discophrenia

DISCOPHRENIA

(noun) - a DJ disease where one feels s/he is inclined simultaneously to please the audience, and also to surpass their expectations. That is, not to play anything too "difficult" (in which case someone is bound to complain) and not either to play "always the same, weary, worn-out hit songs" (in which case some "critical" member of audience is bound to complain). If the DJ plays something that is "poppy", someone complains and wants to hear something more "danceable"; if the DJ plays dance music, someone complains and wants to hear something more "melodic".

All night the DJ is a subject of scorn and insults from the people who think s/he does not play their favourite music. In case s/he manages to get something right, though, it is very rare anyone will ever thank him/her. In the worst-case scenario (which usually ends up being the normal case scenario) the DJ wants to please everyone, and ends up pleasing no one.

This kind of psychological pattern is not unheard of, though: this is what the cultural anthropologists, psychologists and behaviourists call a "double-bind" - everything one does is wrong, everything one does not do is wrong, too. It is believed that this sort of dilemma leading to an unavoidable "cul-de-sac" situation may be crucial in outburst of mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. All rational solutions to the situation may prove useless and futile; therefore the victim may not find any other recourse, no other way out, than to "get sick".

One can win the double-bind, though: by accepting the sheer absurdity of the situation, and accepting one's position as a fool, as a village idiot, as a scapegoat. One wanted to be a hero, a king for a night, but ends up being a fool for lifetime. So one might learn as well to laugh at it. When you laugh, they can't kill you.

[telex]