On 10/31/2010 03:06 PM, marc garrett wrote: > Hi Rob & all, > > I have rewritten the text posted here last week, a few things were > hanging and not resolved which I needed to deal with...
Thanks Marc. A few comments... > there those who feel they know or have a particular perspective of > the bigger picture because of their positions in relation to their > privilege, I do wonder how much of their criticism of the amateur can be attributed to the knowledge that their position of privilege is no more secure against amateurism than any other creative field. > I disagree with the idea that amateurs are the enemy. One of the more frustrating aspects of Lovink's apparent criticism of Lessig (http://blogs.fu-berlin.de/fcrc/2010/10/08/geert-lovink-keynote-after-the-critique-of-free-and-open-alternative-platforms-and-revenue-models/ ) is that it isn't. He *agrees* with Lessig's more recent writing on the idea that amateurs should be protected from professional economic exploitation by reducing everyone else's freedom to use their work. On the one hand I recognise that the problem from the point of view of an economic critique of amateur production is that unlike the complete Marxist individual who can "hunt in the morning..." they don't receive the full economic benefit of the exploitation of the products of their labour. On the other hand I don't recall Marxists and Theorists burning down the copy shop, the photo booth or the art materials store because they made far more money from the work of amateurs than the amateurs ever did. > What he proposes may not necessarily sit right, but they address > important questions around how and why things 'should' always be > free. IMO individuals should be free to participate in cultural life and their freedom to do so not held hostage either by evil corporations or by well meaning anti-corporatists. > It's a bit like accepting democracy without knowing why its there in > the first place - perhaps we just need to remind ourselves why we > have it. Yes I certainly need to get back in touch with the positive basis for my involvement in free culture. This thread has been a great help for that. Thank you. - Rob. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
