It’s another Fallen Friday. What’s odd about this one? They don’t have an Official website. What’s up with that? But before I get to the song itself…
I’m going to go out on a limb here. Looking around at some of the lunacy going on here in America I’m going to say that we are likely reaching a point of zero tolerance for anything. You can not speak freely anymore, especially if you’re in a public situation. Why? Because if you have any opinion what-so-ever you will be labeled as a racist, bigot, nutcase, wacko, etc… Large groups of people have lost their ability to take a joke. In addition they lack the self control to turn something off and choose not to listen to an entertainer or turn off a TV show.
Howard Stern was smart to get off FCC regulated radio and onto Satellite. He did it at the right time. The outstanding thing about Howard, or any “shock” jock is how they get ratings. Their die-hard fans tend not to listen as long as the people that truly hate them. I don’t get it. If someone offends you that much with words, why would you continue to listen? Personally when I’m listening to something I don’t like, I’ll do the smart thing. I can turn it off, I can turn the dial, I can change the channel. It’s a simple way to not get offended. Even more facinating is when someone gets so offended they feel compelled to take action against the station. WHY?!? Is it really that hard to turn it off?
Oh the recent irony. Anyone care to recall the Don Imus ruckus from a few weeks back? Who was one of the outspoken critics of that Imus comment that was taken out of context? Hmmm, could it be Reverend Al Sharpton? Yup, it would. Now, lets look back a couple of days ago and low and behold what have we now? Al Sharpton makes a comment about a Presidential candidate (Mitt Romney). What exactly did he say? Let me quote this so that I don’t get it wrong: “As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyways. So don’t worry about that. That’s a temporary, that’s a temporary, uh, situation.” Mitt actually responded with level headed class: “I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make.”
If I’m not mistaken there is supposed to be a separation of Church and State. I don’t care what religion someone believes so long as they are capable of making sane judgements. What is Al’s job, can he be boycotted and fired for making an equally hateful comment about a Presidential candidate? Mind you I’m not for or against either person. But how ironic is it that the very person who called for an entertainers head (and helped get said entertainer fired) over a comment/joke taken out of context is now complaining about the very same thing directed at him? Sharpton claims he was talking about the author Hitchens who isn’t running for office and is an Atheist. I watched the video of the debate in question. I rewound it several times. Sharpton very clearly says “As for the one Mormon running for office…” If that comment isn’t directed at Mitt Romney who is, as far as I know, the only Mormon running for office, then who is Sharpton actually talking about?!? WOW, is all I can say.
Obviously I’m citing a very narrow case of situations, but it’s compounded by a lot of things. A current President who is incapable of being reasonable and admitting being wrong – I so dislike it when someone can’t admit when they fucked up even when they’ve been outed for being wrong. Are we really that stupid? I hope not.
The general issue really comes down to people not thinking things through. Being ignorant and unwilling to change for the betterment of society. It’s become a me me me me and me and I’m always right and you’re wrong era. One of the best things I’ve done is learned how to figure out when I’m wrong, then admit it. It takes being able to see things from all sides, then weighing how I feel about it, then opening my mouth. I used to love opening my mouth, shooting off my “educated” guess and passing it off as fact. It’s liberating when someone asks a question to which I don’t have a factual answer and saying “you know what, I don’t know.” It then gives me a sense of needing to learn something new, or at the very least to research it a little before I accept something based on faith alone. It’s been said many times through the ages, people fear what they don’t understand. The amount of information to sift though these days is likely leaving a lot of people feeling like they don’t understand. What do people do when they are facing a fear, they fight it, even if they’re fighting it the wrong way for the wrong reason.
I remember when this song came out for En Vogue. It was stellar cool then. I still think it holds up now as stellar cool. If you listen to the lyrics carefully, you’ll understand why I think we’ve gone further backwards since the time they released this song. Were they ground breaking? Heck no. There were girl groups in the 50’s and 60’s too. But En Vogue did fuse a rock vibe to their R’n’B vocals, that was cool. It made it cool enough for me to listen when I was learning to play music and primarily into hard rock. It expanded my mind musically. As for my childhood and such. I grew up with friends of several races & creeds: Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American. We were all like brothers. I don’t hold a grudge on any group. It’s not worth the effort. It’s sad to see how so few people can do the same.
If you don’t have this song, maybe you need to free your mind too.
(** Disclaimer: If En Vogue’s label isn’t happy with me freeing my mind, then I’ll have censor their song off my server. The post will remain to show my distaste for people who can’t take control of their own lives. **)