Pornography Pornography And Pornography - 1482 Words

Pornography: Mr. Collins reports that he first viewed pornography when he was in sixth grade. He states that he became curious about women and sex and â€Å"Googled boobs† on the Internet. After his initial query, he states that he viewed digital images of nude women about once or twice a month. Mr. Collins reports that his pornography consumption increased when he was in the 8th and 9th grade. Mr. Collins reports that he discovered Internet websites dedicated to pornographic content, videos, images, and erotic stories, from conversations with his peers at school. Being curious about sex and women already, he states that he began to make Google queries to dedicated pornography websites and his consumption of pornography increased. Mr.†¦show more content†¦Collins reports that he moved to San Diego when he was nineteen and half years of age to live with a friend. He states that he needed a change of â€Å"scenery† at that time because he felt lonely. He reports that the majority of his friends had moved away to college and his spent a lot of time alone in his room. Mr. Collins reports that his masturbation and pornography consumption decreased during this time, mainly due to the lack of privacy. He states that there were people in and out of the place he was living and he was working and â€Å"hanging out with friends†. When he did view pornography, he states that it would be during the evening and each occurrence was about thirty minutes in duration, all the while masturbating. Mr. Collins reports that while he enjoyed his time in San Diego, he was not satisfied with the trajectory of his life. He states that he worked odd jobs and would spend most of his free time socializing and this did not financially afford him to be able to live on his own. So he decided it was time to move back home after living in San Diego for about six months. That same year, Mr. Collins reports that his father suddenly passed away. After this tragic event, he reports that his pornography and sexual chatting online increased. â€Å"My porn and chatting slowly increased, because I had less to do, I was bored, and all my friends were away at college. I was home alone more and this became a habit†. Mr. Collins reports that his pornographyShow MoreRelatedPornography : Pornography And Pornography913 Words   |  4 PagesBefore, I started this course I would have defined pornography by saying porn is porn. This quote sums up how I felt. â€Å"I can t define pornography, bu t I know it when I see it,† said Justice Stewart (West, 2012). However, just after reading the resources from the first few weeks I see why defining it is so hard, it is too broad and there is too much ‘it depends on.’ The definition of pornography is every changing and will be different depending on the country, country, culture, and family and downRead MorePornography Is The Problem Of Pornography907 Words   |  4 Pages Pornography is essentially the â€Å"crack cocaine† of the internet. Specifically, society should bring awareness to the various mental disorders pornography can create. One major mental issue that can be derived from porn is the simply addiction one has towards the adult film industry. Such easy access to pornography makes weaning off of porn very difficult if one is addicted, as it is available at every turn thanks to smartphones. From your smartphone, magazines, and even social media, the addictionRead MorePornography; an Informative 683 Words   |  3 PagesThere is a quote that states, â€Å"Pornography is more honest than religion.† But is that true?. According to Psychology Today, Pornography is a sexually explicit material intended to sexually arouse. Pornography is often referred to as porn while a pornographic work is referred to as a porno. Softcore porn refers to pornography that does not depict sexual penetration or fetish acts, while hardcore porn refers to penetration or extreme fetish acts, or both. According to Wikipedia, Erotic filmsRead MoreEssay on Pornography1735 Words   |  7 PagesPornography Pornography is ripping apart our society. Although Christians are sometimes discus tied with the impact and apathetic about the need to control this menace. Pornography is a year business with close ties to organized crime. Pornography involves books, magazines, videos, and devices and has moved from the society into the mainstream through the renting of video cassettes, sales Of so-called soft-porn magazines, and the airing of sexually explicit movies on Cable television. Read MoreViolent Pornography Is An Example Of Illegal Pornography942 Words   |  4 Pages There are three types of pornography. There is soft core, hardcore and illegal. Violent pornography is an example of illegal pornography. Violent pornography is defined as sexually explicit material that contains consensual, coercive and violent sexual actions portrayed by men and women. It is morally right for people to