Et justice pour toi

Ivan sent me a link to a story his  on new employer’s Web site about controversy on Justice’s new video for the song “Stress.”

The article is pretty cool, but this part struck me as odd:

“Justice says their goal was ‘to open a debate, raise questions, something done regularly by cinema, literature and contemporary art.’ Yet YouTube is unlike any of those other media. There is no buying your ticket, no shifting in your seat with popcorn in hand; no stiff new book to crack open; no grappling with an artist’s meaning in solemn galleries. Framed by neither the walls of a cinema or museum, nor the written page, YouTube is a kind of non-context, an ether from which one draws images designed for rapid, repeated consumption. Content of great value mixes with bullies terrorizing their classmates, public flatulence and some six-year-old’s piano recital.”

Maybe I’m just being ridiculous, but, to me, it’s making it seem like only the people who have access “solemn galleries” and the latest literary masterpieces and indie films can raise questions and debate contemporary society. Granted, Youtube is no PBS, but I don’t think that just because a message is sent through an alternative medium it should lose all its credibility. Hmmm.