Thinking

We are in a state of perpetual learning as our external lives and our internal lives clash with each other, compliment each other and move on together. A major learning experience I've had this year (that is, not just being aware of something but really understanding it) has been the fact that in the music industry there are so many different political flavours and beliefs embedded in people's creativity.

Maybe this is more of a reminder-to-self than anything else. I remember just after punk how crystallised out the DIY movement became. To some people, it became about entrepreneurship and to others, it was about enablement and the sharing of skills. Both of these approaches, had it been illustrated by a Venn diagram, had in common both creativity and independence. 

For creative people in the entertainment industry, we are dependent on other people to be our audiences (or indeed market, if we are more business-minded). It is this interface that has been affected by the pandemic, and it's here where divisions have formed, and where underlying beliefs have surfaced that are at odds with each other. Polarised, and triangulated by a government that is only able to see any event as an opportunity to enrich its members, the route out of this mess is streaming itself into right-hand and left-hand lanes. 

On the left, there is an attempt to take collective responsibility that involves short-term pain. This is difficult because we exist in a youth-orientated profession where five years is a lifetime. Any time spent out of the limelight means that when we emerge again, we'll find a lot of closed doors and our former space will be occupied by new people who had been waiting in the wings for the opportunity to shine. Who could blame them for this? 

On the right, there is frustration at the damming-up of activity, the resulting desert of opportunity, and the fog that obscures and sours the future. Why should everything stop, when it's weaker and older people who are more likely to be affected by the virus? Surely it's inevitable that there will be collateral damage and maybe it's better that everyone catches the disease, takes the risk, and then we can all get on with life untroubled by a virus that we have developed an immunity to, as part of a much stronger and more vigorous population.

And it seems that floating between the two streams of thought are those who find the whole thing exciting. Perhaps in the backs of their minds are the 'end-times' thoughts that some people were entertaining at the millennium. Everything is ending, and beginning at the same time. It's scary, but it's exciting. This is anarchy, surely? This is disruption! This is what creativity is all about: anger is an energy (sic), energy is anger, why be patient when you can be active and tip over some tables, grab some chances and be grinning triumphantly on top of it all when the apocalypse is over?

Underlying all this is money. Do we have enough to survive until times change? Politics is personal, despite being cloaked in a collective garb. Some of us find comfort in a steady set of beliefs, where for others political belief is of necessity slippery. To declare yourself as a right-wing musician can be risky, although many are secretly very much to the right (remember Adele complaining about paying taxes? Doesn't she realise that everyone else pays taxes too, and that they end up with a lot less money than she does when they've done that?). It is often expected that musicians will politically to the left: it's part of the deal. Successful musicians are sometimes called hypocrites when they don't cross the road to the other side. All the more respect for George Michael, who remained steadily principled as a left wing man, right to the end of his life.

What I have learned over the past two years is that I should not expect to be in agreement with my musical peers. I should not be surprised by them 'declaring for the right'. I can understand that we have different political beliefs, but I do not have to like this or condone this. I think it is better to know where people stand, which lane they are travelling in. I have seen musicians agree with everyone they come into contact with, condoning sometimes repellent views on both sides of the political divide just to keep 'in' with their fans. I can't do this myself, and I can't like it either. I need the steadiness of my belief in social justice and fairness, and you can't slither about politically if that is what you believe. 

Leaving 2021 for a new year, I hope not just for personal wisdom but also for the ability to understand people better, especially when we do not have commonly-held beliefs. I have found it disturbing to realise that a place that I thought was occupied by allies is, in fact, just as much a reflection of the 'outside world' as anywhere else. I need to understand that a person who is not a natural ally is not an enemy; they are just a different person whose life trajectory has caused them to have deeply held beliefs that are not the same as mine.

And that's enough thinking for today.