cage's (a)politics, etc...

(sorry if this was sent twice....)

hi friends, 

i dont feel like i can add too much to the cage political / racial discussion & all that has been said already (its a very interesting, intelligent & engaging discussion so far), but here are some of my thoughts:

i know we all hold cage's ideas & thoughts & philosophies in high regard around here, but at the end of the day he was just a composer who was dedicated to writing music (his work/practice).

for me, cage's radical politics arise out of his music / scores moreso than his words. even though he had very lofty, idealistic (optimistic to a fault sometimes!) utopian views of the world & he was a very important & influential thinker / figure in the music / art world of the 50s and beyond, i dont think its totally fair to hold him up & expect him to be politically involved with everything that was going on around him at the time. honestly i feel like cage wasnt interested in jumping into the polarization of politics / movements / protests. i think he was turned off by power trips / politics / protests on all sides and wanted to see a more positive / affirmative angle on life which is what might have made him seem like he was above the fray. he seemed to be more interested in social change. and that usually meant personal change. (each person is the center of the universe)

chapter 8 of kenneth silverman's book talks about a lot of these issues that were discussed previously here. id like to quote a paragraph from that chapter which i feel is relevant to this discussion:

"....he had little faith now, he said, in 'parading with posters and so forth or adding your name to an advertisement in the new york times'. nor did he value black militancy or psychedelic opting-out: 'tell the Black's power's not a good word (nor when used with Flower). its precisely power that's not needed.' he thought it vital not merely to criticize, protest, or drop out but to suggest solutions: 'i shall not attack the evil but rather promote what seems to me to be what i call affirmative.'' (pg 211 - 'begin again' by kenneth silverman)

and it goes on to say that cage really got most all of his political / social ideas at the time from buckminster fuller, marshall mcluhan and some from norman brown. (obviously there is zen in the mix too and later thoreau, etc)

(i tend to agree with sebastian) i think its a little bit inflammatory to insinuate that cage mightve been a racist (or somewhat racist). ive never read anything by cage that leads me to believe that in the slightest way. and i dont think his dislike of jazz music makes him a racist either. he didnt like jazz for musical reasons & he explained why many times. (i agree with many of cage's criticisms of jazz) i dont think that just because he dismissed protesting and politics as a vehicle for change or that he didnt participate in those things that that makes him a racist in some way. he just had a different idea / approach about how to go about make changes. his utopian and idealistic views may have made a convenient political retreat for cage, but i think thats okay. again, just because you are a composer doesnt mean you have to be a politician or protester or activist. again, in the end, he was just a person who devoted his life to music.

a couple last points: we have to remember that cage was well into his 50s by the time the civil rights & highly political era came around in the 60s. i think this is part of the reason he stayed largely out of it while younger composers (like wolff, cardew,etc who were in their 30s) got into it. i think most people here would agree as one gets older, you become a little more conservative or settled and less likely to jump into political struggles / social issues enthusiastically. i think this is a big reason for his hesitancy.

i think cage's zen foundation also might have something to do with him staying out of it. ive found in my (limited) studies of zen buddhism that it is mostly apolitical, always focusing on examining & changing the self (maybe the most political thing!) also ideas of acceptance & looking within for solutions. i think all of these zen ideas are at the core of cage's view.

anyhow, sorry for the ramble. just my two cents on the matter.....
greg



--
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