sell and use violent and degrading pornography. People should be able to allowed to view violent pornography in privately. It is not affecting other people if the person prefersRead MorePornography Addiction1967 Words   |  8 Pagesunhealthy use of sex has been a progressive process. It may have started with an addiction to masturbation, pornography (either printed or electronic), or a relationship, but over the years progressed to increasingly dangerous behaviors. With this in mind, Pornographic addiction will be the area of greatest concern. At first glance, unless you are of strong religious persuasion, pornography seems to have no harmful effects what-so-ever. But if you are to dissect this addiction, there are many problemsRead MorePornography In The Media1532 Words   |  7 Pages Pornography is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purpose of sexual arousal. Pornography may be presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, writing, film, video, and video games. The term applies to the depiction of the act rather than the act itself, and so does not include live exhibitions like sex shows and striptease. The primary subjects of present-day pornographic depictions areRead MoreThe Importance Of Pornography1432 Words   |  6 PagesBeing raised in a Cristian Mexican culture home, I was taught early in life to view adult content mater ial such as pornography as taboo. My Father was a strict strong minded man with high morals; raising four girls and one boy. My Mother on the other hand more on the passive side, yet she shared the same views as my Father when it came to pornography. I can vividly recall one summer day, playing hide and seek with the neighborhood children. It was a normal day, until a few of the children went missingRead MoreImmorality of Pornography2340 Words   |  10 PagesKen Stoye Ethics 2050 - 014 April 19, 2005 The Immorality of Pornography The argument over the morality of pornography can take shape in many different ways. In order to take a stance, its important to identify what exactly is included in the definition of pornography. In this paper, pornography will be defined as sexually explicit materials in which the acts depicted degrade or subordinate women. The degradation and subordination can occur through various different acts, but in an attempt toRead More Pornography Essay1979 Words   |  8 PagesPornography â€Å"Pornography comes from the Greek root porne (harlot, prostitute, or female captive) and graphos (writing about or description of)† (Buchwald 35). Already the word pornography has a negative connotation towards women condemning women of porn to a submissive or exploited role. The pornography industry is predominantly a male owned and run business, hence the male perspectives portrayed versus the female perspectives portrayed in pornography. There is a lack of women, in the controlling

Greek Crisis - 7685 Words

MACROECONOMICS Greek debt crisis: causes Instructor: Mou Hui Student: Galina Bogdanova JX1208903 Contents Introduction 3 Timeline of the Greek Debt Crisis 4 Causes 8 Internal 8 1. GDP growth rates 8 2. Unrestrained spending 11 3. Greek public debt 12 4. Statistical credibility 14 External Causes of the Greek Crisis 14 Influence on the evaluation of the crisis 15 Impact of the crisis on the countrys macroeconomic indicators 18 Conclusion 22 References 24 Introduction International crisis 2008 has not only exacerbated the Greek economic situation, but has also intensely brought forward the economy’s deeply rooted and chronic weaknesses. The main argument of the paper is that the main cause of†¦show more content†¦Following the entry in the Eurozone the spreads fell to 50 basis points whereas during the period 2002 until the end of 2007 the spreads fell even further ranging from 10 to 30 base points. Unfortunately, the Greek governments of the period 2001-2009 did not take advantage of the low inflation environment and they ran fiscal deficits of 6 per cent of GDP on the average while they also increased the share of the government spending in the economy (Antzoulatos, 2011). Thus, when the negative effects of the 2007-2009 financial turmoil reached the eurozone and worries over the fiscal problems of Greece and other European countries started to emerged then it was made clear that two hidden problems of the Greek economy remained unaddressed were brought to the surface emphatically once again. The tranquil years of 2001-2009 have led the markets to ignore these two fundamental problems of the Greek economy. As Gibson et al. (2012) argue the markets partially made the successive Greek governments to believe that the low interest-rate environment would be a permanent feature of the Greek economy. Their econometric evidence shows that the drastic reduction in interest-rate spreads occurred over the 2001-2009 period were not justified by theShow MoreRelatedGreece : Greek Financial Crisis1838 Words   |  8 Pages156%. The