Accountability in Music • Page 70

What felix tweeted is pretty much what I've tried to say over the last few pages here. frame that tweet and hang it in every dang venue.

 

Yeah that’s a really important point to bring up for sure. There are so many different reactions that seem to play into that exactly, from self-congratulatory told you so tweets to blogs like Jason mentioned or just any number of ways people get almost gleeful about it happening.

 

I haven’t seen any of their projects live in a while, but I’ve always liked that they seem to be more into the lifting up what is good to support and bringing more positivity to spaces instead of focusing on the toxic stuff to avoid.

 

Yes yes yes yes

The Epoch musicians were keen to the importance of social politics in DIY many years ago. I’m not surprised Felix is the one able to make a statement like that and word it so perfectly.

 

for a while i was somewhat worried because of the gabby/eskimeaux stuff and the epoch drama, but it seems that we're all good here

 

yup. also thank you, i've been trying to form this thought seriously all weekend lol

 

No, I meant outside of the statement. Evan isn't an innocent lamb that was manipulated into admitting to things he didn't do. regardless of PT's involvement, there is a reality there that I refuse to just sweep under the rug. This is one of the things that make me the angriest about this, that suddenly we're going to look for excuses for evan because PT decided to be completely unethical and harmful.

 

i mean i'm not justifying his behavior at all. but, it definitely seems like PT might have shaped his statement to look worse on him than the reality actually was. it's not clear at all right now and my thoughts on him haven't changed but there is that uncertainty in the back of my head at least

 

I think I've had this same thought rolling around in my brain as well

 

Unless they plan to remove Sheridan, regardless if it's their organization, I won't trust them

 

And maybe PT did pressure Evan to make the statement, that means they get to take the blame in addition to Evan, not instead of Evan. It was still his statement that he made and attached his name and his name only to.

 

eh, i don't think of the board of directors that way. those are people sheridan recruited because she sold them hers and PT's message, and as community members they bought in. if they continue to support, sure, but they are also nothing more than community members who want to bring positive change when it comes to mental health in the scene

 

yeah sure but I'm just saying after what's come out if PT is still being run by Sheridan I won't trust the org

 

organizations are run in the image of their founders, so if the issue is the person at the centre of the group, idk if you can really fix that problem.

 

then there needs to be an alternative to punk talks imo hopefully someone can pull it off. its really upsetting seemingly the most visible organization dealing with mental health in the scene seems compromised at best.

 

I think a name change is certainly in order.

 

yeah I don't think what Evan did is less shitty, but that situation seemed like one that certainly should've been handled privately if it wasn't the victim who was pushing him to speak. I meant specifically how I feel about the statement and how it came about, not that PT should shoulder the blame instead of Evan but I don't think I was clear on that

 

lots of DIY people have been promoting the organization musicares since this all came to light

 

wouldn't it be cool if healthcare was easily available and free at point of service so we didn't need non profits with embedded interests in the scenes they're serving to provide it

 

it's almost like a lot of things that lead to abusive behavior or protecting abusive behavior wouldn't be an issue if we weren't in a capitalistic society

hmmmmmmm interesting

 

not really adding anything to the convo here but I can’t really pass up an opportunity to add to the “capitalism blows” pile. there’s truly no end to its evils.

 

i've thought about this a lot lately. like, if you're someone doing your dream job working for a label/venue and it turns out your boss is abusive, what do you really do? do you leave your dream job and risk not having a job for months because of that? what about bands who get offered to be on labels like epitaph or pure noise that don't have any other offers for bigger labels? or any labels of that size at all? do you risk slowing down your progressive career for that? i've been thinking about that a lot lately, and that's why it's hard for me to guilt anyone who isn't directly involved with the situation as long as they aren't actively promoting that horrible behavior

so basically fuck capitalism

 

i'm not saying this in a way that should let all people who stand by abusers off of course but i think context matters when someone's livelihood could be disrupted because they happen to be in the blast zone for one shitty person

 

I know a lot of people that work in the music industry, I don't know any of them that think their dream job involves working with abusive people. They hate it and it makes them hate their job and the industry. Thankfully we're finally in a time where people can call this out more and, hopefully, get those people removed from their positions of power.

 

well yeah, obviously the goal would be to remove that person. but as i said, if you're the booking manager with all the freedom you can get at a venue and you find out the owner of the venue is an abuser? there's likely no way to get a job that good otherwise. that's a tough situation for someone who did nothing wrong