TheAgitator.com
Tower Records and the Conservative Left
Sunday, February 15th, 2004You know, you sometimes get the feeling the day after the polio vaccine was invented, today’s left would have run editorials lamenting the good ol’ days, when we were a little more cautious about what swimming pools we jumped into, and expressing sadness that we’d now have no new stories about the afflicted overcoming their disability to inspire the rest of us.
I’m not kidding. They’re that resistant to change. Every mill that shuts down is a “sign of our sad times.” No matter that the new mill will do things better, faster and cheaper than the old one. New farming techniques grow more food on less land. But dammit, if there wasn’t something romantic about the old-stye “family farm” that’s deserving of government protection. Innovation isn’t celebrated, it’s excoriated for displacing some idealized vision of the way things once were. In matters of progress and dyanmism, the left is far more conservative than the conservatives are.
Look, I love Tower records. And I’ll be sorry to see it go. But this NY Times editorial this morning is just insane. The kicker concluding paragraph:
But we have reached what to me, back in 1966, was an unimaginable place â an America where the small-town variety stores have gone out of business because a Wal-Mart opened up out by the highway; an America where with a few keystrokes and a valid credit card you can own virtually any recording you want, the instant it’s released. Somehow it sounds more inviting than it actually is.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t find these changes unwelcome at all. That we can get instant service with the click of a mouse, order virtually any music we want at any time, buy singles from iTunes instantly, or hit Wal-Mart or Best Buy to get at $10.99 what Tower and Camelot sell for $18.99 — all of this is a bad thing?
There’s still a healthy market for indy and specialty music stores. Visit your local college town. And I’d imagine that if satellite radio catches on, the increased exposure to less-than-mainstream artists will force the big box stores to either expand their selection, or we’ll see even more indy outlets springing up again.
But that we all ought to be shedding tears over the bankrupcy of a national record store chain (which closed down a few mom and pop record stores of its own) because Best Buy, Wal-Mart and the Internet out-Towered Tower records (not to mention the comically over the top headline “Tower Records in the Maelstrom of Consumer Desire”) is really beyond parody.
Someday, Walmart will go out of business, and the left will sigh a sigh of sadness, shake their collective fists at the heavens, and lament, “damn you, capitalism!”
. . . and to think, a Leftest actually INVENTED the internet! I wonder if they pine for the crackle of vinyl as well?
Listen buddy, a lot of people still listen to vinyl and good artists still put out 12″ and 7″ singles and LP or 2LP full-lengths. In fact in the hip-hop, electronic, dance, etc genres, some artists use only vinyl.
They’re obviously living in the past. I own over two-hundred vinyl albums but have replaced them with CDs. Digital recording is an improvement. And I’m not your buddy, Miss Anonymous.
Um, resistance of change is more a conservative trait than a liberal one. As for WalMart I’ll agree that liberals are down on WalMart more than conservatives, but it’s because WalMart is very damaging to communities, not because it “represents change”.
All in all, an interesting article, but since you have no clue at all what liberals think, or the point the quotes you are responding to is trying to make, you end up flogging strawmen.
Bones - None us understands what liberals think? You flatter yourself.
Bones:
” but it’s because WalMart is very damaging to communities, not because it “represents change”.
Which is basically another way of saying “it changes communities” given that you personally dislike the changes it brings.
Aw Hell, the Mercer Way Tower store in Seattle where I met Sonic Youth and the 38th street store in Tacoma where I picked up my first issue of Psychotronic magazine are already gone, the latter for a considerable amount of time now.
So what?
I still get all that stuff, and cheaper now too. Bands remain to this day very approachable.
And to Bones:
The contrast wasn’t conservative/liberal - but right/left conservatism.
Bones-
“Um, resistance of change is more a conservative trait than a liberal one.”
Yes! I have to agree, conservative seem (IMO) to want to live in 1950. I think that the makor difference in the current definitions of conservative/liberal is that conservatives think that the social playing field is level, so everyone should live in the 1950s “ideal” life, shown by sit-coms and fuzzy memory. Liberals recognixa the field is uneven but think that taxes and government programs can “fix” that.
Both are wrong.
Proof reading is good-
Conservatives, major and recognize
lol!
Bones –
The right is resistant to social change. The left is resistant to economic change. Both are generally “conservative” principles in that both seek to conserve the status quo.
I personally think Walmart gives lower-income families the opportunity to live as comfortably as others, not to mention employment opps. How can that be damaging to a community?
Well, WalMart is an American success story. Can’t have anyone being successful in America. It makes people jealous.
Any of you who believe that the rich abd corporations are our greatest threat, answer me this.
If the rich are so powerful, how did Sam Walton (and Michael Dell, and Herb Kellerer (sp?) of Southwest Airlines) come from nowhere and steal the customers of established firms so effectively?
It strikes me as interesting that hte very people who argue that Walmart and the changes it brings, “damages communities” and yet other social changes are supposed to be welcomed… homosexual unions for one “hot button’ example… these are supposed to be welcomed with open arms, despite the idea that they too can damage communities, and at a far more basic level.
I don’t mean to equate the two in terms of impact. Yet, the diffeening logic in the respective cases seems somewhat lacking, here.
Well, actually, DJs mostly use vinyl records because it’s very hard to scratch with compact discs. There are actually gizmos that let you, and there’s a thing that does something similar with MP3s, but it’s not quite the same.
They also do like the crackle of vinyl.
yes cd’s are more convenient and less fragile than vinyl lp’s, but they aren’t music. they are a didigtal representation of music. anyone who has taken the time to set-up and maintain a quality ANALOG stereo system knows this. like most of the mass produced products that corporate america foists on its vain and gullible consumers, lp’s and 45’s of the 60’s & 70’s were of dubious quality. just like the music it pumps out now, only on cd’s. if one takes the time to purchase high quality 180 gram, virgin vinyl lp’s that are half speed masters, one would never listen to cd’s again. so, if you like it quick and cheap, shop at wal-mart. if you care about your community, and are willing to take the time and spend the money, then shop at your local retailer. both have their rewards as well as their risks. as to the argument/s that change is always good or always bad, neither is correct. change is constant, some times fighting it is good and sometimes fighting it is futile. it is when one group disparages another group for not supporting its desired changes that problems arise. somethings i buy at wal-mart, somethings i buy at the mom & pop shop. i just don’t want people calling me names because i listen to my music on vinyl.
THE CONSERVATIVE LEFT
Forgive me, please, for chuckling a little at Radley Balko’s new meme, but he’s definitely onto something:You know, you sometimes get the feeling the day after the polio vaccine was invented, today’s left would have run editorials lamenting the good…