Ear to Ear: Holly Near and Roy Zimmerman 4/4

http://www.hollynear.com/ Here's the premiere installment of my interview segment where I go Ear to Ear with other artists and activists. This week I'm proud to feature a conversation with Holly Near. See parts 1 through 4 plus our duet on Holly's song "I Ain't Afraid"

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[RoyZimmerman]

RE: borrowing, authenticity, ownership, artistic responsibility ...

Please watch the YouTube video called "'Toking' with Lawrence Welk'"

You'll be glad you did.

[RoyZimmerman]

Dear All -- The problem with cutting up an interview into 4 pieces is that one comment can be taken out of context. Please listen to the interview segment before this one (3/4) where Holly explicitly talks about not having to be part of a group to sing about that group (she's not a lesbian, but she sings lesbian songs; she's not a parent, but she sings about having children, she's not a farmworker, but ...) Holly's in an exquisite voice for conscious participation in the world.

[womensmusicclassics]

@lesbianconcentrate What the hell happened from this comment on? I am confused.

[neomp5]

@ThirteenthMuse

yet you keep talking about posession.

[ThirteenthMuse]

@neomp5 *sigh* Yes, neo. AGREED. They are. I have not said otherwise. Please look up the term "legalism" - it has a meaning beyond any concrete reference to law. Basically I'm saying that you're so focused on being correct that you're missing the human factor. And you're certainly so focused on being correct that you've somehow missed the fact that I'M NOT EVEN ARGUING WITH YOUR DEFINITIONS.

[neomp5]

@ThirteenthMuse

you're the only one talking about legality. i'm talking about memetics. ideas belong to no one but themselves. they are entities that reproduce and evolve, just as we are.

[ThirteenthMuse]

@neomp5 neo, you can argue semantics all day if you like, but it's getting a little dull on my end. Please notice that I have not argued with ANY of your neatly-packaged little definitions. All I have said, repeatedly, is that a little consideration would go a long way. Just because an action is permissible by a set of abstract rules, does not make that action a wise one or a respectful one. It's a "spirit of the law" versus "letter of the law" thing. Personally, I find legalism unproductive.

[neomp5]

@ThirteenthMuse

i'm saying it's not borrowing. "borrowing" indicates posession.

[ThirteenthMuse]

@ThirteenthMuse My point is just that some types of borrowing can be offensive, and it's not mere oversensitivity that makes it so. It's that sometimes we take a bit of someone's culture that is very deeply bound up with their beliefs and identity, and we turn it into a cartoon caricature. Can/should we stop people from doing this? In my opinion, no - we can't and shouldn't. But that doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't ask them to think about it a little more carefully before they do!

[ThirteenthMuse]

@neomp5 Again, please read my comments carefully - I'm NOT disagreeing with you in the way you seem to be assuming. I am not personally calling it theft (I am merely saying that I understand why some people do call it that), nor am I saying it shouldn't happen. And of course it happens all the time. Every modern religion, for example, is to some extent a hodgepodge of religions that came before - whether we're talking about Christianity or Neo-Paganism, it's all borrowing.

[neomp5]

@ThirteenthMuse

i'm not talking about the legal sense. nobody owns culture in any sense. ideas own themselves, they spread however they can.

when you think of the culture of england, what do you think of? victorian or edwardian ladies carrying parasols and fans while sipping tea? those things are chinese in origin. yet they are very much english. this is not theft. it's memetic evolution.