The issue that stays with me is the same that
faces any content artist: what is the right thing to
express? When I use my sense memory to fetch
emotions from 35 years ago to create a piece, is
that current and does that matter? The web is a
very large distribution network. What we say and
do may have very quick effects in a volatile world.
Nothing about our technology relieves of responsibility
and almost everything about it prompts me to ask,
what is good?
In IrishSpace, we had Niclas as our conscience.
When it came to arming the Jeanie Johnston and
deciding would we build a shoot-em-up feature,
he stood up politely and said if we did that he
was off the project. He was followed quickly by Bob and
Kahuna, then others. It was a scary moment.
As DeFacToad, I could not regulate issues of
morality. Our group was too diverse in age,
background and culture to call that shot. Instead, as
a group, they decided that regardless of whether
one thinks shoot-em-ups are bad or good per se,
for this work, dedicated to the children of Ireland,
it was bad. Our sponsor, John Griffin, a very
classy and responsible man, said to us that while
we could make up our own minds, the last thing
he thought his country needed was more guns,
virtual or otherwise. It was the best moment
for me in the project because where the artists
show that kind of integrity, the work will. I knew
we would succeed. I knew how to write the story
after that.
I admit to being raised by Walt Disney.
Maybe it wasn't a realistic point of view, and maybe
having generations of art regulated by the morality
of OldJewishWhiteGuys did not make the real moral
dilemmas of our generation evident (eg, race), but
overall it was a positive hopeful viewpoint. Perhaps
when it comes to finally facing the moral dilemmas,
those whose entertainment stressed positive
values, respond well because the difference is so
evident, and the character of what they consider to
be good, is in fact, good.
In my opinion, and it is certainly debatable, we,
artists and entertainers, are responsible for
what we make and promote. Profit is not a
bad thing, but profit at the expense of feeding
destructive images, promoting destructive actions,
these are the things for which I believe we
must take personal responsibility. Perhaps, a
bit of Disney should be in what we do. When
I look around me, kids shooting in the high schools,
burning the vans at WarStock, perhaps
it is time for the musicians and storytellers
to take a real hard look at what is current.
Maybe Polyanna isn't a false character, and
the Glad Game isn't such a dated game to teach.
len
