Björk - Wired 2013 Interview

Sound Genius

A Meeting of Sound Genius

In 1963, twenty-one year old music experimentalist, John Cale earned a scholarship to study music in the United States. He moved from Wales to New York and participated in an 18-hour piano recital with one of his avant-garde influences John Cage, then 53.  These two men, meeting at different stages of life both made huge contributions to the worlds of music and art. They set precedents and sent shockwaves through the status quo of sound. In the case of John Cale, he is still a vibrant player in the art world today. Who are these men, how have they influenced our relationship to music and sound and how do we differentiate Cage and Cale without confusing the two pioneers who worked in similar areas of art at similar times in history? G precedes L alphabetically and John Cage precedes John Cale historically so that works well for our purposes categorically.

John Cage

John Cage was born in 1912. He was a major player in the avant-garde movement of the 1930’s and beyond. He was contemporary, friend and collaborator with artist Robert Rauschenberg and dancer Merce Cunningham. Cage studied under Arnold Schoenberg. He is most famous for his composition 4’33. This piece of music has been heralded by critics, as the single most significant composition in modern classical and avant-garde music. It’s beauty lies in its silence and demonstrates Cage’s underlying message about sound; listen. Attending a concert to hear 4’33” performed would consist of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of listening to a pianist “not play.” It would be an opportunity for an ear prepared to accept sound to take notice of the ambient sound in the environment.  Cage loved natural sound. Though composing 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence may seem like an under achievement, this  revelatory piece of music came on the backs of years spent in study of music, sound manipulation and art principles. Cage was highly influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s “found art.” John Cage developed music made from found objects: a bathtub, running water, a saw etc. He also rebuilt or augmented instruments at whim. He was known to place plates and various objects in the strings of a piano to create a desired sound. He created what he termed “Chance Music” by navigating his compositions based on readings he took from the ancient I Ching. Cage is considered to be a pioneer in minimal, drone, electronic and the non-standard use of musical instruments. He had charisma and a sense of humor. His works have been featured in the most prestigious museums and are housed the most elite libraries. Lucky for us, we can experience many sides of his brilliance today on the Everyman stages of Youtube. 

John Cale

John Cale was born in 1942 in Wales. Though considered a child prodigy and student of classical music, he came to the U.S. to further his education and love of avant-garde music. He is associated with art and experimental rock, noise music, protopunk, drone, spoken word, classical music and baroque pop. Cage’s production and collaboration credits include: Patti Smith, Nico, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, The Stooges, The Modern Lovers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Marc Almond, Squeeze and many more (including John Cage). He plays viola, piano, keyboards, harpsichord, bass, guitar and he is a vocalist, poet and lyricist. He was a founding member of the Velvet Underground and a fixture at Andy Warhol’s Factory. He has navigated a long and rich solo career through early bouts of drug abuse and waxing and waning record company interest.  He has remained true to his art and has always embraced his Welsh roots. In 2009 he represented his country in the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition.  He produced an audio-visual piece that incorporates music, poetry, and film. In the conclusion, the piece also offers a nod to one of Cale’s early influences John Cage. It presents a man returning to his homeland, to the piano on which he spent so much time practicing as a child, to sit at this piano and then not play.

Works Cited
Jones, Jonathan. “From the Valleys to Venice” 12 May 2009. The Guardian UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/may/12/john-cale-venice-biennale-velvet-welsh-pavilion

Unterberger, Richie. “John Cale” All Music Guide. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aifqxqw5ldfe~T1

“John Cage, About The Composer” 1 August 2001. American Masters PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/john-cage/about-the-composer/471/
Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2007

Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2007

ASCAPlus Awards

ASCAPlus Award

Each year ASCAP, The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, selects ASCAP Plus Award winners from its huge member database. Winners are chosen on merit; activity generated by the member’s catalog; and the song catalog’s unique prestige value.

Well that is how the program is described anyway :) I was awarded an ASCAPlus Award for 2010-2010-2011-2012-2013!