Greek government was encouraged by the European Central Bank and other private banking institutions to undertake loans to fund foreign infrastructure projects like those related to the Olympic Games of 2004. When the financial crisis of 2007-2008 hit Greece the country found their GDP plummet 20% from 2008-2010 and the government’s capacity to repay its creditors had now become significantly reduced. (Pavlakis, 2013) This marked the onset of the â€Å"Greek Financial Crisis† The â€Å"Greek FinancialRead MoreGreek Crisis Case Study1376 Words   |  6 Pages The Greek Crisis Case Study Kevette Woolfalk Georgia College and State University WMBA6030 Global Business Dr. Doreen Sams â€Æ' Table of Contents Introduction 2 Is Greece Responsible for the Crisis? 3 Alternative Solutions to the Greek Crisis 4 Conclusion 5 References 6 â€Æ' Greek Crisis Introduction At one point in time Europe operated as a zone of trade barriers which made doing trade beyond the border basically impossible. However, this all changed when World War II absolutely overcame EuropeRead MoreMedia Studies : Critical Essay Greek Debt Crisis2242 Words   |  9 Pages Media Studies: Critical Essay Greek Debt Crisis Peter Kavouris Professor Gray Graffam MDSA01 Tuesday, June 21st, 2015 On January 1st 1981 Greece joined the European Communities ushering in a period of sustained growth. The countries widespread investments on infrastructure coupled with funds from the European Union led to a sharp increase in revenue from tourism and the service sector. This helped the country reach historical highs in their standard of living. By 2001 GreeceRead MoreGreece : The Greek Debt Crisis877 Words   |  4 PagesIn 2009, The Greek debt crisis began. This crisis is still ongoing today, but there have been many changes that occurred in Greece. This is also known as the Greek Depression. It is part of the ongoing Eurozone crisis, which was generated by the global economic recession which started in October of 2008. It is said to be caused by a combination of a weak Greek economy and an overly high structural deficit and debt to the countries government debt and the gross domestic product. Later in 2009, theRead MoreCauses of the Greek liquidity crisis; how conditions were before the crisis Events that happened1600 Words   |  7 Pages Causes of the Greek liquidity crisis; how conditions were before the crisis Events that happened preceding the crisis The structural economic support weakened –when Greece entered the euro zone in 2001 the convergence criteria which supposed to provide sound financial systems within the economy and the GSP were established to prevent financial and economicRead MoreGlobal Financial Crisis: U.S, Greek, Pigs2140 Words   |  9 PagesBanking in Financial Services Assignment on Global Financial Crisis By Lavina B Israni, Roll No. 15, SYBFM, Jai Hind College Index ïÆ'Ëœ Introduction 1 ïÆ'Ëœ The U.S. Economic Crisis 1 ïÆ'Ëœ The Greek Economic Crisis 5 ïÆ'Ëœ The PIGS Economic Crisis 7 ïÆ'Ëœ Conclusion 8 ïÆ'Ëœ The Structure of the Indian Banking Industry 9 Introduction The turmoil in the international financial marketsRead MoreThe Greek Crisis : The Crisis1863 Words   |  8 PagesThe Greek Crisis When the Eurozone was founded on January 1, 1999, it was with the intention of further integrating and strengthening the nations of Europe, both economically and politically. Until recently, it was believed that the euro provided a stable currency with low inflation and low interest rates and encouraged sound public finance. That the use of a single currency increases price transparency, eliminates currency exchange costs, oils the wheels of the European economy, facilitates internationalRead MoreGreek Debt Crisis1492 Words   |  6 PagesTHE ROLE OF THE EU AND IMF IN MITIGATING THE GREEK DEBT CRISIS European Sovereign Debt Crisis Timeline: ⠝â€" 2008, Iceland‘s international banking system collapsed following the collapse of the US financial sector ⠝â€" Late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed concerning some European states. Sovereign debts (Gov’t debt) externally issued rose sharply due to numerous bank bailouts. ⠝â€" 2010, tensions rose in the countries of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, HungaryRead MoreThe Greek Government Debt Crisis1585 Words   |  7 PagesThe Greek government-debt crisis has seldom seen a break from the public eye since its first bailout loan in 2010. With a sweeping change in political standing, the question now looms as to whether the newly elected Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras should pull the plug on Greece’s membership in the Eurozone. In the most part, International financial and political institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) are helping economic recovery in Greece. ThroughRead MoreThe Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis1418 Words   |  6 PagesThe Greek sovereign debt crisis has required multiple controversial bailouts; due to deflation and tense political that have caused Greek citizens to unsatisfied current economic condition. This is a large problem of economic stability and political unity facing the Eur opean Union. This study seeks to answer two main questions. Firstly, why should European Union help Greece bailouts its economy woes? Secondly, should Greece change its domestic economic policies in response to demands from the EU

