issa 's Profile

The essence of trust is confidence in the reliability of another person, or in the reliability of an expert system, with respect to some outcome. In either case, confidence is a function of knowledge—of how well we (think) we know another or the workings of an expert system. I have no need of trust if the other is transparent to me or if the workings of the system are fully known and understood. Under the conditions of modernity, however, I am constantly and routinely obliged to interact, often consequentially, with others about whom I know little—in a word, with strangers.

First, there is the radical separation of time and space that occurs as, for example, various technologies are perfected, permitting the coordination and control of activities over increasing distances and with greater speed. Second, modernity is characterized by, and depends upon, the creation of "symbolic tokens" and the establishment of "expert systems." The symbolic token par excellence is money. Expert systems are "systems of technical accomplishment or professional expertise that organize large areas of the material and social environments in which we live today'' (27). Money and systems of technical accomplishment or professional expertise have two things in common. Both permit social relations to be lifted out of local contexts and restructured across indefinite areas of space and spans of time. Moreover, symbolic tokens, preeminently money, and professional expertise of whatever sort involve and depend on trust: "Trust is … involved in a fundamental way with th

Mainstream hip-hop has been filtering into indie culture for a few years, but contemporary country music has been slow to take root beyond safe alt- holdovers. Perhaps it's because the music as played by corporate radio stations is perceived to be simplistic, jingoistic, and sentimental-- which is true to an extent-- or simply because Arcade Fire fans don't want to be associated with NASCAR fans and Wal-Mart shoppers. As a result, indie faves Neko Case and Jenny Lewis are considered to be merely dabbling in country, and Tim McGraw covering "Stars Go Blue" doesn't mean Ryan Adams is the new Kris Kristofferson. Instead, older country music gets a pass, and artists like the Carter Family, Dock Boggs, and Bob Wills are perfectly acceptable to indie ears, perhaps because there was no rock'n'roll to compete with at that time or because they're so far removed from our current music climate that they don't register as country anymore. Even the next few generations of country artists have found an audience among younger listeners: Willie Nelson is a favorite due to his ceaseless experimenting, Loretta Lynn found a new audience working with Jack White, and Johnny Cash is more popular with the indie (and every other) crowd dead than he was alive.