People say they care about being free, that it is the foundation of what they believe in, yet they cannot agree on what the word means. Our society saturates us with images that portray it, and we all need to feel it, but as we have taken our first six steps into the 21st Century of the present Gregorian calendar, I find myself asking, do we truly possess it?
Is the two thirds of the worlds population living inside vicious cycles of poverty, war, sickness, and starvation, free? The only sane answer is no, which begs the question that if 'they' are demonstrably unfree, then are 'we', the richer third, living inside the bubble, protected by the glass ceiling of our technological and military superiority, really 'free' either?
We exist inside our compartmentalized pods, surrounded by bureaucracies of secrecy, mandated by executive privilege. We live in a society where trust in institutions, authorities, and ethics is being steadily undermined. We drag ourselves though the soma landscape of media illusions, saturating our conscience with informational sweeties and personalized parcels of news and entertainment, but does that make us free? I think the only sane answer is no.
Are we free from the vicious evils and criminal corruption's practiced in our name by governments and their puppet masters, because they conceal the truth of their actions from us inside a veil of secrecy? Even if we do accept the chains of ignorance, are the sacrificial victims of the manipulated war on terror free from its consequences? What about the future generations now growing up around us, will they thank us for allowing our leaders to mandate their liberties away, simply because we were to lazy, scared, or preoccupied, to care about our own?
We say we care about being free. That it is the foundation of what we believe in. If we don't protect the most basic freedoms we have, or if we allow the freedoms of others to be attacked and denied in our name without proper scrutiny or accountability, then we will soon find that we have handed away the only thing that everybody agreed was worth protecting in the first place.
I went to a fantastically entertaining gig at a cracking basement bar called 'Mixing Tin'
in the centre of Leeds on Monday night. It's a really friendly 'micro-venue'
slap bang in the middle of the shopping district in Albion Street, it's
quite small, but this seems to work in its favor, and gives the whole thing a
wonderfully intimate feel.
I was there to catch up with the excellent Huddersfield band 'Far From The Dance',
who are a five-piece rock outfit with a ton of passion and commitment,
currently embarking on a classic 'transit van tour' of the nation. They
have just released a self-funded 3 track EP, and have around 30 dates
pencilled in on the tour. On this particular Monday evening, they powered their way
through a short set, on a stage that seemed too small for them, in a
gloriously abandoned fashion.
The band created an intricate and intense mood, and to my ears far
surpassed anything I'd heard on an already excellent EP. They already
have some hugely compelling songs, and their mix of classic rock
sounds, with the contemporary technology provided by the whirling
dervish of dancing energy that is their programmer Nick Digimox, was at
times pretty thrilling. In the space of around 25 minutes they
veered frenetically between classic abandoned rock, and anthemic piano
led melancholy, before spinning off into more experimental areas, using
buzzy synth dance rhythms. and looped vocals, derived from lead singer
and songwriter Alec Townsend's voice.
Let me say right now, that Alec Townsend has a great voice. It was
perhaps a little buried in the general fury that accompanies a shared
PA and a short sound-check, but nonetheless it shone through. He has
able support also, in the form of bassist Jake Miller, and guitarist
Adam Jogee, who layed down slabs of tight pulsing bass and choppy rock
guitar, whilst all the time managing to dance in an area the size of a
shopping bag! Meanwhile their tireless drummer Thom Thornton powered
away manfully at the back, looking far to small to be creating such a
large sound!
What sold this band to me, (apart from their fistful of great songs), was
their basic ethos. These are five hard working northern lads who've
grown up together, and are taking the obvious up's and downs of the
gigging circuit firmly in their collective stride. Having had the
chance to chat with them whilst
sitting in their weathered transit, it's obvious that this group of
school friends now in their early 20's, have the sort of chemistry,
commitment, and connection, that if they continue to harness it as they
currently are, will lead them somewhere special pretty soon.
The Guardian newspaper is carrying a story detailing a decision by a
backbench MP and former Liberal Democrat environmental spokesman Norman
Baker to stand down from the parties shadow cabinet two months ago.
Mr Baker states that he resigned because he wanted to get at the
"unanswered questions" the official enquiry into the death of British
weapons scientist Dr David Kelly had failed to address. Mr Baker told
the Guardian that his decision to step down, was based on a
desire to get at the "truth" of the events that led to Dr Kelly's
death,
and his belief that the official enquiry conducted by the lord
chancellor Lord
Hutton had "blatantly failed to get to the bottom of matters."
Comment
This appears to be an admirable and principled decision by Mr Baker, which is a
rare thing in a politician these days. At a time when the current
administration is busy pushing through another round of freedom
grabbing legislation whilst removing itself ever further from public
scrutiny, Mr Baker will do well to prise anything substantial from the
ashes of this shadowy tragedy.
In the last few months I've noticed that the debates surrounding the
current and future directions that UK podcasting is taking have intensified.
The whole space seems to me to have had a new emphasis and urgency
injected into it. Activity in some quarters of the web has proceeded at
a breakneck pace, with posts flying backwards and forwards on various
forums on a daily basis, as those who sense the commercial and social
possibilities of this technology, get busy with the hard work of constructing their glistening podcast empires.
Much of this activity has been driven by the explosion of interest in
podcasting from a host of individuals, companies, and organisations,
and the resulting early overtures of the marketplace. No-one perhaps
anticipated quite such a rapid acceleration, but it has happened
nonetheless, and the implications for those of us interested in the
future of the podcasting space are fascinating.
The current vogue, perhaps inspired by a desire not to be left-behind,
means forming a podcast network, an agency, a consultancy, a
company, or even an association. The main purpose it seems, is to
establish your interest and your group, as a "legitimate" authority on
your particular podcasting patch. I'm not sure how much of this is down
to the social dynamics of the podcasting "community" and the web, or
how much of it has evolved organically.
An early casualty of this explosion of interest has been that some of
the initial openness has vanished ever so slightly. The community,
whilst still a fairly warm and inviting place, has become a little less
accessible to newcomers. As the numbers rise, (of both listeners and
creators), the virtual territory of the "Podosphere" is beginning to be
carved up by those ambitious enough to stake their claims in the
new media landscape.
Podcasting is relevant because it's the right technology at the right
time. Five years ago, and almost nobody would have seen its relevance.
In five years time, it'll be part of the digital furniture. Like blogs
and e-bay, and buying goods on Amazon, it will become just another
thing that can be accessed on the 'interweb'.
Right now however, "Podcasting" alongside such terms as "convergence", "citizen media", and
"social networks", is one of THE business and creative buzz
words. This is all very different to the way the space
looked here in the UK little less than a year ago, and in itself
represents significant progress. Podcasting is out of nappies and into
shorts now, and where there are crowds of podcasting toddlers there are
bound to be a few messy accidents!
This podcast attempts to provide some audio textures for my online
experience in the virtual world that is Second Life. It's 30+ minutes
of minimal chat and ambient chill.
Enjoy! :))
Vox discusses the 'Security/Industrial Complex' and the militarization
of civilian life. He also takes a peek at the 'Philosopher Kings', and
plays a couple of cracking podsdafe tunes!
