Today’s Pop Music and American Society: From “All You Need Is Love” to Keying Your Boyfriend’s Car

thBWVX9WHUMusic hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. – William Congreve (1670-1729)

Can music also bring out the evil in mankind, as well?

On Thanksgiving Day, as I was watching the Macy’s Parade with my family, I suddenly realized that I did not know any of the performers lip syncing their songs on the floats, except for Pat Benatar (bless her heart).

Additionally, I heard at least one song that was entirely inappropriate for that family-friendly, nationally-televised event.

What is going on with Pop Music?

John Stonestreet, writing for his website, breakpoint.org, posted the following article on November 12, 2015…

Good guys are out of style. If you’ve been to the movies any time in the last decade, you know that Hollywood has replaced the superheroes of yore with antiheroes—depressed, broody, supposedly “relatable” characters with a past. Whether it’s the angst-filled teenage protagonists of “Twilight” or a black-suited Spiderman doing Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever strut, it’s become almost cliché to bring our heroes down to our level rather than aspiring to theirs.

With a handful of exceptions like Marvel’s Captain America, the entertainment industry just doesn’t create uncomplicated, morally straight characters anymore. Even Superman recently got a makeover. Director Zack Snyder’s reboot offered us a troubled Clark Kent in a bleak, visually desaturated film where the Man of Steel doesn’t hesitate to kill. And the same holds true in pop music, where artists who once sang about falling in love now storm on stage and sing about wrecking their ex’s life.

A quick glance over YouTube’s top music videos reveals a wall of singers grimacing, glowering, and growling at us. Heavy eye-shadow, aggressive postures, black clothing, red smoke, sneering expressions make it look like these performers—many of them young women—want to mug us instead of entertain us. Writing at the Daily Mail, Jo Tweedy asks the obvious question: Why do all of these singers look so angry?

Whether it’s Beyonce’s now-infamous Super Bowl halftime performance or Miley Cyrus’ descent into “Wrecking Ball” wrath, these performers “prove that rage is very much all the rage for pop stars.”

But it’s probably Taylor Swift, the 25-year-old country singer who took the pop scene by storm a few years back, who best illustrates how angry modern music has actually become. Swift started out a few years ago writing songs about unrequited love and teardrops on guitars. But in more recent hits like “Blank Space,” “Shake it Off,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” the music icon tells haters and potential heartbreakers to back off. “Boys only want love if it’s torture,” she complains, and warns would-be suitors that she’s “got a blank space” on her “long list of ex-lovers,” and would be glad to write in their names.

And then there’s her biggest new hit, “Bad Blood,” a breakup number accompanied by an especially warlike music video that won the VMA’s top honor last year. It features guns, explosions, rocket-launchers, even mixed martial arts. I’m not kidding. Swift herself looks every bit as angry as the Amazon that she plays.

“So why does white hot anger seem to be such a big feature for today’s stars when they’re on stage?” asks Tweedy. One London pop choreographer answered: “…the anger is simply a way of getting noticed,” a way of “trying to stand out,” she said. “[It’s a way of] saying, ‘…you will book me for that next job.’”

So, no surprise, a lot of it comes back to marketing and publicity. We saw this with the release of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” that sexy has taken a sadomasochistic turn in order to sell more books and movies.

But what if there’s more to it than just marketing? In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis’ professorial devil offers advice on how to get humans, especially men, to confuse aggression for beauty.

“…the felt evil is what [the patient] wants,” he explains. “It is the visible animality or sulkiness, or craft, or cruelty which he likes,” and which “play[s] on the raw nerve of his private obsession.”

And I can’t help wondering if on another level all this bad blood is due to the sexual revolution itself. Could it be that some pop stars—especially women—really do resent the way the industry has objectified and turned them into sex symbols? Attempting to tether human dignity to sexual freedom leaves many feeling as if they must be sexually aggressive to be known, and others as if their value is secondary to other’s desires. Either way, it helps explain why pop culture seems to be popping a gasket lately.

I remember the summer after I graduated college in December 1980. I bought a brand new 1981 Mazda GLC, had a Pioneer Tape Deck installed to play in all four hidden door speakers (a big thing back then), bought a cassette tape of “The Beatles Love Songs”, and played it until the tape broke.