Pretty Cool :)

The Twentieth Annual International Music and Technology Conference at IUPUI

The Twentieth Annual International Music and Technology Conference and Workshop at IUPUI opened with a striking overview of the evolution of digital sound technology by one of its founding fathers, Dr. G. David Peters, Professor and Head of Graduate Studies in the department of Music and Technology Arts at IUPUI. His presentation introduced students and on-line participants to his world of telematic tools, intermedia applications and digital music expertise.
The conference presented new and emerging technologies with workshops that explored new font software for scoring music by ChordSymbol2, the work of a 5-year computer based piano pedagogy research team from the University of Ottawa, and the latest advancement in sound proofing from Auralex. Some of the more engaging elements of the conference were Georgia Tech’s New Musical Instruments Competition, an iPad demonstration by Dr. Tim Brimmer from Butler University and a hands-on iPhone application build by Chuiyuan Meng. Participants also had the opportunity to construct a personal website using Flash and Dreamweaver software led by Richard Walker and Eric Skull. Other impressive features were the presentations by IUPUI professor Dr. Scott Deal respecting the highlights and challenges of IUPUI’s Intermedia Festival, Jordan Munson’s laptop orchestra, CEnsR, and Dr. Michael Drew’s demonstration of Max-MSP Jitter.
An overarching theme of the conference was established by Dr. Fred J. Rees, Professor and Department Chair, he facetiously dismissed the piano, the semi-tone and traditional music study with his challenge, “Where are the new instruments? Who will play them? Where is the new music? How will we learn to play it?” To this, his tone was serious. The conference provided some clues.

The New Instruments
There is no shortage of innovative instruments or inventors. There is a shortage of people who will take up a new instrument, learn to play it to the point of virtuosity and compose the music that ensures its longevity. Therein lies the problem of new instruments. Happily, there seems to be an exception to this rule and that exception is Max-MSP Jitter. Max is not new. It’s been around for twenty years but compared to the centuries old piano, Max is the l’enfant terrible with a legitimate French pedigree. Max isn’t concerned with the semi-tone, grand staff, or traditional music structures. The Max patcher opens to the user as a blank slate full of thoroughly unique possibilities. After working through some basic tutorials myself, my bets are set on Max MSP Jitter or collectively, Max 5 to be a major player with true longevity as a new instrument with its own army of virtuosos and a contemporary music library. The following is my case for the future of Max 5.


Max 5
San Francisco software company, Cycling ’74 is the current home to Max 5. The company website gives this description: (http://cycling74.com/products)
“An interactive programming environment for music, audio and media. Max is the graphical programming environment that provides user interface, timing, communications, and MIDI support. MSP adds on real-time audio synthesis and DSP, and Jitter extends Max with video and matrix processing.”

Max 5 gives the artist the tools to create the controllers, sound and video performance. It allows a true intermedia experience crucial for a new musical instrument to acquire longevity in our new-media saturated culture. Max 5 is designed to exist within an instrument that we already own, our personal computer. Much of the language we already know. Could this be the new artistic voice of the people like folk music in the early 1900’s? A contemporary hybrid of individualistic computer generated music coupled with personal audio and visual field recording data? Is Max for everyone? Let’s consider its history and complexities.


Max
In 1988 the Max software program was created as an interface for real-time processing of interactions between computer and performer at the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic Music located in France. IRCAM is committed to scientific research and musical expression. It’s within this atmosphere of mash-up technology and artistry that Miller Puckette wrote the first Max patcher editor for Macintosh. It synced the computer to the piano and was first used in a piano piece called Pluton composed by IRCAM resident and researcher Philippe Manoury (philippemanoury.com). The software was named after Max Matthews who in 1957 designed the first computer music program entitled MUSIC. David Zicarelli developed a commercial version of Max in 1989 and by 1999 his company Cycling ’74 became the Max distributor. Using Max requires familiarity with its building blocks and data flow model. The software comes with extensive tutorials. The following is an example of a simple Max patch and its components designed to introduce the new user to the basic elements of Max’s object, message and comment boxes.


Once familiar with how to manipulate these simple components and how they interact, one can celebrate the mastery of the step one tutorial and look forward to 42 more opportunities to celebrate before mastering Max! In a word, it is complex.



