Punch Much is another Muchmusic spinoff available through digital cable and satellite, and it happens to be a perfect metaphor for democracy today.

The idea is? that Punch Much makes a list of songs available by either watching the channel or going to their website, and from this list of songs, you choose what you want to see. Then, occasionally, and for no apparent reason, Punch Much throws in a song that nobody has voted for. Moreover, Punch Music shows commercials because it has to make a profit. Nothing can be democratic for its own sake.

Despite this, it? claims to be an “all-request” music video service station that “gives music fans the power”.

Therefore, Punch Much shares the following characteristics with “democracy”:

1) It gives you “choice” in a very limited context; most of what they offer is trash.

2) It occasionally and arbitrarily, “appoints” certain songs into its playlist, even though nobody has asked for this song to be there.

3) Its “you choose” philosophy is undone by the fact that there is a whole aspect of the program we have no say about whatsoever - the commercials, which represent the activities of business amongst a population that has no say.

4) It recreates itself in the language of true freedom by calling itself “all-request” and by claiming that it “gives music fans the power”, when in fact, similar to “democracy”, it makes appointments and gives us limited choice, and the? people are deluded as to the amount of power they actually posess.?

Nobody asked for Massari’s “Real Love”, the same way nobody asked for Condoleeza Rice to be appointed.

Canada has its own problem with appointments, particularly in the Senate, which is about to become Canada’s largest old-timers hockey team in history. I can’t wait until Wayne Gretzky gets appointed.

http://www.punchmuch.com