Cr4Bdbgs - Death Cab for Cutie launch anti-autotune campaign at Grammys
Perpetua FTW. Interesting discussion either way.
(via offnotesnotes)
I don’t know, saying that racism always equals “turn it up to 11 and burn some crosses”, and is inherently so evil and only perpetrated by the vicious and meatheaded is reductive. This kind of thinking makes it nearly impossible to have a substantive conversation about how we all perceive race. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I do know that, “he’s smart and a nice guy,” is perhaps the silliest response. Remember the Perpetua/Rhythm Nation brouhaha of ‘08? I was firmly on the flux-side because, hey, here’s an avenue of discussion! What’s so dangerous about this particular avenue of discussion (provided people don’t immediately lose their shit)? I’m not going to get behind anybody on the side of “shut up, you!”
Even if it is a bit racial (that’s the word we Black people use when we want to talk about race without upsetting our White friends. That “-ist” will set a person off.), it’s not so evil to make it too dangerous to even discuss. That’s so weak. I have had better conversations with old White South Africans on race than I have ever had with a liberal arts grad…and this shit is why.
(via lastbutnotleast)
The thing that bugs me about Gibbard’s stunt is that it’s another example of indie abusing its inferiority complex. He’s not just stating his taste—he’s making a big, agressive, public show of his taste, with the ribbons and all, walking into a room full of people who do use Autotune as a kind of nyah-nyah anti-Grammy statement. It would seem mean for, say, Jennifer Hudson to be wearing a “down with fake lo-fi” t-shirt, because why should the more successful person care about the less successful style? But the thing is, of course, Gibbard comes from a much more priviledged background than almost all of the performers using Autotune (though not the producers and executives who are possibly pressuring them to use it, so maybe they were his real target). Because his chosen genre is resolutely small stakes, he can perform his resentissment without seeming like a dick—except the thing that really matters, his cultural capital etc. etc., is far greater than that of almost anyone he’s targeting with the statement. Does that make him a dick? By doing this thing as a jokey-jokey “campaign” (and let’s be honest here—if he just wanted to make a joke, he could’ve done a “down with sauerkraut” campaign or something, the jokiness here is just more indie aw-shucksness trying to downplay a seriously held position just in case anyone actually takes it seriously) he’s not just stating a personal preference. By appearing at the Grammys and using his position within a particular culture to shield himself from charges of dickitude, he’s speaking effectively as a representative of that culture. Which means that the statement he’s actually making is “my culture’s values are superior to your culture’s values.” Which is certainly something you can say, but when it’s coming from a member of the majority culture, it’s also fair for other people to be a little bothered by that, right? Not me, particularly—I just rolled my eyes and said “that’s retarded” and moved on with my life—but hey, what Janine said. It’s a valid thing to talk about, no?