MSP
In 1996 Miller Puckette released a software program called Pure Data or PD. This open-source software heavily influenced the Max add-on MSP. The groundbreaking MSP became available for Max in 1997. Prior to MSP, Max users could manipulate and control samplers and multi-synthesizers via midi. With MSP, Max users had the ability to build their own unique instruments within their computers using 170 Max objects to perform the audio signal processing. The MSP tutorials come in 41 sections preceded by a 4-part introduction. The celebrations of complexity continue! Here is an example of MSP’s simplest possible network:


Jitter
Real-time video control and visual processing were next on the agenda for developers. Nato by Nezvanova and Soft VNS by David Rokeby were early offerings but by 2003 Cycling ’74 released Jitter complete with real-time video control, 3-D options and matrix processing. The following is a Jitter patch from the first tutorial:


Jitter comes complete with a 2-part introduction, 53 tutorials, Appendices A-D and a bibliography! Cheers.

Cult of Max 5

Max 5, the comprehensive upgrade to this trio was released in 2008 (createdigitalmusic.com). To tackle this wealth of new edge technology and master the Max 5, one must claim and conquer 136 tutorials, 6 introductions and 4 appendices. Who in their right mind would take on this task and to what end? Apparently there is no shortage of artists, voyeurs and/or musicians up to the Max challenge. A Youtube search of Max MSP returns a mass of Max media. Devotees share tutorials, personal projects, live performances, patchers, workshop dates and tips. Most of these Youtube entries carry well over one thousand plays and many have hundreds of thousands. A Max cult has grown out of the electronic and experimental music community. But for Max 5 and its future incarnations to find solid footing on the eternal stage of enduring musical instruments it must have its virtuosos and its own library of music that will stand the test of time.

Max the Innovator

There is a broad range of artists and performers using Max to elevate their artistry to levels that set them apart from tradition and the status quo. Pamela Z incorporates Max in her live performances and recordings. She is a dynamic multi-media artist, celebrated composer and recipient of the ASCAP Music Award.
“Since the early 1980s, I have been making works for voice with real-time electronic processing. During an artist residency in 1999, I slowly began the process of porting all the functions of this out-board gear into Max MSP (Z. P., 2008.”)
Her music speaks to audiophiles, performance artists, poets, musicians and enthusiasts of experimentation. She continually adds to the library of contemporary music that is created with Max. Pamela Z is using her artistic license and Max 5 to alter expectations of music and performance but what about Max and the general public?

Chart Topping Max

Initially, Max may seem dense and sonically obscure with its music based in bangs, integers and floating-point numbers. The user must enjoy programming and be comfortable with “controlling” the random and numerical nature of the software. It seems the instrument is created for the rare “control freak” that can embrace both Chaos Theory and something akin to John Cage’s Chance Music. Perhaps it is exactly these esoteric qualities that have drawn not only the most ingenious musicians of our time but also some of the most successful. Radio Head incorporated Max in the production of their multi-platinum, release Kid A. Kid A was released in 2000 and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. It reached number one on the Billboard Charts in the UK and number two in the US. Even more impressive is the fact that 10 years later, Kid A charted again at the 100 spot (Billboard.com 2006). Radio Head guitarist Jonny Greenwood shared his thoughts on Max with Ateaseweb.com:
“Max/MSP… suits my chaotic, wire-filled constructions. Lots have half-finished ideas embedded in them, which aren’t used, and they’ve a tendency to crash during concerts. But I love it all: I could fill pages with obsessive stuff about Max/MSP. I’ve even started lurking in chat rooms, and idolizing shadowy figures like jhno and Karlheinz Essl…
…With our last record, there was not time for programming in the studio, so every patch had to be written and working before we started. We had a corner of the studio set up for Max/MSP stuff, and it was all done in real time as we recorded. Part of the band, rather than one person with a computer and four people watching, as tended to happen with previous records. It’s also becoming more and more important at our concerts.”

Aphex Twin a.k.a. Richard James a.k.a. super-genius to aficionados of electronic music also has a healthy relationship with both Max and the Billboard Charts. With eight songs breaking into the Billboard top 200 or Electronica Charts (Billboard.com, 2003), Apex Twin is contributing to the enduring musical catalogue of songs composed using Max MSP.

