I’m just a musician. I’ve been just a musician for thirty years now. I walked away from everything else – – I mean, I fucking ran – – because I was terrified of what my voice could do.
I didn’t think it through. That was the worst thing I did but the consequences were catastrophic.
But then I was part of a band and when shit went down I didn’t say anything and there were lives destroyed
And my best friend went over the deep end and I didn’t say anything because it was fine. All fine. Until it wasn’t.
And a man that I thought I hated and who I thought would kill me on sight came just to ask me when I stopped growing.
All of this, all of this means that I can’t sleep.. I can’t drink. I can’t even eat because everything makes me nauseous.
So I’m going to try to counteract the poison now.
I’m just a musician, but I have thought long and hard about what we’re doing tomorrow and I want you to all please consider what I am about to say: there is no freedom under the megacorps.
Life without them is going to be a struggle. Life without them will leave us cold and hungry sometimes. But life without them will also bring us the opportunity to build new things, to make a place where we are beholden to noone and the only debts we have are to our friends, our family. Just the duty of care and the debt of kindness.
I’m just a musician, but I’ve seen some shit. I’m asking you to learn from my example. Don’t be complacent. Don’t be complicit. Use your voice and make it matter.
If you must vote for a company, Atoll is the only option. But if we can find it in our hearts (and election software) to vote for anything else, there are thousands of better options Letting the androids and other AIs handle their ancestor. Letting ordinary citizens, elected by one another or selected by the Conversation operate a free New Gyr. Making decisions with a magic fucking eight ball or maybe the power of rock and roll. Let the winner of the Galactic Video Contest take control.
None of these are the worst idea. None the best (except perhaps trusting our Android friends. That one has some merit.) But all of them are better than another goddamned year pretending that the corporations are our only option.
I know that if someone can give me one coherent non-corporate plan to put my vote behind, I’ll be all in.
So, someone smarter than me, someone not a musician: use your fucking voice and give us choices.
~ J. Placebo