The Perfume of Traitors

 I received a disturbing email. Bandcamp, that thing everyone loves, seems to be a bit of a gatekeeper of what people should be able to listen to. It's a private company, so that is its own decision. Fans of the site and music should know, however, that if your music "offends" . . . off with your head.

This came to my inbox via Gradual Hate Records:

CENSORSHIP (regarding the closure of GH Records Label on Bandcamp) Censorship exists and has always existed, to a greater or lesser extent, those who hold power have always controlled what could  be said or could not be said. The methods have been more or less effective throughout our history, everything has been successfully  explored and exploited, but what was unimaginable just a few decades ago is the censorship we suffer today. It all started very soft and silly. Self-censorship, political correctness, has been sewing our mouths shut and cornering our opinion  without any kind of opposition. The so-called goodism, the progressive, are nothing more than the indisputable dogmas of today,  because disagreeing with any of its precepts places us in the camp of the bad, the carcas, the intransigent, the adversaries of  goodness. Little by little, all kinds of ideas about an ideal world have been creeping into our society and thought without being  discussed because they have not been analyzed, ignoring what the human being is, ignoring that the world is full of societies,  cultures and religions. very different how can you flaunt the indisputable truth? How can one pretend that what one thinks is  good and that whoever disagrees is the worst of demons? Well, not only can you, also, you can't argue, you can no longer go  against it, there will be someone who interprets a suspicious opinion with interest and integrates it into a black book of  anti-good abominations. And is this all something controlled by the people in power? No. All this is the monster resulting from the lack of truthful   information with which to create an opinion, and these are its consequences. Years of “bad education” of data and biased and  tendentious accounts. Years of absolute manipulation. Years of infantilization through the implementation of absurd ideals that have replaced ideas, of creating factions, the good and the bad, of simplifying what is complicated by not allowing opinions, of  censoring, keeping quiet, and now canceling what is not politically correct or, whatever someone wants to interpret as not correct, Nothing is respected anymore, if one believes that one possesses the absolute truth, why not go with everything to someone who  does not think the same? Why not cancel it without measuring the consequences? It doesn't matter if he loses his business, his  prestige doesn't matter, everything doesn't matter, because he's the bad guy. The terrible consequences of that absolutism, of this unique way of thinking, are already being seen as a tsunami that grows and  approaches at great speed, a tsunami of intransigence, a dictatorship of the people over the people. That simplifies things, it is not necessary to submit to someone who not only submits willingly, but is more than willing to submit to  others in any way. Today it will be an opinion, tomorrow a book or a record, then those works that are considered outside the  ideology will be destroyed (this is already happening, books are being rewritten, records will be withdrawn from sale on platforms)  works of art will be burned if they offend this goodist creed and the next thing we can already imagine what it is... If all this is not questioned, why  should the destruction of people be questioned? Aren't they bad if they don't think alike? All this begins in a very silly, very soft way, and little by  little, like the frog in the cauldron, we will succumb without realizing it and end up being little more than cattle. The platforms that delete accounts, the cancellations on social networks, the accusations, the stupid and indiscriminate complaints,  all of this will turn against everyone, without exception, no one will librarian no matter how much they think they are on the right  side. When totalitarianism goes out for a walk it leaves no puppet with a head. I dedicate these words to all those who believe that they fight entrenched behind a computer keyboard and denounce anonymously,  that is not a fight, that is an abject and cowardly attack. I also dedicate these words to all those who guaranteed a social network,  but later censored it, in a vain attempt to convert their clientele into a single herd. Totalitarianism is not eternal, neither is business.

 

I cannot say I'm shocked. I am, however, disappointed.  Whenever a company submits to targeted gatekeeping that lets approved controversy thrive, but stifles the "wrong" kind, it opens the door to issues. I'm not saying Bandcamp should allow everything on its site despite its mission of spreading "the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans." But when it targets with all the accuracy a knee-jerk reaction permits, there is going to be damage. Damage to artists. Damage to fans. Bandcamp is a gated community and should bill itself as such. Artists and fans beware. When the tide turns, it may come your way and you may not like what happens.   Enjoy this from GH Records.