In the spirit of Stav's pleasurable-to-read rant, I allow myself to be
devil's advocate:
On Fri, Jan 11, 2002 at 07:50:58PM +0000, Stav Tapuch wrote:
> To sit in a bar or cafe with friends I am often forced to endure the
> endless mindless thump, thump, thumping of techno "music" that is
> deviod of even the slighest hint of grace and beauty. Why, why why
> would people listen to techno in a world that has produced Bach? And
> when I say techno, you can throw in rap, hip-hop and 98% of its
> other twisted, ill-begotten kin.
I humbly submit that you have not yet heard very good (e.g.) techno,
or if you heard it, that you were not listening.
I am an advocate of Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.
Actually my opinion is that the correct percentage is much closer to
99 than to 90. Have you been moved maximally by even every shakuhachi
recording that you have heard, or do you find some of them dull and
spiritless?
Furthermore, do you allow yourself to consume only the "best" of the
many things you consume? Or do you perhaps appreciate the best only
by comparison with things you judge not to be the best?
> ... a small minority of people who crave the authentic, and the
> traditional.
The idea of "authenticity" apart from a referent I take to mean
something that results from true engagement. Authentic doesn't mean
"old." To love something because it is old is to allow the age of it
to be the thing you are loving, not the thing itself. I think this is
how many folks think of it. You can have an authentic experience
watching TV, or playing shakuhachi, or weaving homespun, or doing
anything really.
(Perhaps I am wilfully misunderstanding your vocabulary.)
Best,
-jeremy
--
jeremy bornstein <soutou@monastic.org>
-*-
i do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and
violence, i would advise violence.
[mahatma gandhi]
-*-
http://monastic.org/
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