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“A king has servants, soldiers, messengers, lieutenants. He governs through his servants. Where are the servants of this-Anti-King?” “In our minds, lad. In our minds. The traitor, the self; the self that cries I want to live; let the world burn so long as I can live! The little traitor soul in us, in the dark, like the worm in the apple. He talks to all of us. But only some understand him. The wizards and the sorcerers. The singers; the makers. And the heroes, the ones who seek to be themselves. To be one’s self is a rare thing and a great one. To be one’s self forever: is that not better still?”

— The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #3)

...when we crave power over life -endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality- then desire for life becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavy in the scale.

— The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle, #3) (Page 39)

I spoke openly of my lack of respect for music in general - that I considered it simply one of many mediums which may be used as tools for communication, but I do not believe it is a particularly good medium for expressing the issues at hand that day. I spoke of the difficulties of talking about sponsorship and poverty without conjuring ghosts of starving-artist heroism, and confessed that my primary motivation for talking on a couch in a Spanish museum was financial, and that indeed I was getting paid for my attendance. I said that I did not believe in social transformation or revolution, not in the value of individual artistry, nor had any interest in pretending that "alternative" media industries which mimic dominant industry qualify as alternatives to anything. I said that we must approach "alternative" music industries with the same suspicion as major labels, treating them simply as employers like any other, and the best we could do is to steal their monies through whatever fees and advances we can get hold of so as to weaken their organizational power. And if we are to work for free, as this industry so often demands, that it may be better to reserve our pro bono energies for secretive and undocumented activities disconnected from any meida production or distribution, not out of any idealism about sub-culture building but rather to redistribute funds in unaccountable ways while providing as little free labor to industry as possible - mainstream or alternative, dominant or sub-cultural. Doing something other-than-concert. Something other-than-pleasure. Something other-than-entertainment. This did not go over well with the curators, musicians, critics and other professionals in the audience, many of whom were Sonar enthusiasts. Their comments and expressions showed disgust at my flagrant exploitation of sub-cultural organizers and music fans. I had violated that most sacred of industry bonds between "promoter" and "artist" by simply stating the obvious, that most "alternative" promoters and producers were little emperors standing naked in their complacency with the understanding that all audience support and government funding is given as part of a consumerist exchange for pleasure-based entertainment. By identifying as a thief who consciously steals from sacred alternative industries with the specific intention of not being entertaining, I became an ego-driven individual devoid of all artistry, such that politically and economically I must always be considered a potential source of sabotage.

— Nuisance by Terre Thaemlitz (challenge GENDER, #5)