| They are doing everything they can The entertainment industry is doing everything they can to accomplish their goals, and they are using the legal system to do it. These are drastic actions; the court systems and congressional bodies are failing the American people; the exercise of the inalienable natural rights that the founding fathers of this country sought to ensure are being systematically eliminated in the interest of stupidity. A good question to ask is "What is music, and what place should it take in our culture?"
This really all goes back to Exodus 32, when the children of Israel were getting impatient for Moses to come back down from the mountain, and someone suggested that everyone contribute their gold, jewelry, rings and necklaces, as well as any other gold they had, so that this gold could be melted down and be carved into idols for worship.
So when Moses finally came down from the hill he saw everyone worshiping the golden idol that had been carved from the people's gold and he smashed the commandments on the ground in anger.
Then Moses, in verse 20, "took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it."
One look at any one of the big "stars" in pop culture and you realize they would not be who they are were it not for the money from the masses. The fans convert their money into an "idol", which they worship. It's not about feeding the starving artist. The relationship between a famous big-name pop star and his or her fan base is not one of sustenance; the fan base feels a strong peer pressure to humble themselves before these stars, to look up to the rich and famous and aspire to one day be like them. Being a fan of a major recording artist or actor can, at times, for a significant percentage of the fan base, be a form of worship. That's why independent artists and labels are so cool; they make the music and the artist more accessible, more humane. There is no "wrath" if you "download" a song. There is a tolerance and an understanding for the average person.
On the other hand, these big name artists, these famous people are elevated to a higher level by the media, by their agents, by their labels - they are superhuman, in a sense. They appear to have a supernatural power. Just recently they appear to have acquired this super-natural power of getting you in trouble with the law. Of course this does not apply to every artist and every fan base.
It's strange when you read Exodus 32; it definitely bears a resemblance to what the entertainment industry customers have done with these "stars" - the stars would not exist were it not for the money; the stars are "created" from the money of the everyday, average citizen. Perhaps we would have a better society if we realized that in a worst case scenario, a true musician would make music for the love of making music, and if the money were to run out, the musician would get a day job instead of pursuing legal action against a few strategically selected people to make an example out of them.
If you read the rest of Exodus 32 there is much bloodshed and mayhem; 3000 people get slaughtered and then a plague hits the people as a punishment for being weak in their faith and creating idols to worship.
I am not exactly sure what the proper inferences are to draw from Exodus 32, or in exactly which way what happened with Moses and the Ten Commandments is relevant to our entertainment industry culture today, but one could argue that by downloading music and movies from big name artists, these stars are being made more famous, and their fan base is actually increasing. Statistics point to the fact that this may in fact be true. Furthermore, it has gotten to the point where they have a "wrath" - these legal actions are designed to scare, to control, and to make the average citizen submit to the "wrath" of the rich and famous. And the plaintiffs are not in the least bit shy about the desired outcome - acquisition of more of the American people's money to create even more idols to swoon over.
Perhaps the only question left to ask is "Where is Moses, and what's taking him so long?" and what is going to happen to the entertainment industry when he finally decides to climb back down from the mountain?
[text was edited by author 2003-04-24 21:08:27] |