Future Max
Cycling ’74’s passion to grow Max as the ultimate tool for innovative audio-visual artistry shows in their commitment to user education, outreach and support, interactive website and product line and the API interface that allows third party development of compatible external objects. The website offers a world map for locating current workshops and classes. Workshops run often and everywhere from Iowa to Chile. The company offers on-site and video tutorials. The website is highly supportive of user posted content. With the future in mind, Cycling ’74 recently began offering workshops in its San Francisco office specifically designed for high school students ages 15-18. I would venture that not one parent will ever have to say, “It’s time to practice your MAX!” Another remarkable permutation, unique to a software development company is the concept of C74. C74 is Cycling 74’s own music label. It is prominently featured on their website and ensures the best of its users fruits are presented and circulated. C74 is taking progressive steps to ensure the growth of the Max music library into the future and foster its intellectual elegance vs. hacker cool persona. That is why I believe Max will be the new artistic voice of the people. Max will be the new instrument. In the years to come I prophesize my grandchildren will be totally Maxed-out.




References:
Cycling ’74. (2010). Products. Retrieved from http://cycling74.com/products/

Manoury, P. (2008, September) Autobiographical Elements, Retrieved from http://www.philippemanoury.com/?p=4111

Manoury, P. (N.D.).Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Manoury

Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustic Music (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ircam.fr/www_ircam.html?&L=1

Kirn, P. (2007).Cycling’ 74 Releases Max 5 Details. Retrieved from http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/09/28/cycling-74-releases-max-5-details-bringing-max-out-of-the-80s

Z, P. Pamela Z Max/MSP Work (2008). Retrieved from http://www.harvestworks.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159:z&catid=26

Greenwood, J. (2004, May 22). Jonny Interview [interview with Computer Music Journal] Retrieved from http://www.ateaseweb.com/2004/05/22/jonny-interview-in-computer-music-journal/

Radio Head, Kid A (2006). Billboard 200, Retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/#/album/radiohead/kid-a/446322

Aphex Twin (2003). Billboard 200, Retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/aphex-twin/35344

Agora Festival, (June 2010). Retrieved from http://agora2010.ircam.fr

Text Without Context

Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Imovie, Letsmix! Cut, paste and appropriate! These are the toys of the young and the tools of the new. They are being used for entertainment, art, education and business. Technically speaking, we are boldly going where no consumers have gone before. We are taking a really big bite of the Apple and swapping our innocence for hi-tech know-how. Michiko Kakutani’s essay “Text Without Context” featured in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times warns that new media is inflicting an intellectual beheading, cultural puncture and historical amputation. She presents a litany of cautionary reports as to why we should be wary when traveling on the new media highway. Here is her list of establishments on technology’s chopping block:

Fiction as a genre…R.I.P!

Intellectual property…Ha! Starve measly content providers.

Valued source classics…Shakespeare who?

Expertise and accuracy...Its your blog, say what the f*** you want people!

Deep thought….huh…what?

Hard News ...The Evening News welcomes new anchor Perez Hiton!

Political comradery .......uh….hmm, not applicable?

Books!….opens at the Whitney Museum this fall, no flash please.

If we believe in the nascent apocalypse maybe all of this rancor sounds “just so” for a damned world about to flush it self down the moral and intellectual commode. But if we hold any stock in Darwinism, or history for that matter, don’t we assimilate and adapt? Isn’t that what life forms do? New media is not the scythe of the grim reaper but it is a tool. A tool that enhances our collective reach into art, history, business, education, science et cetera

