[rumori] commodification of our 'alternative'? (was re: genre)

Steev [rumori] commodification of our 'alternative'? (was re: genre)
Sat, 12 Dec 1998 14:57:55 -0800 (PST) (00913503475, Pine.LNX.4.05.9812121406080.19578-100000atflotsam.detritus.net)

On Sat, 12 Dec 1998, kevin leeeeee wrote:


>criticizing "the media" for turning me into a pop star... excuse me, bono,
>but don't you and your label pay millions of dollars in publicity and
>advertising in order to insure that you become and remain the biggest pop
>star in the world? what the hell is that???! it's like the ultimate
>hypocite... super-hypocrite.

yes. a meta-hypocrite.


>the more i think about it, the more i think that if one's chief goal is to
>use the media flow against itself in order to comment, highlight, make fun
>of, bring attention to, etc... something in the media... then one can't
>really be part of that media flow. not that i've analyzed this completely,
>but the reason seems to me that you, like bono, would be to some extent a
>hypocrite... i'd like to elaborate but it's late. maybe someone else can
>elaborate. the difficult thing is determining what the line is between
>outsider and contributor. what about the indie label outsider who has
>distribution (like bob ostertag perhaps)... is he part of the flow? how
>many cd's must he sell to not be?

there's lots of hypocrisies inherent in modern life and it's often
impossible to be completely "clean". and nothing is black and white.
here's a good example: anyone heard of Unamerican Activities? they sell
stickers and tshirts with slogans like "Fuck Work" and "Bomb the Mall". Ok, cool, gettin' tha message out... but they're making money from it. are
they just cynically exploiting these rebellious ideas? (Commodify Your
Dissent!) Part of me says yeah. but part of me says, well at least these
ideas are getting out there more. i've even talked to the guy behind it,
Srini, and i'm still confused. He seems cool. But is he just trying to
run a business?

smh

Steev Hise, Technical Thug
steevathise.org http://www.cyborganic.com/people/steev recycled art site: http://www.detritus.net -----------------------------------------------------------------
"Abuse of power comes as no suprise." -Jenny Holzer
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