Politics at Moogfest

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HB3
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by HB3 » Thu Nov 04, 2010 11:17 am

Who here drives a Prius? :mrgreen:

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Jrayk Roze
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Jrayk Roze » Fri Nov 05, 2010 1:54 am

So? I loved Ender's Game, but then I found out that Orson Scott Card thinks that sexuality is a black and white choice. Who cares? It was a science fiction novel, not the office for governor.

I'd buy synthesizers from cannibals that raped children and ate french fries with mustard, but maybe that's just me.
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HB3
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by HB3 » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:11 pm

Hey, those Creationists are dangerous, man. We're at risk of a global Creationist theocracy at ANY MOMENT....

Sweep
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Sweep » Fri Nov 05, 2010 6:16 pm

HB3 wrote:Hey, those Creationists are dangerous, man. We're at risk of a global Creationist theocracy at ANY MOMENT....
Instead of being silly, why not check out what's really involved, in education and so forth? You could start with the legal case I mentioned earlier. (Incidentally, the judge in that case had death threats from these nice religious people.)
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mayidunk
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by mayidunk » Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:13 am

museslave wrote:Unrelated:
mayidunk, it freaks me out every time I see your avatar- it reminds me of how challenging it was to vacuum that carpet under that thing. :lol:
Is that is a photo of a Novachord you used to own? :shock:

Rob Smith
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Rob Smith » Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:43 am

Politics are like baseball teams. You have the American League and the National League. They both want to win in November and everybody has their favourite team. Most of the time, it's what you were brought up with. 90% of the time, everyone really wants the same thing. To be safe, happy and healthy. The other 10%, i don't really know what their deal is. Maybe they don't like baseball.

I think Moog just wants what all of us want. We just have different ways of going about it.

Sweep
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Sweep » Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:40 pm

Rob Smith wrote:I think Moog just wants what all of us want. We just have different ways of going about it.
Yes, I'd like to think so as well.

This has been an issue because the posting about Moogfest was taken down after concern was raised about it, so most of us haven't seen it. Consequently we don't know if it was some dubious joke that backfired, or whether Moog did actually try to politicise Moogfest in some way, or indeed whether something dubious was said in Moog's name without Moog having authorised it.

This topic has been running for over a week with no comment from Moog, so I contacted the forum moderator a couple of days ago asking for clarification, to hopefully put this whole thing to rest. Presumably if the political statements were some backfired joke or something said in the company name without Moog having sanctioned it, they'll clarify that. If they don't, it's hard to know what to think.
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museslave
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by museslave » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:04 am

mayidunk wrote:
museslave wrote:Unrelated:
mayidunk, it freaks me out every time I see your avatar- it reminds me of how challenging it was to vacuum that carpet under that thing. :lol:
Is that is a photo of a Novachord you used to own? :shock:
That is not only a picture of a Novachord I used to own, but also the picture of a Novachord I used to own, taken by me in my basement. : )
(as well as being the Novachord which was sampled for use in the recent Hollow Sun product)
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Amos
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Amos » Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:53 pm

Guys, this was originally a posting on the Moogfest 2010 facebook page, correct?

Moog Music does not have anything to do with Moogfest 2010's facebook page.
That page is run by AC Entertainment, a huge music/festival promotion company.
They're the folks who put on Bonnaroo, among other things.
Moog Music has nothing to do with their political views, or their decisions to express them (or not) on facebook or elsewhere.
My guess is that the link to the rally was posted by the individual person maintaining that page,
whether for fun or as a political statement, who knows, but as a personal decision and not as an act on behalf of their company.

For me personally, the take-away message from the rally to restore sanity and/or fear was that we all need to lighten up a little, and not look at absolutely everything through the distorting lens of politics! But, that's just my personal opinion. :)

All the best,

Amos

/thread

EricK
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by EricK » Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:27 pm

As busy as the folks at Moog are, as much as they have on their plate handling regular customer issues and developing new products, they still devoted a few minutes of their time to respond to a ridiculous demand for them to answer to some irrelevant crap that was posted on someone elses facebook page.

Can we lock the thread now?
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Sweep
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Sweep » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:20 pm

Thanks Amos. This really did need a reply.

