Clap your hands and sing along to the futility...

Futile.

It is a word that comes to mind when we sit back and take a hard look at the myriad of problems our world faces today. Many of us when asked, “what can we do about these problems?”, may tend to say well as it seems nothing. Despite this general feeling of futility, there are those who still struggle against the many plights that plague our world. Yet, there are so many of us which fall into a third category, ignorant. I presume that none of the people who take the time to read this blog fall into this category. However, we encounter these, as I like to call them, unfortunates everyday. They pass us on the street, say hello to us in class or at work and live out their lives in the preverbal dark. Here is the question we must pose, “how can they live their lives unaware of the massive problems that are all around us?” If we could answer this question we could make people more aware of the true situation and interconnected fate all of humanity has. I believe that if people became truly aware of many of the injustices we face in this society and others around the world then there is a chance for a united movement against them.

Let’s begin to answer this question the best we can. I believe that many people consciously and unconsciously avoid acknowledging the many problems the world faces. Quite, often this avoidance is a result of compassion fatigue. A condition where those faced with the overwhelming state of affairs decide that it is too much and retreat to a mindset where they feel safe. In addition to this, we have those who believe that the world is fair and those who work hard and look out for themselves will be fine. They neglect to acknowledge history, economics, politics and a pile of evidence too humorously large to mention. They are the ones who can’t see the forest from the trees. There are of course those who are compassionate, reasonable people who simply have not been exposed to ideas of social injustice or notions of revolutionary change.

In general, a lack of motivation and education are two of the primary reasons for society’s inability to enact powerful, positive change upon the world. How do we motivate people to make a difference in the world especially if they are like us living in the comfortable bubble of middle class life? I might mention this comfortable bubble is precariously thin and poised to burst anytime now. However, that is something which can be addressed at a later time or can be discovered on your own by opening a history book to read about the precursors to the Great Depression of the 1930’s or the economic collapse that occurred in the 70’s. Let us couple that with depleting resources, environmental and political instability and we are all set to party in the near future. However, without becoming too alarmist let’s address the issue of motivating and educating the good people of society to both recognize and act on the problems at hand. Overt education of the public via traditional means of books, documentaries and lecture series often miss a large demographic who prefer to distract themselves from their otherwise mundane lives. What is a good way to motivate the comfortable and educate the easily distractible? The first thing that pops into my mind is music.

You may be asking, “but Frank how can music help to educate and motivate people to change the way they live and stand up for the many injustices and inequalities that cause so many more of the problems the world faces?” To put it simply, music moves us. It has the power to unite people in movements of social change. Allow me to use historical examples. I think we can all agree that if it has been done many times before, it can be done again. Perhaps we face some new obstacles and will have to alter the methods slightly, but nevertheless, it can be done. Lets begin with the civil rights movement in the United States. This as you all know was a movement for racial equality in much of the segregated unconstitutional south. The movement was headed in great part by a large student population that found support in the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. Much of the civil rights sentiment was reflected in the music of the era. The march songs became hit tracks throughout the nation. Those who participated in the sit-ins or bus rides would sing songs that everyone would end up hearing. Music acted as a sort of adhesive which held and brought more people together to achieve equality. If we move on to the 60’s and 70’s hippie movement and the protests against the Vietnam War are surrounded in popular music. The whole continent was full of music that brought awareness and harnessed the outright anger and frustration people had with the situation. Anyone who has heard Neil Young’s Four Dead on Ohio or seen the movie Forest Gump will know that much of the music of these times was inspirational and educational. These are but two of the examples through which music has been used as a tool for social progression.

Today popular music is more often then not a means through which people distract themselves. They use music as an escape. It becomes all that much easier when the majority of music people are exposed to can only function in that way. This is not to say that music as an escape is wrong or negative inherently. There is good to be found in that type of music. However, change is required and not having the music to reflect the despair which we face is highly dangerous. It distracts so many of us. You may find the pressure to accumulate wealth and the pervasive isolation caused by the structure of society overwhelming. At work you see hard working people in their 40’s struggling to get by and provide for a family while the boss is parked out front in a $100,000 car. You come home to realize you are going to be doing this for the greatly portion of your relatively short time on this earth. Instead of sitting down and thinking about how that is just wrong. How our lives should not be manipulated that way. You don’t think about how things don’t have to be the way they are. Instead you flick on your ipod and lay down listening to the most relaxing music you can muster up. Sure it serves its function but imagine what we could do if we all didn’t just put up with so much crap? Instead of watching mind numbing useless television we took that 3 hours of our day to get together with other people in similar situations to discuss what needs to be done. Imagine. For humanity’s sake IMAGINE a better world! Then go ahead and think about how we could make it happen.

Here is a short list of music that might just inspire you rather then distract you. It may make you think a bit more. It may also entertain you. I am not trying to impose this music on you. Instead, I am trying to expose you to music that you may not otherwise get a chance to hear. This isn’t the full list, so if you are interested in more by all means contact me. Thank you to Mr. Mike, Macall and Franchise who assisted me greatly in putting together this list and my thoughts.

Rock:

Matthew Good - Lullaby for a new world order - Blue skies over badlands
A Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies like Sheep
NIN - Everyday is exactly the same - Right where it belongs
Tool - Lateralus
Buffalo Springfield - What’s that sound?
Tragically Hip - Fireworks
Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall
Neil Young - Four Dead in Ohio -Let's Impeach the President
John Lennon - Imagine - Working Class Hero
CCR - Fortunate son
Bob Marley - War/ No More Trouble - Redemption Song
The Beatles - Revolution - Taxman

Rap:

Immortal Technique- Leaving the Past - The Poverty of Philosophy - Impeach the President - Caught in the Hustle
Deltron 3030 - Turbulance (remix) - Virus
Public Enemy - He Got Game
Dead Prez - Propaganda - Animal Farm
The Fugees - The Beast