What the forum is about

[french frank]

Music is, as far as we know, an exclusively human phenomenon. Homo sapiens was rightly been identified by Aristotle as zoon politicon. It is those who would hope to separate music from politics who are in need of learning.

Most of the problems arise out of people's confusion over the term 'political'. Aristotle's ζῷον πολιτικόν simply meant he was a man of the polis - of the city. The term was closer to our notions of citizenship, politikos meant 'befitting a citizen'. The translation is also that man is by nature a social animal.

Politics in its modern meaning of a discipline relating to governance, in particular, is different.

When people say such things as that 'music and politics can't be separated', it only makes sense to me in its Aristotelian sense. The Athenian citizen was 'political' in the wider, more general sense, of being engaged in 'public life', in everything that was going on that concerned or affected his way of life. The real irony would be that voting, or participating in a poll, is a political act in the narrow, modern 'politics', sense, as in a General Election, rather than in its Aristotelian sense where there was no division into 'left' and 'right' as seems inevitable now.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BanOnPolitics

[Dave2002]

There are many aspects of music that can be discussed without direct reference to politics. There are others which can't. An appreciation of the political context within much music has been and is created is often crucial to fully graping its significance.

Looks more like a fruitology to me! Viticulture rules!

[ahinton]

I think he was referring to "Workers Union"
ooops we can't talk about that

Why's that, then? Is it against forum rules to refer, directly or by implication, to bees copulating? Perhaps FF might help us out here with confirmation or denial thereof...

[ahinton]

Looks more like a fruitology to me!

But not a strawberry man argument, though!

[MrGongGong]

I didn't change your post WTF are you on about?

And don't post my changes.

You did then changed it back


I'm convinced
Music has absolutely NOTHING whatsoever to do with politics
anyone who says the opposite has much learning to do

Here you go
there's a lot of editing to do on this page now that the issue is settled

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_and_politics

[ahinton]

I posted that at ten to two this afternoon!! Keep up FFS!!!!

I cannot be on this forum all the time; also, why has FF suddenly acquired an S here? - does it have some special significance?...

[Beef Oven!]

i cannot be on this forum all the time.................

fffd!!!

[Beef Oven!]

You did then changed it back

I did no such thing. You are paranoid.

[Nick Armstrong]

It's all illustrating perfectly why it was such a good decision to junk the P&CA board.

Handbags away boys, could we get back on thread?

And yes ahinton I know you don't have a handbag!

[Beef Oven!]

.......could we get back on thread?

We are on thread. It's this one.

[ahinton]

Music has absolutely NOTHING whatsoever to do with politics
anyone who says the opposite has much learning to do

Quite. It's t'other way around, n'est-ce pas? Most inconvenient, that; some music will keep commenting on such things de temps en temps, however implicitly and/or indirectly and/or accidentally - I blame that there ShostaCostaCoffeeiev, meself, although I might arguably be as guilty as the next composer for, after all, writing a piano quintet in which the cello has to sit there silently doing b*gg*r all other than merely observing the proceedings for at least five minutes after the initial gesture must embrace some kind of political statement, must it not?...

[Bryn]

I think he was referring to "Workers Union"
ooops we can't talk about that

Why's that, then? Is it against forum rules to refer, directly or by implication, to bees copulating? Perhaps FF might help us out here with confirmation or denial thereof...

Don't go acting the giddy goat. You know perfectly well:

[ahinton]

fffd!!!

Pardon?

[Nick Armstrong]

We are on thread.

You're all on something!

[french frank]

It's all illustrating perfectly why it was such a good decision to junk the P&CA board.

Handbags away boys, could we get back on thread?

And yes ahinton I know you don't have a handbag!

Indeed, I spent some time working on a reply to the point about man being a political animal only to find it had been buried within minutes, by the usual mobile vulgus bickering again, and making points again that I'd already refuted (as in 'refuted' not 'rejected').