Maybe if AC Entertainment hadn't taken the page down and we'd been able to see what was said there wouldn't have been any problem. Still, it raises questions whether they're an appropriate company to handle your publicity, considering the hassle they've caused.
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AshleyCapps
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by AshleyCapps » Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:19 pm

Hello. I'm Ashley Capps, founder/CEO of AC Entertainment, and we produced and promoted Moogfest 2010. We also were 100% responsible for maintaining the Moogfest 2010 Facebook page. So, for starters, I would like to make it clear that no one associated with Moog Music had any involvement in what was posted there.
That being said, it was not our intention to be promoting a political agenda or to be making a political statement on that forum and, in my opinion, we did not do so.
Our goal with the Facebook site was simply to engage in a productive dialogue with interested people about Moogfest 2010 and to share information related to the event and the weekend.
When the "Rally to Restore Sanity" was announced, a number of people started to discuss it on the Facebook page, due to the fact that it was occurring on the Saturday of the festival weekend. Some people indicated that they were torn about what to do. Some told us that they were going to Washington, DC to attend the Rally rather than attend Moogfest. Others who were attending Moogfest made requests that we actually broadcast the event in the Arena on Saturday afternoon on the big screens, or make some other arrangements for people who were attending the festival to watch it.
We obviously did not do this and we also did not make any other arrangements ourselves for the event to be broadcast.
However, due to the considerable interest that we encountered from our fans, we did share with them that - if they were interested in watching - they could do so at the Asheville Brewing Company.
We did this only in the spirit of sharing information with those who requested it. The actual posting was in the form of a question. It read:
"Hoping to watch the Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive at Moogfest? One of our friends has set up the perfect spot." And it offered a click to the information.
Again, we did not editorialize or express an opinion. We simply provided the information about an event occurring during the weekend of the festival to those who were interested and requested it.
I hope this clears this matter up.
Ashley



AshleyCapps
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by AshleyCapps » Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:24 pm

By the way, we haven't taken anything down from the facebook page and AC Entertainment is not a huge company. For what it's worth.
Ashley

Sweep
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by Sweep » Tue Nov 09, 2010 10:20 pm

Well, thanks for that. It still strikes me as a bizarre episode, but at least there doesn't seem to be any cause for concern.

I wasn't able to find the Facebook page in question when doing a Google search, and no-one else seemed to have found it except the original poster, which is what made me think the page had been taken down.

As a British person the "Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive" sounds quite bizarre. I have friends in America but I haven't discussed politics with them recently. Despite the explanation I really can't see why it was mentioned at all in connection with Facebook, but maybe it makes more sense if you're American. Many Moog users aren't.

Although I didn't explain this before, I've had some very bad experiences with American politics on music sites that one would expect to be politics free. In particular a site for a British musician who had nothing to do with American politics became a right-wing ghetto. In that instance I was actually asked by the record company if I'd stay on the forum to protect their artist. I did, but subsequently wished I hadn't. That experience was what led me to use a screen-name and never use my own name on the Internet or provide any personal information. The events were very unpleasant. I won't go into details, but I have no desire to experience anything like it again.

As a result of that and other experiences I would never again have anything to do with a music site that's supposed to be uninvolved in politics but does get involved, especially if it seems to side with one specific party. Nor would I want my money to be supporting political ideologies if I buy instruments from a company with political allegiances. Hence my concern.

I'm relieved to find Moog isn't involved in any of this, but I hope you'll appreciate why some people may be concerned when all we know is that something has been said and connected with Moog, but we don't know what, or in what context. That was the situation until today. That's why I'm relieved to have this cleared up at last.
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AshleyCapps
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Re: Politics at Moogfest

Post by AshleyCapps » Wed Nov 10, 2010 12:16 am

Sweep -
I didn't know that this discussion was taking place until today when someone brought it to my attention. Otherwise I would have responded sooner.
I can certainly see how the nuances of this might be lost on you.
The event in question was staged by two comedians and there is more than just an element of satire at work in the names...with the Rally and March being ostensibly staged in opposition to one another. So...it's a bit Monty Python-esque, though there is definitely a strong political spin on it.
Again, we did not express support for the event. We were simply responding to requests and information from our customers. That is all. There was no political agenda on our part...just customer service, really. We do feel that if one elects to engage one's customers in the realm of social media then direct and honest response to their inquiries, comments, and suggestions is integral to the process.

You can easily find the information on our facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MoogFest- ... 7876455451

You can find the post in question by scrolling down to posts on the date of Oct. 26, which is when the offending post was made. If you click to see all posts, you can go back further to see the various fans who were requesting that we arrange to broadcast the event ourselves.
The only reason this came up is because the event got a lot of attention and it was taking place during our Moogfest weekend.
I think it's a shame that merely letting people know about how they might watch an event is perceived as making a political statement, but we're in a particularly volatile political environment at the present time.

At any rate, the primary point is Moog Music did not make any sort of political endorsement or statement. In my opinion, neither did we.
Thanks.

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