Spirit in the Sky
As I have recently downloaded Norman Greenbaums' 1 hit wonder that plays in most babtist churchs in the southwest, I am curious (not how effective the 50 cent remix that involves JPJ 2 murder suicide ala the end of the natural born killers music video with Dre and Cube), about the effectiveness of religious music.
There happens to a cable channel that is exculsively dedicated to christian rock - this on one hand delights me but at the same time terrifys me. I can only imagine that there has been marketing data on the effect of mass media on the populace, but I have not seen the related numbers. In 1988, Pat Robinson ran for president and one can only guess that his influence came from his distribution of his sermons and his public figure as a pastor.
I guess my question is that will money always win? It seems to dominate the consversation of eveything and seems to be the one thing that everyone measures themselves against (these days).
But what of history - what has man or ancestors of others experienced to this point and what would they say of the culture that pervades the modern US? Would they be pleaseed, repulsed, and does it matter?
How have we changed and are we learning the lessons of the past? One of my favorite and thought provoking speechs from film came from 2001's amistad (hopkins speech to the supreme court):
The other night I was talking with my friend, Cinque. He was over at my place, and we were out in the greenhouse together. And he was explaining to me how when a member of the Mende -- that's his people -- how when a member of the Mende encounters a situation where there appears no hope at all, he invokes his ancestors. It's a tradition. See, the Mende believe that if one can summon the spirits of one's ancestors, then they have never left, and the wisdom and strength they fathered and inspired will come to his aid.
So, if what he claims, are we the culimination of our ancestors who came before us? Can they direct us in the right direction? And what is that direction? Step in line or not....
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I think our ancestors in many ways would be repulsed by our culture and the direction in which we're headed, especially by our pop culture, the sexualization of our youth, the sick fascination with which we watch celebrities self-destruct, and perhaps even the somewhat pervasive sense of political apathy.
Would this repulsion with our current fascination with pop culture melt-downs be tempered by the multitude of nations that have risen from poverty and, while they might not be the absolute paradigms for representitive democracy, they have provided decent public services for their populaces?
Or would they just be blow away by the amazing gap between the rich and poor?
Also - is the sexualization of the nations youth one the worst problems facing our culture?
Okay sorry for the totally delayed response here. You know it's really hard to know what anyone would think of the things going on in the world today. We've made a lot of progress in a lot of areas, but it's pretty clear we're not doing all we can either. But ultimately, it's tough to know whether anyone would care that we're doing very little to help those in Darfur or Kenya or wherever.
And no, I probably overstated the importance of the sexualizaiton of our youth, though I think our forefathers would probably be pretty horrified by it regardless. Though it's maybe not the most pressing issue facing our nation, I think it contributes to a lot of problems in our culture. That being said, I think every generation has been appalled by the frivolity of the younger generation, so I'm not sure it's all that new. I do still think it's pretty fucked up though. I feel really lucky that I spent most of my childhood in a small town because I was very much a kid for a lot longer than a lot of other people I know. When I moved to Miami at age 11, I just remember being so shocked at all the shaved legs and talk of blow jobs in the 6th grade. That shit just wasn't even on my radar at that point and I feel really lucky for that.