Still Independent
Rambling early in the morning: 2000/06/13
So... I'm feeling a bit guilty, sitting here, listening to songs that I've downloaded off of Napster which I've gotten quite hooked on lately -- I have both a DSL line and a cable modem running into this little wired house of mine, so it's media overload here. However, I do buy a lot of CDs, and I do buy artists that I like, so I don't feel too bad. I worry about all of this because I know that most people who aren't actually involved in the creation of media don't respect the fact that for art to continue, artists need to be paid on one level or another. I saw William Gibson speak recently and he believes that intellectual property will become free in the immediate future. I hope that he's wrong, because the day that happens, art becomes not only free, but valueless -- dictated by what can be "sold" by advertising, dumbing it down to the lowest denominator. Anyway...BME has been around now for about six years. During that time period, it's grown fairly steadily, and evolved from a tiny personal homepage to a megasite which can fairly be said to represent a unique and important community. About ten times over that time period a variety of groups, from adult publishers to alternative content portals have offered to either buy BME outright or make strategic alliances in trade for content, etc... So far, I have turned down all offers (unlike almost every other site out there -- even Canadian co-conspirator stileproject.com has become part of the bla-bla.com juggernaught).
I guess what I want to encourage everyone not to do, is don't let big business -- no matter how "alternative" a disguise it decides to wear -- subvert something special to you into a tool of commerce. The things that you care about -- body modification and other things -- are something genuinely special. Big business does not care about the beauty and the soul, and will mutate it into a twisted profit-generating version. There's nothing wrong with making money from what you love (in fact, I think it's the BEST way to make a living), but there is something wrong with taking something you love, and allowing it to be trnasformed into something other than itself simply for the aim of reaching a larger and more profitable market.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the Church Of Body Modification (which I strongly support), but I think it may be taking too passive a role in it's forcing of public acceptance of body modification. Maybe it's because I got too drunk at the BME barbeque last night, but I came to the conclusion that by modifying your body you learn who you are. And not just modifying your body, but modifying your body in a way that forces society (and yourself) to re-examine how you fit into their mold.
Some people say body modification is OK, but it's not for everyone. I say that's not true. I say anyone who has not modified their body in some way (and even body building counts) just DOESN'T GET IT. They're not a whole person, and they're NOT spiritually aware of themselves. It is extremely important that EVERYONE cross that line. We're one of the only cultures ever in the history of humanity that has not integrated body modification as a healthy part of itself, and that's why we're so spiritually ill. I wish I could find the words to explain how it changes you, and what exactly it is that you figure out, but I think it's almost like FAITH: you simply can't understand it until you've been there.
I don't think that body modification is OK. Body modification is normal, it's healthy, and it's essential to spiritual health. Those who are not modified are sick. Yes, I mean that. They are incomplete people. They have not reached their potential, and they don't know who they are. The claim of "piercing isn't for me" and it's equivilents is WRONG.
None of us have to make excuses for our modifications. It's the OTHER WAY AROUND. Those without modification need to either grow up and cross the line into enlightenment, or they need to apologize to us, and go back to quietly living as empty (and undecorated) shells.
The more I think about this, the more I think I may be very, very, very right about it. But I admit that I am known for having extremist views. I'd very much like to know if there are others out there that feel the same way.
Shannon
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