Bluesberry Jam -- Libertarian fable?

Transentient · 28 Aug 2008, 12:07 · from 2008-August.txt.gz

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From: transentient at gmail.com (Transentient)
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:07:24 -0400
Subject: (urth) Bluesberry Jam -- Libertarian fable?
In-Reply-To: <48B63204.80006 at gmail.com>
References: <48B63204.80006 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <61A167D9-2D71-4424-BF5F-A46C1836A417 at gmail.com>


The "permanent traffic jam" concept reminds me of a short story I read  
in F&SF many years ago by an author I do not recall. I believe it was  
called "Gas Mask."

On Aug 28, 2008, at 1:05 AM, Dave Tallman wrote:

> Aldo, a young folk musician, wanders in a permanent traffic jam.  
> Aldo meets an older singer who inspires him, and he creates a new  
> song of revolution.
>
>   * The story Ain't You 'Most Done?
>     <http://www.holkar.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php? 
> n=Stories.AintYouMostDone>
>     is a companion piece, showing the same events from the perspective
>     of Tim Benson.
>   * The people in this alternate America are horrifyingly passive --
>     they sit and wait for the government to feed them. They have been
>     trapped here for years in the ultimate welfare state. Wolfe takes
>     a libertarian stand against this.
>   * They are in sharp contrast to Benson, a man from contemporary
>     America. He's a self-made man, an entrepreneur, an embodiment of
>     the American Dream (and a dreamer literally). In his busy life he
>     chafes at seconds of traffic delay. He is present because of a
>     dying boon granted by Morpheus, to dream as long as may be. His
>     dream to be a folk singer will be granted, and the ultimate goal
>     of an artist is for his music to be heard by those who need it,
>     and change their lives.
>   * The songs Tim Benson plays, unknown to him, will inspire  
> revolution.
>         o My Gentle Harp
>           <http://www.kalliope.org/digt.pl?longdid=moore2000082974>
>           Thomas Moore wrote these words to Londonderry Air, which is
>           also famously used for the song "Danny Boy." It was inspired
>           by the arrest, imprisonment, and death of two of his
>           friends, who participated in the rebellion of the United
>           Irishmen.
>         o "Shenendo'" says "Away, I'm bound away..." which strikes
>           home to this passive people who have lost the freedom of
>           movement we take for granted. They are virtually imprisoned
>           by what should be a means of transportation.
>         o The Minstrel Boy
>           <http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiMINSTBOY;ttMINSTBOY.html>
>           is also by Thomas Moore and also inspired by the Irish war
>           for independence.
>         o Finally, he sings Aldo's song, "In all this jam there's none
>           like Ma'am..." not plaintively as Aldo sang it, but full of
>           pity and rage.
>   * Aldo heard these songs and had his instrument tuned by Benson. He
>     has received some of Benson's American fighting spirit.
>   * This is similar to the inspiration from the past that Ben Free
>     brings to his lodgers, and the vision of the frontiersman that
>     appears to the man in Viewpoint
>     <http://www.holkar.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Stories.Viewpoint> as
>     he commits his first act of violence against his confiscatory
>     government.
>
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