If you own a guitar then you are inadvertently pushed into a camp or a column or a group whether you want to be there or not. Much the same as being born into this world.
The idea for this blog started when I was posting on a forum site about a certain guitar manufacturer. I started to see comparisons between guitars and politics. Brand loyalty. Ours is better and yours suck. Categories and hierarchies within the group. Mine was made in 1959 and yours was made in 2009 so mine is better even though they both have the same name on the headstock.
I wondered why we could be so vitriolic towards each other when we had so much in common. I like music. You like music. I like guitars. You like guitars. What? You have a Fender and not a Gibson? Are you a retard? Why would you choose a Fender over a Gibson?
I found myself being hateful when someone disagreed with me on points that I thought could not be challenged. For example, if you live in this country, surely you must agree that buying a Chinese made guitar over an American made guitar is unpatriotic and economically suicidal. Apparently, there is an entire spectrum of viewpoints on that topic.
How could this be? How can two people look at something that appears to be so clear cut but see things so differently?
We'll see...
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The argument that it's become much much more of a world community than in the past displeases a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteBut the fact is, I can hardly get through a store without buying something non american, guitarwise or other.
Where does our food come from?
I'd hate to think about the amount of time I'd spend trying to get everything american, let alone what it would cost me.
I didn't do that.
Gibson sells to people who can afford Gibson.
Epiphone sells to people who can't.. or wont.
Yes, some of us would rather even the chinese Epi.
Sure, I'd like to see USA Epis.
But I'm not in control of that.
For me, to argue with another american about what he buys or where it came from ignores the truth. Everything comes from everywhere.
And nobody buying stuff is in charge of that, and shouldn't be held accountable for it.
We're not going to ever be able to vote down international trade.
Why not just have a personal standard, and work toward a world standard that raises the bar, toward better products in general, without condemning anyone for their choice.
Purchase Patriotism seems to me to be a sort of 18th century idea.
And that century pretty much sucked.
Are you Torren61 on mylespaul?
ReplyDeleteMan, you're pretty narrow-minded and uncouth. I'm from Southeast Asia, and I wholly reject your claim.
Your vacuous comment posted on the forum only shows how pitiful your intellectual capacity is.
Being a bush-league is no excuse for not understanding the world.
Try and see it without blinders sometimes. You'd be surprised.
This blog of yours valueless.
dialogue is good though southeast asia anony...
ReplyDeleteIf you want a better world.. you gotta make one.
Reason tells me that we've been moving toward a single world.. away from nationstates each with their own propagandized 'truth' from the beginning of time.
But to some, it seems like that must mean an end to something of thier own.
I see it differently, it means an addition to my small world, an expansion.
Will it cost..? You bet. It always has.
It's hard for some people to see that our american truth is partly propaganda.
It's hard for some to think of all of us as us.
Your govermment is MY government.. it may affect me less personally, but truly, anyone's suffering is everyones. And vice versa. We have nothing perfect to offer except what the founders hoped for.. that reason will win out.
You know, they knew perfectly well they were crushing the native population, and they understood slavery,and they knew thier own guilt.
That doesn't make them hypocrits, it just means they too were stuck in 'interesting times'.
We can change the world for the better, and we can do it without rancor if we desire.
Give it a shot!
^ I do admit that outlook's been thought out. And I may not fully understand, but I respect it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I've no intention to take on this at a macro level. I only wanted to let this man know that stating "never to trust anyone from South East Asia" in a public forum, for the whole world to see, is not proper. It benefits no one and serves nothing good.
I'm not out to change the world. But I do try to change with it.
yeah. I can see that.
ReplyDeleteUnless you play a Fender!
Then he's got a point.
(just kidding)
LOL! ^damn funny!
ReplyDeleteFunny how so many people won't ship to Asia when they sell something on eBay. Maybe most of Southeast Asia is untrustworthy....
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!!! You never hear of fake Les Pauls coming out of Poland or Italy, do you?
ReplyDeleteTHOSE guys start the bad reputation and you blame THIS guy for pointing that out.
And what's wrong with being a patriot? What's wrong with supporting your own people in your own country?
I never really thought about where things were made on the level that he's talking about. I don't know that I completely agree with EVERYTHING he says but I'm starting to look and think about things in a different way.
Thanks for this thread, Dude.
Exactly! Screw the guy from Southeast Asia he is just taking offense because obviously he has ties to Asia...you can ask anybody about the quality of Asian-made goods. Heck I payed $20 more for a phone charger because the first one I bought was made in Japan and wasn't worth the $5 I paid for it. If we are going to try and support our country and show some patriotism then who in the world is?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeleteLook, one needs to understand the difference between "hate speech" and reality.
I don't hate anyone...well my ex-wife is pushing it...but I don't like how this country is being undermined.
The sad thing is that WE are undermining OURSELVES!! Every time you buy something made in another country you're chipping away at another job and you're chipping away at your OWN job.
I NEVER said "Don't buy ANYTHING not made in America!". That's economically xenophobic and silly as well as impractical. A global economy MUST exist. They need to buy from us and we need to buy from them.
The problem I have is the disparagement of what they buy from us compared to what we buy from them. Who out there works for a company who sells goods to China? Tell me what they buy from us?
If you think this isn't an economic war...then you just don't get it. China is kicking our ass and we're helping them do it by purchasing most of what we buy from them.
Who do you know that works in the manufacturing sector in this country? What do they make? Mobile homes? Furniture? Things that can't be shipped to China, most likely.
We, as Americans, are in control of a part of our destiny. YOU can choose what you buy and what you don't buy. YOU can speak up and tell the manager at the store that you want them to start carrying things that are made in America. Do you think that if enough of us started speaking up that the powers that be won't hear? Do you think that an increase in sales of things made in the USA and a decrease of sales of things made in China won't get their attention? They follow the money.
Make your money dictate the change that we so desperately need in this country. Get their attention with your words and your cash. Put our people, YOUR people back to work. Bring those jobs HOME. Speak up America. This is YOUR country.
Try to look at it from a different angle:
ReplyDeleteAt least the money that's spent on goods from American based companies comes back to these shores in some form or another. Contrast that to the foreign auto makers where most of the money from the purchase of a Toyota goes back to Japan despite the fact that it's actually made in America.
Competition is competition, it has to be part of any companies business strategy. If it were possible to make a $300 tube amp on a large scale with American workers my bet is that it would certainly be preferential to the manufacturer but right now it's not economically feasible. That $300 amp is going to cost $1200 and the biggest part of that increase is going to be the labor involved. The only questions are how much of a decrease in volume are you going to get from quadrupling the price of your amp and how fast do you think you'll go out of business?
We Americans have become accustomed to a particular lifestyle and it costs money. Right now our consumption is helping to raise the lifestyles of the overseas workers. It's already happened in Japan and Korea and it's going to happen in China and Indonesia as well, it's just a matter of time. At some point the labor pool will reach parity and it won't matter where something is manufactured, it will still cost the same.