Blackness is...
An epiphenomenon.
The following is an attempt to illustrate this assertion.
We assume a hierarchical human society; we assume three social classes (U[pper], M[iddle], L[ower]) for simplicity's sake; we assume...okay, we lie like the humans are equal free agents, motivated by self-interest.
The nature of human hierarchies is such that the dominant class get first crack at all the resources. So Class U indulges freely, consuming resources, possibly replacing them with the output of its consumption (the phrasing here intentionally leaves open the possibility that output could be shit as well as goods).
When Class M comes to the table, it too freely chooses the resources it consumes. However, it does not have the same field of options Class U had. In particular, that which Class U has consumed, which fraction may approach 100% of any given resource, is no longer available for Class M's consumption. Also, the output of Class U's consumption is in amongst the field of options (with all that implies).
And of course the options Class L has to choose from are those both left over from, and created by, the choices and actions of Classes U and M. Class L's field of options will be totally different than that of Class U.
That's one dimension.
In every human society, there are things that are required, things that are allowed, things that are forbidden and things that are excluded. The difference between these things are generally notional rather than functional, i.e. alcohol consumption is not only legal but unstoppable while marijuana consumption is illegal (if just as unstoppable). If, in fulfilling that which is required, you find all that is allowed has been consumed, you will pursue that which has been excluded then/and/or that which is forbidden to compensate for your lack of access to all that is allowed.
That's another dimension.
Add to this the specific-to-this-society fact that the hierarchical distinction between Black folks and white folks was that white folks could do any god damn thing they pleased to Black folks, including the obstruction and destruction of resources at random, and you have a situation that rewards the ability to jump off in an unconstrained direction at any point. The ability to recognize a depth that, like denizens of Flatland, mainstream folk can only recognize as it intersects the dimensions they know.
If you can see that added dimension, you are culturally literate. If you MUST see that dimension, you're Black.
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nicely done...,
As a baseline, it's elegant and appears to have solid explanatory power.
The end point is a pretty
The end point is a pretty good description of Jazz too.
hmm....,
which observation brings me back around with a kwestin....,
Mr. Dixon is very fond of describing how free improvisation on the basketball court during the late 50's and early 60's gave rise to significant modifications of the rules of the game to try to offset the disruptively superior level of play that was making "traditional" players and modes of play look stunted by comparison.
The thing is, the improvisational novelty brought to the game by Black players never violated the existing rules of the game itself, they simply pushed the envelope of what could be accomplished within the context of those rules was greatly increased.
So also with Jazz..., which doesn't violate aesthetic "rules" of musicality (and how could it, lest it prompt aesthetic aversion?) though it clearly pushes the envelope of what can be accomplished within the paramaters of what humans cognize as musical.
So my kwestin, is the extra-dimensional perception and its epiphenomenal improvisational genius genuinely unconstrained or, is it merely unconstrained by the de-evolutionary forces of habit/convention/imitation?
The thing is, the
First guy to take a jump shot was called for travelling. Folks eventually found it to be a beautiful thing and it was incorporated into the game.
I think it's constrained only by need and the material at hand.