Mourning the Undead

Kakutani’s article tiptoes into various authors’ opinions of techno-geddon, some more offensive than others. But a recurring theme for all of them is the fear of a disregard for source material value and literary tradition. She has gathered a grievers support group for cultural hallmarks, hallmarks that just can’t die – like zombies. If you Google “troubadour” “oral tradition” or “oral story arts” Google will provide over 5 million results to peruse and inform about this supposed lost art. Organizations that foster the study and practice of the ancient oral story tradition exist all over the world. They like their oral stories and my guess is, they’re sticking to them no matter what software comes blazing down the information highway. Imagine the romantic troubadours or singing story keepers of bygone days lamenting the technology of music notation, or even the written word! Would they have feared their most excellent powers of memorization would no longer be useful in a society where people could write things down? I think those brilliant minds probably would have learned some new tricks or made sure their offspring did. Human beings have an innate propensity for nostalgia. Individually, we collect items and save them in nice cabinets so that we can admire our life’s personal wonders. As a society we keep collections of art in museums, books in libraries and dinosaur bones in science museums! Shakespeare is more popular today than ever. Every year people re-enact the civil war. Artisans are still making authentic muskets to this very day. Every summer struggling actors dress up in stinky, scratchy medieval clothes to satisfy the collective lust for “Ye Old Renaissance Faire.” I don’t think we are going to abandon our nostalgic spirit or addiction to preserving, studying and documenting everything that is, was or ever has been, any time soon. It’s human nature. Thankfully, the next time you’re craving a hearty joust or want to kick some confederate hiney, you can Mapquest the nearest Renaissance Faire or Re-enactment and make an immediate on-line reservation. Ms. Kakutani, please stop mourning the undead.

Control + ESC

Text Without Context shifts smoothly from fear to anger when the concept of shortcuts is discussed. Shortcuts to information mean more cultural dumb-down to Kakuatani and her crew. Our hi-tech culture gives us every opportunity to take the shortcut home. Information? We can instant message it, text it, Google it, click-through, cut and paste, instantly photograph, post or send and video-phone! We are the roving reporters on the scene. We are the reviewers on location opening night. We can compare prices while we shop. Shortcuts are fun and valuable. They allow us to take on a larger existential load. But no one would ever dream of shortcutting true love.

Love

Now I will take the liberty of stating the obvious. What sports fan would rather know the final score than watch the game? What lover of art would prefer an online gallery to the real thing? Music lovers often discover new music through music and video mash-ups. What lover of literature collects Sparknotes? Human interest follows its own interests. Some may be unique and far-reaching, some just following trends and collecting facts, some seemingly bland and uninspired. The tools aren’t changing the people using them. A deep thinker is not going to become an airhead due to Web 2.0 but by using Web 2.0, an airhead might have an easier time collecting some facts to cover that fact that he is an airhead.

Can you here me now?

Ms. Kakutani and her assemblage of authors in mourning have missed the point of their own point. Intellectual appropriation and collage style creation have been part of human development since a date that would have a B.C. attached to it. Classic experimental author, William S. Burroughs “a pioneer of the cut-up technique, a method of cutting up pre-existing media and rearranging it to form something entirely new,” was experimenting and appropriating long before the Internet arrived. (emusician.com) Burroughs also influenced other envelope pushing authors like the disturbing Kathy Acker, as well as impacting music and film styles. This, before any of us even had an email address. Technology cast as the assassin of human potential sounds like a theme Kakutani has herself appropriated from legendary writer William Gibson. Armed by the opinions of the many authors and books she quotes throughout her essay, Kakutani presents a caustic view of literary appropriation, content deconstruction and overtly provocative subject matter for the sake of visibility. She disparages the same tools she uses to present her own ideas. For these reasons and by the power vested in me by www.ministerregistration.org, I say BLASPHEMY!

Works Cited

Kakutani, Michko. “Texts Without Context.” The New York Times. 21 Mar. 2010

“About Us: Storytelling Arts of Indiana.” Official Site, www.storytellingarts.org Web 29, Mar. 2010

“Become Ordained…Online.” Official Site, www.ministerregistration.org Web 29, Mar. 2010

Pallanck , Laura. “William S Burroughs – Pioneer of the Cut-up Technique” www.emusician.com 01, Mar. 2005

Patriot Act + Supreme Court Ruling = 1984

George Orwell presented a dark picture of society in his classic novel 1984. He conjured a world in which the government placed exacting control on every aspect of an individual’s life. Privacy and individual thought were not tolerated. Orwell built the world of 1984 on these rigid fundamentals that defined what it meant to be a party member of Oceania. We take pride in our concept of freedom, power as citizens and our constitutional rights. Do we take so much pride in our freedom that we dismiss the possibility of Orwellian constructs emerging in our experience? Is our government the new “Big Brother” or is it the dominating corporate power? Recognizing controlling trends, reclaiming our forfeited rights and keeping corporate political power in check are our best hope for avoiding the realization of an “Orwellian Society” and protecting our freedom. Personal political activism should be a priority in today’s contentious political climate. Terms like “Doublethink” and “Big Brother” may remind us of dreamy days from an English literature class but these ideas are quietly becoming part of our American landscape.

