The point in this exchange is surely that there is not one sole motivation that directs anyone to folk [or to any other cultural or such manifestation at that], but many. Some, like me, will come in because they have always liked the noise and vibe of folk music, and wish to pursue both its acoustic and its aesthetic aspects intellectually and academically as well. Others, however, to some extent agenda-driven, will regard it additionally as an opportunity to get some of their ideas over to an audience -- and folk, being the 'music of the people', could by some be exploited as ready-made for the postulation of a leftist agenda. Can it be denied that that has been, at least to some degree, the motivation of many, from Seeger to Lloyd to MacColl to Bragg?

≈M≈