democratization of the *word* LO21929

Ray E. Harrell (mcore@idt.net)
Wed, 16 Jun 1999 23:53:46 -0400

Replying to LO21927 --

sendil ~zen~ nathan wrote:

> Act I:
> I was reading an newspaper article from June15 in Silicon Valley that the
> Director of NIH [National Institute of Health] has a proposal to have all
> research papers & articles available for free. I've been told that its
> already true for other areas of science but they affect our lives far less
> than medicine.

(snip)

It occurred to me the other day that with all of this information
available I am now required to be my own doctor, my own lawyer, my own
ecologist, my own pharmacist, my own educator for my child, my own, my
own, my own, my own..........

With all of this "owning," I wonder when anyone has any time to do
anything more significant than "owning." The other day I bought "Die
Broke" and realized that this was the basic formula that artists always
follow. I also joined my local VA hospital plan and realized that I
didn't mind that little bit of socialism at all. That I was actually
grateful for the care and willingness to do serious testing to find out
why my stomach and knee hurts and that the Doctors actually knew more than
I did about it, even though I am an inveterate PDR reader. Time.... to
work on my work! Joy!

So if I read "zen" correctly, and I wouldn't guarantee that, then the
world continues down the AGILE virtual path towards flexible movie company
formulas where artists never explain their work but depend upon the
audience "knowing" what they mean (or are about) as a kind of cosmic
laziness. This frees everyone to be sloppy and to decry any type of
censorship, including quality.

If one knew the actual artistic history of America then one would realize
that the current condition of art as a business in this country is nil.
That even the plains state of Iowa went from 1,300 opera houses in 1900 to
one regional part-time business whose sales only pays for less than 60% of
its expenses at present. From the people, art moved to the "elite" and
lost its necessity to develop its audience and make a profit. Free-dumb.

Bring back the censor and realize that when "Daddy" said that the greatest
innovators went against the grain that he was talking about provencial,
illiterate and dumb societies. Yes a little statistics would be great but
there is no time or I have allotted none for it. But let us examine this
bit of 19th century romanticism at another time.

Now, can we get down to paying for what we use and develop a serious
living for everyone, instead of having this little "job glitch" peak and
face the 60% decline in employment that the information revolution is
promising?

Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble of New York, Inc.
mcore@idt.net

-- 

"Ray E. Harrell" <mcore@idt.net>

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