Costing Systems free essay sample

Many traditional costing systems: A. trace manufacturing overhead to individual activities and require the development of numerous activity-costing rates. B. write off manufacturing overhead as an expense of the current period. C. combine widely varying elements of overhead into a single cost pool. D. use a host of different cost drivers (e. g. , number of production setups, inspection hours, orders processed) to improve the accuracy of product costing. E. produce results far superior to those achieved with activity-based costing. Â  The following tasks are associated with an activity-based costing system: 1—Calculation of cost application rates 2—Identification of cost drivers 3—Assignment of cost to products 4—Identification of cost pools Which of the following choices correctly expresses the proper order of the preceding tasks? Controller D reported that part of the problem in his firm results from major differences among product lines with respect to unit volume, utilization of activities, quality assurance requirements established by customers, and product size. We will write a custom essay sample on Costing Systems or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Controller M noted that in her firm, which manufactures consumer goods, all items undergo the same basic production processes in the same sequence. However, lately there has been a significant increase in the number of item colors. Both controllers are worried about the potential distortion of product costs under their traditional product-costing systems. Which controller should be more concerned about the potential distortion? Explain. LO: 5 Type: RC, N Answer: Controller D should be more concerned. The variety of product lines made in his firms facility reflects diversity at the product-line and cost levels. In Controller Ms firm, there still is only one product line, with an increasing number of models differentiated only by color. (In many applications, there is no or very little cost difference among color choices. ) Thus, Ds firm may be the victim of cost distortion and a prime candidate for activity-based costing. 38 Hilton

Techno Schmechno a postmodern approach to electro Essay Example For Students

Techno Schmechno: a postmodern approach to electro Essay nicaIn searching for a properly post-modern style of music, it may be better to look at the electronic music scene, which began with house music in the early to middle 80s, rather than at hip-hop. It is true that the hip-hop artist generally disappears into the narrative of the music to the extent that many of their lives are a direct reflection of what they sing about: gang violence, drugs, racism, alienation in the US, etc. but here already we encounter two problems. One is the existential choice of reading: if we do read these lives as reflected, or as ghostly risings out of formal lyrical narratives called rap and hip-hop, which lend to the narratives distinct anthropological and sociological connotations of a symbolic as opposed to structural order, or at least blur the concept reality (qua the signified) with rapping (qua the signifier), then one perhaps makes the mistake of naturalising signs which are altogether become ambiguous, to the extent we have blurred an idea about na ture with a structural and then formal aspect of the narrative anyway. To do this makes the historical or real experiences of gang violence, drugs, racism etc. little more than lame stereotypes or pastiches of the rap, now become Rap, or somewhat almighty in terms of its myth. Whence, though originate these themes? To read as above, is altogether too much myth construction. Either the reality of experience is annulled as signified, in favour of structural or formal readings, or rap narratives suck the lifeblood out of experience and turn it into symbolism. The other way then to read hip-hop, and this is where one encounters the second problem, is to commence with real experience: to see this art as a function of the artists experience, or even to annul the artistic dimension in favour of pure type of expression: cathartic, violent, confronting this may salvage a political dimension, but thats not very post-modern really. Nevertheless the primary elements for hip-hop to cross over i nto post-modernism were there, and post-modernism here primarily connotes a logical conclusion, which makes explicit the absence of a delineation between a staged performance and a real event. These elements should