At 11:22 AM 01/30/2005, Christopher Smith wrote: >I agree with your point, but what is lost to society when we need fewer >welders, as opposed to what is lost when musicians are forced out of >the business?
I was in the middle of responding to a different post when this one from Christopher arrived.
One of the things that makes this so hard to talk about is that there are at least three distinct but interrelated arguments going on:
1. The aesthetic issue: Music sounds better when played by live performers as opposed to artificial means.
2. The labor issue: The Sinfonia and its ilk are taking jobs away from musicians.
3. The intrinsic good issue: Live performing arts are good for a society, whether the society actively understands that or not.
(I'm simplifying a bit, but I think these get the gist of each argument.)
It's hard to talk about one of these without dragging in the others, but I think it's important to try -- or at least to understand when you've switched topics. In terms of the labor issue, musicians and welders are very closely equal. To claim that musicians are deserving of greater job protection is to drag in the intrinsic worth argument.
Personally, as I've said before, I find the labor issue the least convincing of these three.
Aaron.
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