The power of You(R)tube

Why i am pulled inside the mainstream media is something i don't seem to understand.

A guy like me has a lot to do and think about. contemplation if that is the word. Yet when i look at the headlines or catch a news in the television i am forced to think in that direction.

So over the past few weeks from news ranging from the tsunami in japan, the gadaffi uprising, the hasan ali scam case in which he was granted bail or the wiki leaks in which the congress party has been allegedly following the cash for votes policy and arun jaitleys subsequent outburst condemning manmohan singh, all these did'nt make any impact for me to write about them as much has been discussed online, in television and other mediums.

But the news about a young teen pop singing sensation rebecca black definitely enthused me share a few thoughts in the information super highway. You can ask why. well cause i am a singer and a musician thats why.

From 4000 views to 16 million views the latest video "friday" from wannabe pop star rebecca black produced by an ARK music company which produces music for wannabe pop singers for 2k $ and turn them into overnight sensations has caught the attention of the mainstream media and the youtube community.

Also not much has been discussed about her in any blogs and websites. even if it has, it has been sugarcoated too much. Also i did'nt personally view her youtube channel in which she has uploaded the video like many others who viewed it to comment bad about her as i did'nt want to add myself in the 16 million odd list of views.

There was this one website which i liked for getting good comments from both sides and made much more sense. i am posting it below for you to check it out.

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/03/18/if-you-prick-rebecca-black-she-will-bleed/

However i did see the clippings that they show in the news and just by seeing that i came to a conclusion that it is pedestrian and an attempt of foolishness.

Youtube with its 16 million views has not spared her at all and the most harshest comments have been literally spewed on her. there are people of the view that all this hate in a way is getting her more publicity and she might just become what she dreamed about.

However i believe if one does not do even these then it will become a way of life for such young people who trust more in money than on their talent, not that its not happened before or is happening now.

The general argument is why trash a poor 13 yr old "girl" who just dreams about becoming the next britney spears or beyonce or justin bieber. When you are exposed in public, criticism is to be expected. in case of classical music the criticism would be more technical or pertaining to errors or wrongs commited against the rules and regulation of that system. in pop music where one has to search for some meaning would most probably get such rude comments.

My point of view is if it had been something else say not related to music but politics or comedy. when a particular person is made fun of or in some cases where the person himself is to be made fun off(I am referring to the numerous videos put on youtube about T.rajendhar) these same people laugh and put rude comments. but when it comes to their sons,daughters or relatives they can't seem to stand it and become rosy and optimistic about upholding virtues and being decent men and such.

Bottomline there are a lot of talented people but struggling to make ends meet because of their shyness and probably no influence meaning to say people who promote them, which everyone else are doing these days. when they are in such a situation and a totally unheard person like rebecca black just jumps into the moon of success overnight just because her song has gained views on youtube the same song which has no meaning in lyrics, which portrays young kids partying and living like adults, where they drive cars without seatbelts, wherein an autotune technology is implemented where a singer can just talk and its converted to music is something that we must be concerned about if the future of music as such is to be saved.

Now i am not criticising all the pop songs. but there are some good and sour apples and we definitely don't want the plastic apples.

If anyone has anything to share go ahead its all yours. i started it you finish it.

Kaushika.

Natural Disasters and Economics

Some time back in india(i don't know if it is is still prevalent) certain shack buildings that were housing labourers and other peasents mostly those below the poverty line were destroyed by fire or any other calamity. The obvious response by the government and other agencies would be to compensate those affected families with certain sums of money as relief funds.

It is allegedly believed that those calamities most commonly caused by fire were caused deliberately by the peasents themselves in order to receive the relief funds. Thus thereby
leading to an economic growth in their financial status.

Now if the same could be said of huge disasters either man made or natural disasters like floods and earthquakes Causing destruction of a huger magnitude, then obviously the market goes down and economy falls is'nt it.

NOT NECESSARILY.