however include not only critical analyses of lyrical content and its performance, but, and which is lacking, also the formal dynamics of mechanical production and reproduction as triggered by such technologies as synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines. We will write a custom essay on Techno Schmechno: a postmodern approach to electro specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now House music (now dead), and all its post-house sub-styles, ie, acid house, new beat, techno, and then the great proliferation from techno-pop to hardcore trance, jungle and other recent idiolects of electronica have more recognisable post-modern functions, in terms of musical form, which I hope to convey in this essay. I prefer to use the term idolect rather than style or genre here as micro-genres of electronic music have distinct paradigmatic features, mainly connoted by the universal use of certain technical forms such as the use of rhythm, tonality etc. We may, in general, call these forms, parametrical (see endnote 1) features which tend to index the whole of electronic music as a syntagm: as an integrational or cardinal form, the individual contents of which look metaphorical, distributional and catalytical (see endnote 2) . For example, the typical 4/4 time signature, which as a sign denotes a typical dance song. Wider shifts in content signify the proliferation of what we mig ht have called styles, although the proliferation of these is so rapid, the styles are so short lived and there are so very many of them that it is quite possible for a style to be introduced on one album and then never to reappear. Therefore it is better to read electronic music overall or integrationally in terms of its syntagm as vertically parallel to other kinds of music (eg heavy-metal or AOR) and to read styles as individual lexicons rather than as evolving movements, especially in the post-techno era. An example of this is Melbourne (Australia) musician Guyver 3s album Perception Camera (if?: 1996), which occasionally contained recognisable elements of jungle, trance and techno but was generally so idiolectic that it would be necessary to invent a whole new term/style to categorise it. Another example is Pan(a)sonics Kulma (Blast First: 1996), which wholly employed what one might call mechanical pastiche by using analogue machinery within a distinct wider context in which th e dominant paradigm is production using digital technology, but then became stylistically indistinct due to a subsequent lack of historicity: the band itself is an anonymous entity: it fiercely resists contextualisation, its idiolect was not drawn upon by others. Here are two examples: I could cite many more, but the exponential growth in categorical or generic styles is actually a result of electronic musics utter loyalty to mechanical production and reproduction which leads to a distinct waning of affect. I quote Jameson in this context: The end of the bourgeois ego, or monad, no doubt brings with it the end of the psychopathologies of that ego what I call the waning of affect. But it means the end of much more the end, for example, of style, in the sense of the unique and individual brush stroke (as symbolised by the emergent primacy of mechanical production). As for expression and feeling or emotions, the liberation, in contemporary society, from the older anomie of the center ed subject may also mean a liberation from every other kind of feeling as well, since there is no longer a self present to do the feeling.All the above may be quite clearly seen in electronic music above all because of its dependence upon mechanical production for its syntagmatic existence. The first big idiolectic explosion here was acid house circa 1987/1988 (originating in Detroit some years earlier. No one knows exactly who wrote the first acid house song or what it was, and rightly so: its a rather irrelevant argument. When acid house became big it was often hailed as a new resisting movement, the new punk or the punk movement of the eighties. This was because, in line with the punk ethos, which uses simple guitar, drum and bass; acid house could be done by almost anyone with a sampler, sequencer and programmable keyboard. Little theoretical knowledge was required and acid house acts popped up from nowhere and everywhere before popping back into the general vacuum or total flow of electronic music. Some important distinctions from punk as a syntagm were quickly discerned however acid house was extremely minimal, even more so than punk with its vocals, three chords, and drums formula. Most acid house songs consisted of little more than a simple drum machine pattern, a bass line that was very distinct in that it always employed sharply defined phasing techniques (whence the definition acid house) and some sampled vocals, often lifted from other songs. Here is the first discrete example of monadic absence all that I just described