jacket and said, "Wow, he's cute."
The world is more beautiful because of this new dimension, the Internet. In this time of terror in the offline world, especially, the online world is a place to just "be." It does not make me materialistic. Nor does it make me non-materialistic. It just is. (depending on what your meaning of "is" is, of course.)
Never before have I turned to the Net for laughs and giggles as I do now. You can't find them in any offline media outlet right now. Anthrax, bombs, jihad, food drops, on and on. Sappy commercials aimed at bringing us all together (not to make us buy stuff, of course) drive me away.
(Flash to that new commercial: I am an American, I am an American, ... what next? NO, I am an American, NO ME!--I wait for the fight to break out between the Arab and the American Indian.)
In my crazy town, at least, the roads are amass with bad drivers sporting flags on their cars--ALWAYS the ones to cut you off... pride turned bullying. Anyway, that's why the witty sites are getting my 'business' now. Where I used to shop online clearance sales, I now wander about looking for life, wit, and anything that makes me giggle. Yes, I'd even pay for it right now. In fact, a boing boing t-shirt is in my gift-giving future.
I don't know how I got here. Must be something you said. And although I'm enlisting, I need to say it is with cautious optimism, which sometimes, against my will, slips into skepticism as I wonder if we've already wandered too far into the International Geophysical Year...
Under sea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free, yes and eternally young
-Donald Fagan, I.G.Y
So who is to blame for the lack of trust on both sides? Trust--that chasm between artist and business. I wonder who will go first in this trust dare you propose. Line in the sand. I dare you, slimey artist. No, I dare you, greedy business. You go first... No, you.. Okay. scissors cut paper...
To me it's obvious. The artist must go first. Because we're used to going first. Because we like the risk and reward of going first. It's a rush. It's about the thrill of creating and procreating. And we'll go--with or without you, business. In fact, we're well on our way. Down the road, ushering other folks out of their houses to join our march.
So, if you don't want to pop onto a site one day, and see hundreds of potential customers vibing back and forth with one another--you know, those folks that fit your demographic and psychographic profile oh so perfectly--And if you don't want to see them hooking up, hanging out, being happy, ready and ripe to unleash those pursestrings--And if you don't want to see your most notorius competitor's abnoxious logo sponsoring this conversational and informational orgy, well then... get moving.
Tragedy
Is cheap and so is talk
Decision
Yours to make what will you do
In the end
It comes back to you
Cause it's a long... way to fall
-Blues Traveler, Stand
That's it. Just get going. And hurry the fuck up, because we wait for no man. And if you wait too long, keep in mind, it's a long way down.
Business Responds: Is this a threat? Are you talkin ta me? You think I can't crush the likes of you? You're no one.
Me: You can't crush what you can't catch--haven't you learned that? We're not no one--we're everyone. Come on, make my motherfuckin day.
Oh but wait. It doesn't have to be this way--us against them. That's not the point at all. No, we're trying to create a better world. Let's put aside our collective baggage and see if we can't make something good happen here. Wouldn't that be something? To create something good? Yes, that would be nice. We could all use a little good right about now.
Businesses leveled--let's help them rebuild. Families destroyed--let's help them recover.
Put your hand in mine. It won't hurt much, this Change.
Wonderful, disorienting change, is how we got here, after all.
From the pain come the dream
From the dream come the vision
From the vision come the people
From the people come the power
From this power come the change
Peter Gabriel - Fourteen Black Paintings
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