by Pablo K.

Coming back from a recent visit to Lima, Peru, I was struck (as most people are) by the stark contrast of American affluence. Not a new feeling. All you have to do is go to Nuevo Laredo, parts of San Antonio, or even East Austin, and you get disquieting reminders of the disparity of wealth. But perhaps because I had never spent time in such a third world environment before, I felt an even deeper sense of the absurdity and tragedy of our global economic imbalance. Perhaps also it was because of the sharp delineation between very high incomes and grinding squalor that exists in Lima.

Huge billboards of Anglo-looking bikini-clad girls overlook windowless hovels. Giant casinos glittering with neon abut blocks of shacks without electricity or plumbing.

Yes, the imbalance is something we are all aware of. There's little point in preaching the gospel of self-righteousness. Some of us say, What can we do? Some of us try to help in various ways. Some of us have burnt out from trying to help. The problems of this world are enormous and they won't go away anytime soon. But we do have an obligation, as citizens of the wealthiest (and greediest, as far as per capita consumption of global resources) nation on earth, to at least be cognizant of the effects of our actions. With greater awareness, hopefully, comes more responsible behavior. We spent much of the 20th century showing the rest of the world how to live large, with big cars, plastic packaging, decadent celebrities and selfish lifestyles. Now, to our credit, we are trying to export saner products, recycled packaging, urban planning.

But one product that resists social evolution is decadent celebrity culture. I am particularly attuned, as a musician, to the decadence of the music industry. It lags behind in social consciousness, preaching youth, wealth and empty-headed leisure.

After a long, crowded bus ride in Lima, replete with crying Indian babies and clouds of diesel fumes, my friends and I took refuge in a Bembos, the Peruvian equivalent of McDonalds. Clean, air-conditioned, yet polluted by big-screen TVs with music videos featuring affluent, young, sexy stars. Some of the videos were Peruvian, some Colombian, but all of them replicated the imagery developed by the U.S. music industry. It made me much more claustrophobic than anything else in that city.

For decades I have been reminded by TV, radio, movies, tabloids and the rest, of all the things I don't have, that I will never have. I guess we are supposed to live vicariously through the celebrities, like some medieval serf staring up at the magnificent castle. If you listen hard you can just make out the strains of 'N Sync serenading Cinderella. It is such a moldy, outdated mentality, and yet we still cheerfully export it to the world. I do think that, slowly, progressive elements within the music industry are challenging this mentality, showing that music which is linked to social awareness and education is also marketable. But it is an uphill battle and it would be nice to see more signs of progress.