Pre-Valentine's Day song

Considering all the commercializm of the day, I am often reminded of a song that truly captures the spirit of it all. Not on an individual basis, but the whole superficial nature that it is these days (and it was pretty bad years ago). Maybe tomorrow I'll get more into the romantic aspect of it, then again maybe not.

Marilyn Manson performs for Obama: what if it happened?

Here is something you don’t hear everyday. In fact I just heard about it today. Supposedly Marilyn Manson was going to have a performance that would have been in behalf of President Obama (then Senator Obama). Can you imagine it?

Now the source of that would be performance is Manson’s ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood. So there is some question on the fact of this. And even more questionable when you factor in that the Obama campaign immediately denied the suggestion.

But I have to wonder what if Manson had performed?

Yes I realize that some find Manson to be weird. His music is not the most mainstream, though he is very popular. His appearance is really the most disturbing part of him to many older Americans I think. Which is a shame as it has nothing to do with talent or ability or his opinions.



The appearance of Manson is also irrelevant to his actions. It was Manson that has gone out and discussed the Columbine massacre in an honest manner. And he is a voice of change and self-responsibility. I may not agree with everything he says, or how, but I respect and understand his position. And much of that is the same kind of change that Obama has campaigned on.

“I think it's terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don't really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt.

… Right now, everyone is thinking of how they can prevent things like Littleton. How do you prevent AIDS, world war, depression, car crashes? We live in a free country, but with that freedom there is a burden of personal responsibility. Rather than teaching a child what is moral and immoral, right and wrong, we first and foremost can establish what the laws that govern us are.”

It scares me that anyone could be restricted in voicing their comments about America, politics, and life in this nation. Marilyn Manson has as much right to support Obama (or any other politician) as has Jennifer Hudson, Will.I.Am, Oprah, or even Chuck Norris for McCain. They are all Americans and they all had opinions, as did over 120 million other Americans.

I wish Manson did perform on behalf of a politician. And in that performance I would have loved for him to state that appearance, whether it is clothing styles, skin color, or a name are all excuses to close our minds to anyone in those clothes, of that color, with that funny name.

I doubt the Obama campaign would have crumbled. I doubt that it would have gotten Obama more votes. But it might have motivated more of the youth that feel left out of the mainstream. And that itself would have been enough reason for me.

Why do I care about this after the election, and considering the fact it might not be true? Because if Manson did not perform or state his support because of appearances and potential outcry it was a voice in America being silenced. If any American is silenced like that, then we all are less free. And if appearance can silence us, appearance can again become the cause of enslavement of us.

And I won’t allow that to happen without comment or a fight.

The reported decline of rap music - 3.1.2007.1

Finally there is an outcry about rap music. I must say that while I am glad this is finally happening there should be an understanding that such an outcry should not be all inclusive. I do not recommend abandoning the music genre en masse. I do not think that it should be censored, or limited. In fact I want it to be widened, more like its original format than the narrow range seen today.

I have long stated that rap today, and hip-hop, is a waste of time. There is far too much copy-catting of the same 3 themes: drugs, sex, and violence. Virtually every rap song, and hip-hop to a large degree, discusses to some extent at least 2 of those 3 themes. Those themes are used to promote the use of drugs, the use of sex as a means of status and degradation, the sale of drugs, and violence to support status, gain income, and further the degradation. For more than a decade this has been the voice of rap.

Yet this was not always the case. Those roughly 35 and older recall that there was more to rap than this. Rap music initially was a statement of fun and enjoyment. It evolved to discuss social ills, individual empowerment and positively being around friends. That’s when it was killed off to be replaced wholesale with what is now the mainstream (formerly the splinter genre ‘gansta’ rap).

Rap is not responsible for someone being so vile as to go out and shoot a cop, or rape a woman, or any other offensive action. I’m sure lawyers wish they could prove that, but it is no more responsible for a thoughtless action than Rock & Roll is for suicides (examples include Marilyn Manson or Metallica). That being said, I do feel it is responsible for praising such actions. Rap today nearly requires its top stars to be convicted felons, drug addicts, and uneducated.

The growth of ‘gansta’ rap is not the fault, or cause of, African Americans. While entertainers emphasize their Black heritage the fact is that sales have been predominantly fueled by White Americans. As the need to ‘express the truth of our lives’ became more violent, sales to White Americans grew. So the claim that, “...the truth is at least us talking about what we're talking about, we can bring certain things to the light,” seems to be reaching a group of people that neither knows what ‘we’ are talking about nor capable of making it change [those changes being a personal responsibility not a societal one].

Continued in part 2...