was produced electronically. The form of the song was always extremely repetitive and hypnotic, focussing on quantity, while the concept quality remained in the background. Sequencing one or two quite short musical phrases produces this type of electronic music. Sequencing involves electronically copying and pasting a musical phrase or phrases in a very similar way that one might copy and paste a paragraph on a word processor. Th e analogical equivalent to much acid house (and other idiolects of electronica) would be a paragraph pasted and thus repeated over and over again. Thus the presence of the musician literally almost becomes irrelevant, as the machine produces almost all the music. Musicologists (and fans of guitar rock) might criticise this sort of composition as slack and unoriginal but that would be missing the point. This music nonetheless sounded incredibly fresh and new it was a whole new way or syntagm of making music, challenging the traditional concept of composition. The ethos behind it and its means of production actually required the waning of affect by intuitive absence and extreme repetition. This ethos signifies the instrumental (in the utility sense echoes of Max Weber perhaps) features of electronic music, and the word hypnotic as I used it above is important. Why acid house? Sex, drugs and rock n roll acid house was made primarily to dance to while tripping on various forms of LSD and ecstasy and the late eighties saw the creation of the phenomenon known as the warehouse party which later evolved into the now notorious (usually outdoor) rave where lots of acid and ecstasy (mainly ecstasy) are consumed, and acid house, techno and trance etc are danced to all night long. Electronic music as we now know it is primarily a music of utility; it is not so much listened to at home for aesthetic enjoyment as it is frantically danced to at clubs, parties and raves while high on the substance of ones choice in order to attain a special magical and transcendent moment. I would suggest that when such a moment is indeed reached there can be no better way to describe it than by recognising it as the post-modern intensity, where intensities have conveniently replaced or deferred for now the problem of representative meaning. This is also why electronic music is better at post-modernism because the whole dance and drugs culture which centre this music may be said to be base d on the search for the ultimate aesthetic intensity, not through the authentication of affect or ego, but through the extreme loss and negation of the self by use of repetitive, hypnotic, mechanical dance music and also by drugs. Perhaps to be intense equals to be high, but I dont want to start sounding religious here. .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .postImageUrl , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:hover , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:visited , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:active { border:0!important; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:active , .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175 .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u02e244f9a01094e296c7aaeab027a175:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Native American Genocide Essay ThesisAnother reason that hip-hop proper branched off into house et al may well be political. Hip-hop as such was never really amenable to a capitalist music industry, which equates political safety with commercial success. Hip-hop has always had more of a counter-cultural aspect to it, from Afrika Bambaatas and Grandmaster Flashs earlier performances out of the New York ghettoes to Public Enemys very distinct articulations and expressions of political protest. MTV is a good case to cite: it wouldnt even play Michael Jacksons Billie Jean until CBS threatened to withdraw the use of its other artists, and when MTV played the whole seventeen hou rs of Live Aid in 1985, they cut the one hip-hop act on the bill out: Run-DMC. The focus of house and its follow-ons into the nineties has always been more on the dance floor it seems. The Summers of Love of 89 and 90 were much more about a subculture of hedonism and pleasure than any distinctly political culture, which sub-cultural scene seems to have continued from there. It would be difficult to see electronic music ever becoming distinctly political as it thrives on a depoliticised ethos in any case. One of the more conspicuous features of all the idiolects since house is a genuine lack of personality cults. Where hip-hop retains a focus on the artist, often by immersing the artist entirely within its narrative; house, techno and so forth abhor the artist. To focus on the artist would detract from dance musics instrumentalising connotations. Often the names of electronic acts are strikingly obscure this is the list of acts that appeared on a Melbourne electronic compilation Blu e