Amanda of Pandagon has a blistering post on the "greatest generation" vs. today's warbloggers. Today's the 1,346th day since 9/11. It took 1,346 days since Pearl Harbor to declare victory in World War II. The critique is strong:

The Greatest Generation knew that a war effort this massive would require effort from everyone and with that end in mind, they intergrated women into the military for the first time with the WAC and while black Americans were still serving in segregated units, the contributions of both blacks and women during WWII set the stage for rebellions that came later and society progressed. The Cowardly Generation thinks the best way to win a war is to exclude gays and women from military duty as much as you can while rolling back social reforms at home.

The Greatest Generation rationed sugar, coffee, fabrics and mostly oil for the war effort. The Cowardly Generation decided that the best way to show support was to purchase massive SUVs that looked manly while increasing our dependence on the oil that got us into this shit to begin with.

This is something I've thought about a lot myself, as I still can't shake the sensation of biking down an empty 5th Avenue towards a massive column of smoke 1,346 days ago. I was a little afraid, yes, but mostly I was sick to my stomache because I knew that at full population there are 50,000 people in those towers and I figured most of them must be dead.

At the same time, as this was a meltdown of the status quo I felt a thrilling sense of possibility. I think I started singing "We Can Be Heroes." It seems a little inappropriate in hindsight, but the words were electrifying. Experience is a product of contrasts, and there's nothing like the towering visage of death taking over the city you call home to make you feel alive.

I think my greatest beef with Bush and his cohort is how they squandered that opportunity. That was a moment in which the United States could have taken an enormous step forward and taken most of the world with us, I think. That was a moment when our society was aching to come together as never before. People were giving blood because no one knew what the fuck else to do, and in that moment the President told us to keep shopping and keep praying. And then he started getting ready to scare us into an unnecessary and poorly planned war.

I don't know if that window of optimisim is closed or not. I don't want to believe it, but the depth of divisions and rancor in this country today are staggering. If a potential for real change swept in along with the grim reaper that clear tuesday morning, I fear it has been spent to take us to war and turn us against ourselves. 1,346 days. What a motherfucker.

My letter to Sen. Gordon Smith from Oregon, a Republican and so generally my political adversary, but one who seems a cut above the general GOP horde, which I think says something nice about good ol' OR:

Though I often find myself at odds with your politics, I have come to understand and respect the manner in which you conduct yourself in the Senate as a worthy representation of the independent and high-minded traditions which my beloved home state of Oregon holds dear.

And so, to keep it short and sweet, I sincerely hope that if this business with filibusters comes to a head in the next days, you will find the courage to stand apart from the dictates of your party leaders and their thirst for absolute majority rule. It seems clear to me that such a historic change in Senate rules should be conducted as normal (with a 67-vote requirement) and not as a 51-vote "point of order." It also seems clear to me that Sen. Frist is engaging in this first and foremost to further his own presidential ambitions, and not out of any sincere desire to better govern our country.

I trust you know the issues, and I'm sympathetic to the pressure you must be under from GOP leaders and some of your most passionate constituents. This is a miniscule gesture on my part -- writing you this e-communique -- but I hope it may in some small way embolden you to stand up for the long-term health of our government and political process.

If you need it, here's some backstory on the filibuster issue. States with Republicans who might stick up for the integrity of the political process over Bill Frist's presidential ambitions (he's doing all this to curry favor with the fundimentalist hardliners like Jim Dobson in preparation for a 2008 run) are Maine (Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe), Nebraska (Ben Nelson), Ohio (Mike DeWine), Oregon (Gordo), Pennsylvania (Specter), Rhode Island (Lincoln Chafee), Virginia (John Warner). If they represent you, take five minutes to reach out and lobby.

I am was planning on going down to Worcester today to grab a bite with the DHB cohort, so I thought I'd check up on their blog to see what's shakin'. I see this -- Indy, a "music discovery" tool -- which seems like a cool development. Basically, it's a tool to play you random music, see if you like it, if so play music that other people who liked that track also liked, and if not try something else.

While this is clearly a very early implementation, this is something that could actually work in the long run. Record labels used to do three things. Produce, Distribute and Promote. At it stands, Production and Distribution have already been largely democratized by technology. While their last remaining ace -- Promotion -- is not going to go away anytime soon, the development of "discovery" tools like this, as well as the outgrowth of social tools are going to steadily erode the ability of the majors to put products over on consumers.

Social tools include things like Mp3 blogs (a return to the oridinal DJ concept), socially oriented filesharing tools like SoulSeek (sort of a giant musical swap meet where downloading means conversation first), and the rising trend of individual music consumers seeing themselves on some level as representatives of the artists they enjoy. These cultural practices and methods are going to pick up steam over mass marketing because they're more likely to deliver a higher quality acoutsic product, and they contain a higher potential for social reward -- usually some kind of positive relationship or interaction -- as a result of their practice. On the other hand, mass promotion methods are more likely to be pimping an inferior creation and have seen their greatest social reward -- the unity that comes with being part of a mass -- steadily erode.

There used to be a time when being a part of it meant seeing it premere on MTV, and you could count on sharing those cultural touchstones with yr peers. This is the entire premise behind VH1's retrospective "I love the 60s/70s/80s" programming, remembering moments of cultural unity. However, as we move into the 90s and especially the 21st century, this type of programming is going to become increasingly problematic. As the media environment becomes more democratic, people find there's more good feeling (and good listening) in being a part of an organic community. For many, the tie that binds becomes a record store or venue rather than a hit debut video. This means diminishing returns on "hit" products, but the upshot is that with support for artists distributed more broadly, the number who actualy develop their talent and create great music increases.

This means monolithic entities (e.g. todays media megacorporations) will have to do more work -- or at least produce, distribute and promote more products -- to roll up the same number of sales; something they're poorly positioned to do. On the flip side, this also means that light, agile, independent entities (e.g. indy labels, self-managed artists, amateurs/hobbiests) will be competing on a more level playing field with the majors.

There's a kind of moral rightness (to me anyway) in this vision of media conglomorations suffering a kind of death by a thousand cuts, but the actual cultural impact is going to be pretty enormous. What does the world look like when fewer artists become rockstars, but many many more are able to earn a decent living off their craft? It could be pretty interesting.

Pop and mainstream music will continue to run strong as long as Americans continue to work as much as they do. People who hold down two jobs generally don't have time to be an active participant in a "scene." Some sort of "default culture" will still persist, though it will probably be more democratic and diverse in its own right, with people sort of following groups of quality artists who consistantly release good sounds. These followings will likely retain an association with people's tastes when they were young -- the "scene" grows up and becomes an institution.

A few final thoughts:

• As major's sales move more and more to catalog (old stuff), artists are going to get smarter about their licensing terms.
• As filesharing becomes accepted as a fact of life, the importance of touring, merch and anciliary products will increase. The Ramones fortune is based on t-shirts, not record sales. Expect more of that.
• Artists who want to 'sell out' and make big money will increasingly do it the way atheletes do: shilling for consumer products.

Just saw the Emerson BFA Film presentation. Lots of really good work. Inspiring.