Re pirate radio
About my Pirate Radio blog, Luke said “I'm interested in why (relatively) tight regulation of the airwaves counts as "repressive". I think there are all sorts of things that are a skewed in the UK's media governance, but I wouldn't describe it as repressive. Would be interested to hear you elaborate on that...”
I must admit that I am not an expert on comparative media law in different countries, and I don’t know if the UK’s media law is anymore repressive than anywhere else, or just tightly regulated, as you say. My opinion of UK society (I have spent about twelve years there altogether) is that it is repressive in its perpetuation of the class system. It seems to me that creative people who have been beaten back all their lives by the inequities of life in Britain have a desperate edge to their art (music, writing, whatever) and start trends that the rest of the world follows. It seems to me that the repressive, conservative, traditionalist aspects of British society actually stimulate creativity in those that are repressed. As part of the musical creativity of the UK, pirate radio stations are constantly propagating whatever is new, and are constantly being beaten back by the establishment in the form of the law.
By the way, I also admit that by the end of the lecture last week I agreed with you (Luke) about the 1980s being more assured technologically and less nostalgic for previous technologies than we are in this decade (it was me who remembered the ‘80s as nostalgic for the ‘50s and ‘60s).
I must admit that I am not an expert on comparative media law in different countries, and I don’t know if the UK’s media law is anymore repressive than anywhere else, or just tightly regulated, as you say. My opinion of UK society (I have spent about twelve years there altogether) is that it is repressive in its perpetuation of the class system. It seems to me that creative people who have been beaten back all their lives by the inequities of life in Britain have a desperate edge to their art (music, writing, whatever) and start trends that the rest of the world follows. It seems to me that the repressive, conservative, traditionalist aspects of British society actually stimulate creativity in those that are repressed. As part of the musical creativity of the UK, pirate radio stations are constantly propagating whatever is new, and are constantly being beaten back by the establishment in the form of the law.
By the way, I also admit that by the end of the lecture last week I agreed with you (Luke) about the 1980s being more assured technologically and less nostalgic for previous technologies than we are in this decade (it was me who remembered the ‘80s as nostalgic for the ‘50s and ‘60s).
posted by ngaio70 at 12:29 AM
2 Comments:
That's an interesting view. If I understand correctly, you seem to be saying that it's British society per se rather than just media regulation that is at the source of this creative energy? By the way, I'm of the view that class distinctions in the UK are more clearly marked than they are here in NZ, but that it doesn't necessarily follow that NZ is more egalitarian. Certainly, there's a huge middle class, but also shocking areas of poverty and a lame welfare system to boot. I'm not having a go - I choose to live here rather than the UK for various reasons and think NZ has many, many advantages over UK society. But I'm always suspicious of the oft-heard claim that it is a more egalitarian or 'classless' society than the UK as I think it's complex and depends how you measure this. But back to your theme of how Britain gives rise to subcultural energies in response to oppression and tight regulation, I think that's a valid line of reasoning. But I think it also varies according to era and the social and political climate of the time: I don't know enough about NZ to offer equivalents, but in the UK, for example, the era of Thatcherism (conservative, repressive) gave rise to rather different subcultural movements than Blair's Britain (much less repressive culturally but widespread disaffection with the whole "Cool Brittania" branding exercise). Interesting to think about these things now I'm something of an outsider to both my home countries!
I wasn't comparing the UK to NZ specifically, as I have lived all over the world, and I agree with you that NZ is not as egalitarian as people here like to think. I certainly grew up in Christchurch thinking that NZ was egalitarian, but since coming back last year I have realised that this was due to a kind of propaganda that was disseminated for decades. My opinion of British society is based on my experiences as a non-British person living there. You probably see NZ society more clearly than most people who grew up here. I've always seen a lot of energy going into sport in this country, and rather less creative subcultural activity. I think this is changing though.
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