The Revenge of The Referent (Or: Mind the Gap)

We talk about a variety of forms of creative appropriation in class. But in the past couple weeks, the election has engendered a weird sub-genre of the culture jam. Usually, these techniques involve taking some mainstream, usually blandly consumerist message, and rejiggering it to say something of political import. So what's happening when Roseanne Cash, Heart, and a Texas cattle dynasty are complaining of the Republican reuse of Johnny Cash songs, "Barracuda," and the wily sobriquet "Maverick?" Basically, the Republicans may be turning culture jamming on its head, taking a song or concept with origins in the counter-cultural and turning it into something more in line with their message. It's something you too may do while driving on the 405: the artist on your iPod may have gone to the heart of death and debasement in order to crank out that particular tune; you, however, are on the way to Bed, Bath and Beyond. And there are plenty of university professors, myself included, who make money mincing on about artists who have died in the gutter. But while it may be something we are all guilty of, it may be just deserts for the party who came up with the name "Clear Skies Act" for something that reverted the previous pollution control measures of the "Clean Air Act" (the friendly skies haven't complained to the press corps yet.) Such enjoyments are a little tone-deaf to meaning and history, and this is what Debord was talking about--everything leveled in the currency of the spectacle; Jim Morrison pressed up against an ad for Geico Insurance. But where is history? It may be an era in which we can be reassured that, after committing various crimes against humanity, we can still go back to the compound and listen to Ani DiFranco or maybe Lisa Loeb and act like nothing happened.