Who Cares if You Watch
The following is an extract from Milton Babbit's paper, called “Who Cares if You Listen?”, published in 1958. The only difference is that I have replaced the word music with Rollerblades, Rollerblader or Rollerblading. I have also replaced the words concert and performer with fitting terms.
“Who Cares if You Listen?”
This article might have been entitled “The Rollerblader as Specialist” or, alternatively, and perhaps less contentiously, “The Rollerblader as Anachronism.” For I am concerned with stating an attitude towards the indisputable facts of the status and condition of the rollerblader of what we will, for the moment, designate as “serious”, “advanced”, contemporary rollerblading. This rollerblader expends an enormous amount of time and energy – and, usually, considerable money – on the creation of a commodity which has little, no, or negative commodity value. He is, in essence, a “vanity” rollerblader. The general public is largely unaware of and uninterested in his rollerblading. The majority of rollerbladers shun it and resent it. Consequently, the rollerblading is little performed, and then primarily at poorly attended sessions before an audience consisting in the main of fellow 'professionals'. At best, the rollerblading would appear to be for, of, and by specialists.
Towards this condition of rollerblading and societal “isolation”, a variety of attitudes has been expressed, usually with the purpose of assigning blame, often to the rollerblading itself, occasionally to critics or the rollerblader, and very occasionally to the public. But to assign blame is to imply that this isolation is unnecessary and undesirable. It is my contention that, on the contrary, this condition is not only inevitable, but potentially advantageous for the rollerblader and his rollerblading. From my point of view, the rollerblader would do well to consider means of realizing, consolidating, and extending the advantages.
[…].
Babbit goes on to explain what the advantages are.