In fact the reverse is true to a large extent. In lieu of the recent earthquake that hit japan on Friday the 11th of march 2011, several hundereds of people have suffered fatalities or injuries.
Up to 300 bodies were found in the coastal city of Sendai. Some 3,000 residents living near a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, were told to evacuate but the government said no radiation was leaking. It said the evacuation was a precaution after a reactor cooling malfunction.

The quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping records 140 years ago, sparked at least 80 fires in cities and towns along the coast.

Under such circumstances can an economy rise? if so has it happened before? Yes to both questions.

In fact As the death toll from the earthquake in Japan rises sharply, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has set up a fund to help with the relief efforts. now how does this help the economy?

Consider a different scenario. An earthquake that struck Sichuan Province in May 2008 was equally disastrous and damage was close to apocalyptic levels where mountaintops sheared off into valleys, cities reduced to rubble and dust, cracked dams, collapsed bridges and at least 80,000 dead.

At this juncture i quote what the chinese government has said. A few weeks after the quake a state research center of the chinese government announced a masive rebuilding effort. It is estimated that the billions of dollars that it receives as relief has far outweighed its economic damage caused by the quake. hence they say that there would be a rise of 0.3 % increase in their economy a small but significant growth.

Some analysts argue that due to the destruction of old factories or airports they get rebuilded and upgraded better and productively they contribute more( was'nt it the hiroshima disaster that set about japan's economic development in the first place). as a result they get short term increases out of the result of resources being sent there.

The same can be said of california and alaska as they have also benefitted by natural disasters though not in terms of social welfare but economically they have witnessed it.

Can the same be said for japan now or can the same be said for the tsunami that affected indian states especially the coastal waters of andaman and tamilnadu some time back. did we benefit economically by that?

Such studies have not been conducted by anybody to my knowledge recently. However in the U.S it has.

Let us go back a few 50-60 yrs back where RAND corp (Reasearch and development) had ananlysts who hypothetically calculated an impact of nuclear attack on american soil and how it would affect economy.
Herman kahn a military strategist and systems theorist who was employed at RAND corp wrote in his book "On Thermonuclear war" even if a nuclear attack destroyed all of the country's major metropolitan areas and killed one-third of its population, it would not seem to be a total economic catastrophe and that It may simply set the nation's productive capacity back a decade or two plus destroying many 'luxuries.

In 1969, Douglas Dacy and Howard Kunreuther, two young analysts at the Institute for Defense Analyses, published a book called "The Economics of Natural Disasters," one of the first attempts to quantify the economic impact of catastrophes.

Keeping all this in mind can disaster affected economies rise. Have these kind of studys and measures been implemented in india when the tsunami took its toll i am yet to find answers regarding this. but i am actively researching the topic. because for one thing it is indeed godsend as we know the power of economies from the recent market crash in the U.S. a few years back.

I invite one and all to discuss this side of the story. Also i would like to send my condolences to the affected families in japan caused by the quake and hope their situation gets sorted right
sooner. if any one felt i have hurt their sentiments by what i have expressed in this article i apologise to them.

Orientation

Welcome வணக்கம் नमस्ते to those who reached my blogspace Suchinthana.

My very first attempt at blogging so i vow to all of those professional and not so professional bloggers that errors and mistakes will take place but i will be happy if you could notify me about it and i will see to it that it is taken care of.That is the whole idea of a blog trying to start a conversation and exchange of thoughts good or bad to this blogowner, these are the things that value most.

This blog was started with the intention of writing down my opinions and thoughts but i decided that Opinions are one to many and hence no point would be there if i record my thoughts alone.

Hence it will be with mixed ideas of various people around the world including everything from science to religion, philosophy to sociology, economics to politics, music to noise and so on and so forth.

Though basically i am a musician, i might tend to ramble a lot on that side. But i promise it won't be too much of boredom for the reader.

So once again i welcome all of you to this blogspace and any suggestions please drop an e-mail to me.

Kaushika