Surveillence

In Oceania, urban decay and human suffering are rampant but hi-tech surveillance is part of each person’s life. Every citizen’s home quarter is equipped with a telescreen that monitors activity and broadcasts propaganda to the citizens. It projects a constant and changing stream of information based on what the controlling Party wants its citizens to believe at that moment. The telescreens are used to promote Party support, incite hatred for outsiders and instill a fear of dissent. The people are bombarded with overstimulation designed to interfere with the mind’s ability to think independently. Big Brother is the face of the Party. Posters and billboards stating “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” wallpaper the city of Oceania. Though the name implies safety and protection from enemies, the constant presence keeps the population in a state of paranoia.

We have monitored elevators, shopping malls, highways, stoplights, schools et cetera. We also have a constant barrage of information presented to us in the form of billboard, advertising and 24-hour radio, television and the boundless Internet. Surveys show that “ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.” (heritage.org) We are a society addicted to a constant intake of media information. We have not been coerced into this lifestyle like the Party members of Oceania but we have been constantly courted, studied, researched, surveyed and then courted again by advertisers and program directors for corporations. The loop constantly repeats until there is something for everyone on TV. At that point everyone has the potential to be an impressionable consumer reachable by advertisers. If the viewing public can relate to a character, show or performer, it is possible they may accept a product that is attached directly or indirectly, regardless of weather it is good, bad or in keeping with their moral code. A political viewpoint may also become popular because a celebrity that connects with a particular group supports that view. Glen Beck is a popular shock jock buffoon that stokes the fire of the “Tea Party” movement. This group is self-described as having no previous interest in political activism but their support of the celebrity Glen Beck has united them to take a stand.

In addition to the corporate research and ratings style of surveillance and manipulation, the USA Patriot Act introduces a level of access and control to the American psyche that is hard to imagine as American. The ACLU describes the creation of the USA Patriot Act in Elements of Argument as follows:

Just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed the “USA Patriot Act,” an overnight revision of the nation’s surveillance laws that vastly expanded the government’s authority to spy on its own citizens while simultaneously reducing the checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability and the ability to challenge government searches in court. (772)

The USA Patriot Act was devised as a tool to promote the safety of the American people. It can be interpreted to define any politically contrary deed or act of protest, as an act of terrorism. (778) How can an American citizen be sure what kind of websites are safe to visit? What are the safe books? Is it okay to sign an anti-war petition on-line? Could an environmentalist be considered a terrorist because they don’t support the largest corporations that give political party donations? Who is going to sort out these details for the American public? Where do the people stand? What is safe? If the people have to sort this out, isn’t free speech and right to privacy already a joke?

Doublethink

Orwell uses the concept of Doublethink throughout 1984. Doublethink is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in one’s mind at the same time. In Oceania, party members are forced to Doublethink and accept contradictions. They can do this because their minds have been exhausted with opposing information. They have lost the capacity to think analytically and follow a thought through to conclusion. The few whose minds do not buckle under the stress are physically tortured into compliance. Here are some examples of Doublethink at work:

This country was founded on religious freedom

This country was founded on Christian values.

This country was founded on the separation of Church and State

This country respects basic human rights

This country tortures minors in secret prisons

The right to life is the most basic right

A woman has a right to make decisions about her own body

This country is the great melting pot

This country was built by immigrants

This country is being ruined by immigrants

Doublethink is served fresh every minute of everyday from the likes of advertisers, politicians, religious organizations, and the Fox network versus MSNBC news. So much constant, conflicting information poses a great challenge for anyone that wants to develop a personal code of ethics, belief system or set of opinions that have been chosen by them and not sold to them.

