Book People Archive

Re: Cultural Protectionism, and other things


On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, David Starner wrote:

> On 1/25/06, Bones Monkey <dudeman5685@[redacted]> wrote:
>> I am not entirely familiar with the present World
>> Trade conundrum, but I have heard that there is an
>> effort to restrict the flow of "cultural products"
>> from one state to the other in the name of "Cultural
>> Diversity" -- an Orwellian excuse, really as the aim
>> of the convention seems to create tariffs on foreign
>> "cultural items" in order to maintain each areas
>> uniqueness.
>
> I fail to see why that's an "Orwellian excuse"; if the goal is
> cultural diversity, stopping Hollywood from overrunning the Phillipean
> movie industry by adding tariffs seems a plausible solution.

Let's see now if I read you correctly:

On the concept of preserving "Cultural Diversity"
it is better to stop "Cultural Diversity" FROM an
extinction-threatened [cultural sense] population
so THEIR "Cultural NON-Diversity" is preserved to
be send TO other MORE "Culturally Diverse" people
and places???

So the "already Culturally Diverse" population is
allowed to grow to be exposed FROM "other Diverse
Cultures," but THOSE cultures are to be prevented
from being exposed to "more Diverse Cultures"???

We can see theirs, but they can't see ours???

Don't get me wrong, I have been upset when I went
to places that used to have regional foods, and I
could not get them any more because grits had the
Whopper and Big Mac wipe them out, but I think it
is the RIGHT of those people to give up grits and
the like even if _I_ want to go back and eat 'em!

It is NOT OUR CHOICE, it is THEIR CHOICE.

And, by the way, in light of the Philippines, the
example given above, I don't think WE have choice
there any longer.

A friend just went back after a few years away in
other locations and was totally surprised at HUGE
changes that were immediately obvious.

When he left, hardly anyone had telephones of any
kind, and when he got back cellphones were common
to the point of being everywhere.

Now that you can get TV, movies, etc., via a cell
connection, YOU can't stop them from seeing movie
choices they make through a medium YOU cannot get
control of!!!

Preserving someone's culture in a museum is fine,
but preserving it in their lives is not what YOUR
decision making should be allowed to consider.

It's too much like "keeping them in their place."


>> (I do note the irony of how
>> much the MPAA has lauded president Bush on this
>> subject, while the vast majority of its members are,
>> it goes without saying, viscerally anti-Bush on most
>> other subjects. Hypocrites.)
>
> It's not hypocritical to agree with someone on one point
> and disagree with them on others.

Well, it IS hypocritical to SAY you are representing them,
and then to promote something they are viscerally against.

I remember when Jack Valenti first stood up at the Oscars,
promoting the hunt for the majority of Hollywood's movies,
those that had been "lost," though the proper term is that
they were "discarded," "tossed in the garbage," etc.

It was obvious that there would be no benefit for the ones
who "found" the "lost" films even if they had the only one
single remaining copy, as copyright was going to extend to
cover those movies, even though their copyrights never had
been renewed, just as with "It's A Wonderful Life."

The MPAA wants it all to be "pay per" with nothing ever in
the public domain.

What they want more than anything else is CONTROL of media
rather than any other options.

The thing that scares them most is that computers have put
their own medium outside their control, as a studio system
has failed in comparison to the individual, as exemplified
by Robert Rodriguez and his "Troublemaker Studios."  Their
response was to excommunicate him from his Directors Guild
status, which will just create more "troublemakers" in the
future who want to emulate him.

Of course, there are forces going the other direction too,
as per the recent Disney purchase of Steve Jobs and Pixar.

Now comes the main event:

Will Steve Jobs change Disney more than Disney changes him
or will something totally unexpected happen?

With Steve Jobs you often get the unexpected. . . hee hee!




Give the world eBooks in 2006!!!

Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg