“it is still safe to say that objects, as we understand them, are relatively stable, whereas ideas are definitely unstable, they not only can be misused, they invite misuse—and the better the idea the more volatile it is.” (85) in Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Tom Robbins is obviously not the first person to think, talk or write about this subject, but he happens to have reminded me of it today. For examples we can go back to everybody’s favorite metaphor for evil and abuse (the Nazis); we can go back to religion of all sorts and philosophy of most sorts. Ian MacKaye talks about this in regards to the “punk” movement a little bit during an interview for Soft Focus online “tv” show with Ian Svenonius. (They also discuss history, nostalgia, major labels, capitalism, and more, so it’s worth checking out.)