The Day the Music Died

                    1970……doesn’t seem very long ago. In the seventies, various forms of music delivery were possible. Everything was hard copy. I had friends with eight track players, cassette players and we all had vinyl. As a young teen, I had a large vinyl collection which soon sat on the shelf collecting dust as I began purchasing cassettes as they became my music media of choice. As an adult, I prefer to purchase CD’s now digitally mastered. Today my kids listen to YouTube or they purchase iTunes which enables them to prepay for downloads. Vinyl had dimension. In comparison to listening to a digitally mastered CD, my belief is that the music is very flat, no volume. With technology continually bursting upon the horizon, something is always lost however the excitement of something new and innovative holds our interests. The day the Music died, doesn't just refer to the death of Buddy Holly from Don McLean's song  American Pie. The music has changed today.
                    Back in the fifties,, several artists might sing the same song hence many covers available for purchase. I think today several artists are doing the same thing. The technology is amazing. The popularity of YouTube is partly due to the social networking it promotes amongst the people. The baby boomers enjoy the nostalgia of searching for old clips from television programs, and all ages enjoy the tutorials. Occasional humorous clips entertain all ages. It is a tool, also a way to spread messages across the masses. Now imagine if we had to go back to the days before the internet. I read an article from WebBiz Winter 2010 issue. It stated that the internet had first been available to college students. A college student Marc Andreeson, age 21, worked on the first browser Mosaic which quickly spread by “word of mouth” [the viral loop] over the internet. According to the article by Adam Penenberg, when Bill Clinton became President in 1993, there were approximately 20 websites. Penenburg said today there are over one billion websites today. From the days of my youth, I would write a letter and anxiously await a reply when today I can have an instant reply either by email or by instant messaging via the web. I can probably say that I am grateful I did not have these distractions as a young girl. How could our kids possibly understand our world before the internet?

            The Wall Street Journal dated January 11^th, 2010 had an article by L. Gordon Crovitz {Information Age} entitled ‘China’s Web Crackdown Continues’ kept my interest as I read about Nicholae Ceausescu and his oppression of the people of Romania. Who would have thought that owning a typewriter warranted registering it or one could be committing a crime punishable by death?This was in 1967. It was all about the control of information and the power to censor material written against the leader who was eventually tried and executed with the collapse of communism some twenty or more years later. Today, no matter where one lives, governments control the flow of information to the masses. In the United States, we may be known to have several alternative forms of media, unlike the rest of the world, however it is my belief that our delivery of information is somewhat censored depending upon the subject matter. I can safely say after reading the article, I feel fortunate that I can access sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Face book, all sites banned in China. However last week many Chinese, some 300 million internet users were surprised to find they could access sites for a short time until the government stepped it up to replace the sites with error messages. I think it is basically a tool to keep the people suppressed, so they will not revolt against their government. Those in charge are afraid of the masses because we out number them. Their government monitors the people through their internet use. Hmmm… I wonder what our government is doing in this regard. This all reminds me of the mill workers in the late 1800’s. Mill bosses would place many different nationalities on each floor so they would no organize against the bosses and cause a mill shutdown, due to bad working conditions. If the language equation is then dismanted, then the power of a united voice is lost. This kept the bosses in power. There have been many times in history when governments have monitored the people and this has been bad. This is a perfect example of the people fulfilling their duty to keep a watchful eye on the growth of government. We should never feel that circumstances are beyond our control.