Its been close to 3 years since I took my "Politics in Springsteen" elective but from what I remember of the album (as well as the song), I do not remotely recall it being about expressing anger & discontent towards anyone, let alone our government. Did a quick reference check & sure enough my suspicions were correct. The prevailing themes of the song entail hopeless, poverty, depression, hunger, & homelessness to name a few.
I ask for a clarification in how expressing ones anger towards the government remotely relates to that song? I ask because for the life of me, I am not getting that kind of message from those lyrics. I asked also because (giving them the benefit of the doubt) rock music is hardly known for its accurate lyrical interpretations. Whether its Liz Phair discussing her "secret beauty routine"; or the GOP misappropriating Springsteen's "Born in the USA" in 1984 thinking it was an uplifting song to be proud of; or the delightfully raunchiness of the Who's "Squeezebox".
The response accused me of "being an ideologue & lacking intelligence". Its a response I fully expected but, as mentioned earlier, I like to at least TRY & give people the benefit of the doubt. If they weave their own noose, that's their prerogative.
That's unfortunately one of the many problems w/ discourse today. Everyone's shouting at each other, assuming that volume alone equals merit. No coherent message. No leadership. No attempt at understanding your opponent's perspective (if for nothing else than to counter their arguments).
Its more like a gaggle.
"Let's get together & be angry. It'll change things." Expressing ones anger is all well & good but its one step a very long & time consuming process. If you want the change bad enough, you have to spend the time doing the grunt work. Unfortunately, most people aren't willing to get their hands dirty.
Whatever, life goes on.
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In other news...
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This here is Ivory, yet another gracious participant in my Abandonment Adventure series.
I remember this being a tough shoot, more so because of the life issues on my end that I was dealing w/ at the time. She's a good person & am still glad I went through w/ it.
Feel free & comment away if you so desire.
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2 comments:
beautiful model, awesome artistry you are both very talented :)
It's interesting to me how many times Republicans use Springsteen songs only to be bitchslapped by the Boss' people reminding them that he's a liberal Democrat. Reagan adopted Born in the USA as this nationalistic anthem... completely clueless to the fact that it was really about the trauma of Vietnam (something Reagan tried to erase from our collective memory, even trying to veto the Vietnam Veterans Memorial).
Similarly, McCain in 2008 used songs by John Mellencamp (another liberal) and was bitchslapped as well.
Campaign ads amuse me in that they assume that people take this absurdity seriously. Then I realize they do and it depresses me.
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