Sector Vol. 1: Amnesia, the Headmaster, TSM, Stride, Foil/M24, Prime 8, Tonto, Voiteck, Zen Paradox. Numbers (808 State, Apollo 440, U96, Front 242), unidentified abbreviations (TCH, JX, SQ16, PGR, MR V, X-Project) and meaningless or ambiguous words (Tonal Plexus, Marmion, Klatch, Datura, Autechre, Drax) most often appear. Are these nick-names of people, names of drugs, of bits of technology or more sinister things? All of the above (certainly Datura is at least a drug, and SQ16 stands for 16-track sequencing) and more probably. In any case the reader may sense that a certain anonymity is strongly indicated an anonymity that hopes to signify the consumer and intstrumentaliser of the music. Live concerts are not known of in the conventional sense either. When bands do play live, the gig often becomes a paradox for the consumer. One example is a Black Lung gig in Melbourne, 1997. When Black Lung commenced playing he, she or they (actually a he and sometimes she as well), they made a remarkable statement by leaving the curtains closed. Actually, the venue they played that night doesnt have any curtains so they placed some there temporarily. The band wasnt seen at all and the music ended up gelling and becoming almost indistinguishable from the music that the DJ played before and after the act. The curtains acted as a contiguous symbolic bar, sequestering the signifying artist from the signified music on an historical level. The music then became dehistoricised: it took its form wholly internally rather than presently; the terms became reversed, as on a CD: music became the empty internal signification of the absent artist who was fulfilled in image and concept only. Those people who werent already too out of it to know the difference had problems deciding what to do. Dance? If not, then chat with friends? In any case, there wasnt anything to look at and the atmosphere was more like that in a cafe than anything. Sit around in little groups and get stoned perhap s So here we have an example of mechanical reproduction without a source, a move from the symbolic to the structural wholly opposed to the ethos of hip-hop, which is all spectacle and exhibition. All that remained was the electronic music, which seemed to proceed from the infrastructure of the club itself, like a type of digital epiphenomenon but with no particular analogical supervenience or parallel. Indeed as one punter exclaimed when the music stopped for the night what happened to the band? Good question, but apparently they had already played. Had we seen them though, we would have seen two people sitting behind some keyboards and mixers not doing anything except occasionally twiddle some knobs. Black Lung were probably well aware of the visual poverty of their show compared to a traditional rock concert but ironically the device of the curtains as opposed to, say, a visually distracting laser show, produced a much more disorientating effect Essentially and formally there is exa ctly no need for a human presence to play the music here. .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .postImageUrl , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:hover , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:visited , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:active { border:0!important; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:active , .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97 .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u85675fb1cdacdb451b90d154991e8c97:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Child Abuse EssayWhat we have is a deferral of the problem of artistic legitimation in favour of legitimation as cultural product. Electronic music does not so much refuse legitimation as a product but to that extent a product is all it is. It is not possible to legitimate the artist when the artist is absent from the process of identification. There is a total flow to the phenomenon of electronic music. Any one piece becomes indiscrete, when on the dance floor songs are beat-mixed to the same speed and/or pitch so that gaps both of form and space are perpetually absent, barring the event of complete breakdown, in which case it is the music that disappears and not the song . This flow is similar to that of TV and radio. If dead air is anathema there then dead beats are anathema in the techno club. The song is itself deconstructed in another sense as well: the remix. The remix (then better known as the extended version) became the defining phenomenon of dance music in the eighties. But in the extended version, the original song was still very much signified. The extension usually consisted of an extra three or four minutes inserted at various points of the original song. It was quite easily possible to formally identify various bits of the song as original bits and extended bits. But in the nineties the remix usually plays with the very concept of the original