14 May 2007

Darn kids...




Do you listen to popular music? And by that I mean the tunes favored by the 16-25 year old demographic. I am blessed (cursed) to have XM satellite radio. I find it a welcome relief to the narrow wasteland that is commercial, broadcast radio - although XM is slipping into some of the same bad habits.



Many of the songs are simple, typical teen angst love notes. Penned by inexperienced souls who long to find something meaningful in their too short lives. Some of the lyrics are downright disturbing and contrary to what I would consider rational morality.

Let me tank Pink's recent chart topper - which I find entertaining and a good listen - but also confusing. In the song just U and ur Hand she waxes poetic about how she just wants to dance at the club and not be bothered by the constantly circling male predators.

Fair enough. Jimmy Buffet wrote his Fins song about much the same thing. However, Pink drops the interesting line "...keep your drink, just gimme the money..."

Huh.

So don't bug me while I dance and drink myself stupid, but give me your money.

Am I missing something?

Just a ponderable.Where is this going? Part of our present political miasma is related to the extreme disconnect between "traditional" thinking and the way the world is presently operating. As citizens of ther United States, most of us have NOT been impacted by the war in any meaningful way.
Save the military personnel and their families, there has been ZERO effect on the nation. The economy is robust and things are pretty much status quo. There is something disturbing when the citizens of the west need bear no burden for the fate of the planet.

7 comments:

ep417 said...

Toe respond with another song lyric:

Welcome to my world....
Won't you come on in....

Rick said...

Bring back the draft. Shared sacrifice is good for us as a nation. And it will help the Pinks of the world connect with the possibility of (gasp) selfless service.

XM? Have Sirius myself. Made the move for Stern. Would not have bought it had he not switched over. But now I could never go back to a morning zoo crew on my drive to work.

Citizen Deux said...

Well, XM and Sirius will be one soon.

Draft? Come on Rick! You don't really want to work with conscripts? I think we need to jump up the size of the military and focus on the BCT design - including more sharing of common resources (medical, logisitics, legal, etc.)

BostonMaggie said...

I don't believe in the draft, but I do believe in mandatory public service. The military, Americorp, the Peace Corp, Teach for America. Everyone should have to give a year or two of their lives for the greater good.

I have two sons. The older one did a year with Americorp, the younger one is destined for the military. Their father and grandfathers were in the military. Their mother and grandmothers have a strong history of volunteerism.

Pink is just selling records. I listen to rap too. They are just words.

Citizen Deux said...

Maggie, concur with the words - however, they do shape popular culture and by extension the behavior of our next generation. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.

I like national service, I don't like the mandatory aspect of it. Milton Friedman, in his comments about the draft, indicated his abhorrence of any mandatory service. "A form of slavery" was his comment.

I am sorry, but the free market is always the most potent force within a society. Mandatory service undermines its efficacy.

PS - See Germany

LTC John said...

No draft, no mandatory service.

Especially no draft. You put someone compelled to serve next to me, and I don't see success on the horizon... Transformation is supposed to be moving us even further from the mass, industrial age armies of the past. Faster, please.

Citizen Deux said...

Hear hear...