Payola II

[vuzh]

iancstewart pointed out that on David Byrne's blog, he has some things to say about the payola scandal that i mentioned the other day.

I wondered if every pop song that had moved me on the radio, from when I was in my teens, had been paid for. Oh jeez! Therefore, other than a few free-form stations around at that time I was being treated like a Pavlovian dog — what I had believed were my subjective passions and discoveries were actually the result of a concerted program to pound certain tunes into my innocent brain. I had been totally manipulated! What I thought were decisions and loves that were mine and mine alone had been planted in my head by sleazy characters I could barely imagine. Free will? Hah! My entire past was called into question. Who am I? Am I not partly what I like? And if those things I like were not completely of my own choosing, then what am I?

Ian didn't mention why he was puttering around on David Byrne's blog though.

Comments

[wonkyear.livejournal.com]

It starts with the payola scandal, and extends into everything. The more I consider our human lives, the slimmer the ratio of _free will_ : _environmental determinism_ appears to grow.

Kudos to David Byrne, and his response. Cheers!

[object-holder.livejournal.com]

Except that doesn't follow at all! It's perfectly possible to dislike something that's gotten on the radio for shady reasons. It's not like they were paying him personally to listen to the stuff.

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

i identified with his emotional reaction, regardless of its logical inconsistency.

[object-holder.livejournal.com]

I guess I would identify with it more if I had ever thought that the songs on the radio were the officially sanctioned, impartially judged "best" in the first place.

[iancstewart.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/128220.html