song, completely restructuring all the tracks and sometimes dispensing with the original vocals altogether. A good example in dialectic terms is the remix single by Underworld, Born Slippy (Junior Recordings: 1996). Five versions of the song are offered here. The first is the short version which is a straight edit of the long version which sounds like what we might have called the original version because it is the one wh ich was played on radio, TV music shows, and appeared in the movie Trainspotting, from which it gained its popularity in the first place. Note how originality is here constructed not at all in terms of production though, that is, original because it was the first version to appear because all versions appeared pretty much simultaneously. A dialectic between broadcast culture and club culture becomes apparent here, because clubs usually eschew radio mixes and vice versa. Often the consumer who gets to know a track in a nightclub and subsequently buys the single nowaydays may be quite disappointed when he or she discovers the version they know and love is nowhere to be found on their disc as it is a limited edition DJs mix or something similar. Originality is here then wholly constructed out of context, as an arbitrary apparition dependent on place of broadcast. Originality is then also dependent on the consumer the consumer literally constructs originality all by her or himself. The artist has already disappeared behind a formally impenetrable wall of technology anyway, so the artist is no source of authority here, as the artist is the one who has prostituted what is left of the song out to various remix engineers. I say prostituted because the artist pays the engineer (often DJs or fellow techno acts) to put their body in terms of concept onto the song and make it sound other. The second version on the Born Slippy single is the Darren Price mix. We now lose all the musical tracks from the short version, but retain the original vocals. The new musical tracks share a conceptual equivalence with the short version too, ie, the melody is retained. So Born Slippy is still quite easily signified a formal connection is retained. Once we get to the third version, the Darren Price remix, we are in deeper deconstructive waters. All signs of the song we knew as Born Slippy have disappeared, a wholly other musical piece takes its place. Nonetheless its still known by its name and as a remix. Its not another song. Listening closely for signs of the song we thought we knew, it seems that the songs speed is still the same. Maybe thats the signifying link? It seems so, because when we get to the fourth version: the Alex Reece mix the musical elements are once again wholly replaced, but the beat does sound familiar in an ambiguous manner. In vain we make the link though, b ecause once we get to the fifth version even the signifying beat disappears in whats called the deep pan banstyle/alex reece mix. I chose this example because apparently it offers a dialectic of deconstruction we began with the conventional short version and gradually all the formal signifiers disappeared. But if we apply this commentary fairly then no version is really anymore authoritative than any other. It was, after all the context that we saw as defining originality, because, if I was a DJ, I would have license to call any of these versions Born Slippy by Underworld. Maybe then it would be better to join all five versions together and the whole piece as one song. Indeed one can do that, but this is only to defer the problem of definition into its own particular mini-total flow constucted by naming. It doesnt really solve the problem, as one might as well go all the way and call every techno song Born Slippy by Underworld. The whole interest in anonymity and confusing the definition of songs has a certain attitude of glee or jouissance about it. On the other hand, it may well be that if anonymity is assured by the use of mechanical reproduction, the artist seems to remain present, albeit in a ghostly type of manner, by appealing to idiolect, and this is why there is such a proliferation of idiolects in the electronic scene. As formal significations are dispensed with entirely, eg, songs, musicians, melodies, lyrics etc. a type of individuality returns out of its repression to haunt this music. But are we talking about the unique and individual bru shstroke or just the fact that different brands and types of brushes, pallettes and paints are being used in different combinations? That is, can we sense artistic presence here or just the fact that this piece uses a Roland DX-100 and a Jupiter 8 while that one uses a Casio and a Yamaha?End notes1. As an element which remains constant for the whole duration of a piece of music. See N. Ruwet. 2. See Barthes, Roland (1977) Structural Analysis of Narratives in Image-Music-Text. References:Jameson F. (1991); Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.