Corporate Domination

Orwell’ s book was written as a cautionary tale against a Totalitarian regime. Today I think it speaks to the dangers of a corporate run society. On January 21, 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations should have the same free speech benefits as “The People” of the United States and their spending for political campaign support should be free from limitation.

By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rolled back restrictions on corporate spending in federal campaigns. The decision could unleash a torrent of corporate-funded attack ads in upcoming elections. President Obama called it “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer…”The Supreme Court majority has acted recklessly to free up corporations to use their immense, aggregate corporate wealth to flood federal elections and buy government influence. The Fortune 100 companies alone had combined revenues of $13 trillion and profits of $605 billion during the last election cycle," Wertheimer wrote. "Under today's decision, insurance companies, banks, drug companies, energy companies and the like will be free to each spend $5 million, $10 million or more of corporate funds to elect or defeat a federal candidate -- and thereby to buy influence over the candidate's positions on issues of economic importance to the companies." (Huffington Post)

Corporations have a singular objective, which is to make more money for shareholders and investors. Individuals have more diversified goals in their support of candidates. The promotion of better school, air and water quality may not be of interest to the corporate bottom line but that shouldn’t be a reflection of importance.

Throw the hammer!

The 1984 television commercial for Apple’s Macintosh Computer features a party member that runs ahead of the group and throws her work hammer into the televised face of Big Brother. That is an extreme and fictional representation of activism but an incredible visual. Political activism is a necessity in political climate of our time. Organized community leadership is our best hope of differentiating ourselves from what is becoming more like an Orwellian society each day. The recent Supreme Court ruling to de-regulate political campaign contributions from corporations has greatly diminished our voting power. We need to galvanize grass-roots organizations and collectively reclaim our political significance. The Internet has given us more tools for organizing than ever before.

There are many websites and groups now forming to address these issues. Freespeechforthepeople.org is organizing to demonstrate opposition to the Citizens United decision. Moveon.org provides a petition to urge Congress to pass public financing and give elections back to the voters. Democrats.com/impeach is collecting signatures to pressure Congress to impeach Supreme Court justices. Doing some research and finding a group that is well suited to one’s beliefs can be exciting. Political activism offers community and opportunities to experience news and politics in a way that is not presented by advertisers. In the age of “Social Networking” cyber activism is a great way to rally and educate friends about issues. It is possible to register voters, circulate petitions and forward letters to your congressmen through myspace, facebook, twitter and personal websites. There are groups that are strictly virtual; if the threat that “Big Brother is watching you” has already taken hold many groups in the real world meet monthly, weekly and organize for events. Both provide our best chance for avoiding the Orwellian storm that seems to be headed our way.

When considering the value of activism it is inspiring to recall its role in our country’s independence from England, the abolition of slavery, a woman’s right to vote and the civil rights movement. Major changes taking place before the November 2010 midterm election are doubtful. The corporate powers that be are armed, informed and prepared to sell a candidate and a message that looks and sounds like the people but acts and speaks like the corporation. Friendly faces like Sarah Palin and Glen Beck will be doing the dancing for corporate dollars. Hopefully congress will act in time to establish a law that will require transparency in advertising so that it’s clear who is selling what.

Works Cited

Rector, Robert. “Understanding Poverty in America: What the Census Bureau doesn't count” (September 11, 2009) The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed091109b.cfm

Rottenberg, Anette T. Winchell, Donna Haisty., Elements of Argument, How Has Terrorism Affected The Idea Of Justice? 772. American Civil Liberties Union., Surveillance under the USA PATRIOT Act.,

“The Supreme Court Rolls Back Campaign Finance Restrictions

The Huffington Post (1/21/2010)

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/ 01/21/supreme-court-rolls-back_n_431227.html

Freespeechfothepeople.org “What Did The Supreme Court Just Do To Our Democracy? Solution” http://freespeechforpeople.org/the-solution

Moveon.org “Supreme Court Opens The Floodgates” http://moveon.org/

Wanson, David. “Obama's Argument Leads to Impeachment of Supreme Court Justices” http://www.democrats.com/node/21598