Music has always affected my life and played a major part. I sang in church choirs, leading services, singing in quartets, and solo, for over 30 years and have played acoustic rhythm guitar since the age of 19…a long time ago.

Music can indeed soothe us. It can inspire us…in both good ways and in bad.

It has the power to bring us to our knees in worship of the Living God…or make our hands “clinch in fisteous rage” (American Pie, Don Mclean)

It can advise us to “treat her like a lady” or find us hanging out, “down on Main Street”.

At this time in our country’s history, when morality has become relative and ethics situational, we find our souls crying out for soothing, but instead, we find Pop Music and “so-called” Country Music, actually manufactured in New York City (pronounced like they do in the Pace Salsa Commercials), advocating meaningless one-night stands and encouraging the debasement of the human soul, instead of its ability to rise above any obstacle in its path that might hinder individual achievement.

With all of today’s over-produced, under-written Pop and Country-Pop Music flooding the airwaves of both broadcast and satellite radio, Americans my age wonder where all the great songwriters have gone to?

Where are the “Good Vibrations” that the young people of this generation so desperately need?

Evidently, even though “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, we have left them “Sittin’ On The Dock of The Bay”.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Our Anti-Christian, Anti-American, Bizarro World President

obamaegypt7613As I write this post, the Organizng for America,’s website, barackobama.com is being blown up by comments for Egyptian Citizens, protesting President Barack Hussein Obama’s support for the Islamic Terrorists, known as the Muslim Brotherhood.

I’m in solidarity with them.

If you have read any of my blogs at all, you know how I feel about the Manchurian President, Barack Hussein Obama. If I expressed my true feelings about the Communist Community Organizer living in OUR house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, my web host would probably ban me…and, I would lose my witness. (That’s a Southern Baptist thing. Y’all may not understand.)

Anyway, I can prove all three of the adjectives I have used in the title of this Blog to describe the loser in the White House.

Obama could not care less about Christians, Americans or otherwise. Remember a few years ago, when he said that America was no longer just a Christian nation? Or, before that, while out fund-raising in front of a bunch of private donors, he spoke about us average Americans “clinging to their guns and Bibles”? Obama publicly claims to be a Christian. However, in “Dreams of My Father”, ghost written by Bomber Bill Ayers, he states that he will “stand with the Muslims if the [political] winds blow in an ugly direction”.

Well…it has. And..he is.

As you know, if you’re not living under a rock, like those guys in the Geico Commercial, the Muslim Brotherhood is rioting over in Egypt over being thrown out of power by Moderate Muslims, who want their country to move forward, not backward. like the Islamic Theocracy of Iran. While these esteemed purveyors of the Religion of Peace have been having their hissy fit, they have decided to take it out on…you guessed it…Egyptian Christians.

30 churches have been damaged or destroyed, mostly due to being set on fire. Additionally, Christian schools, libraries, shops, cars and businesses have also been attacked by the supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Four Coptic Christians have been savagely murdered. The MB and their sycophants believe that Christians,who make up 10 per cent of the population, were partially responsible for Former President Morsi getting the heave-ho by the Egyptian Army, with the support of the Egyptian people. Threats and warnings have been written on the sides of churches, adding to the terror being perpetrated against them by the Islamists.

And, America’s Anti-Christian President has not said a mumbling word about it. In fact, it was his largess, using our tax dollars, that caused it.

On April 7, 2012, Andrew C. McCarty reported for National Review.com that

…the Obama administration quietly released $1.5 billion in foreign aid to the new Egyptian government, now dominated by a Brotherhood-led coalition in parliament — soon to be joined by an Ikhwan (i.e., Brotherhood) luminary as president.

…the Obama administration from its first days has embraced the Ikhwan — both the mothership, whose leaders were invited to attend Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo despite its then-status as a banned organization under Egyptian law, and the Brotherhood’s American satellites, which have been invited to advise administration policymakers despite their notorious record of championing violent jihadists and repressive sharia.

Obama has overlooked the MB’s intimate ties to Hamas, which self-identifies as the Ikhwan’s Palestinian branch and is formally designated a terrorist organization under American law. Administration officials have absurdly portrayed the Brothers as “secular” and “moderate,” although the organization, from its founding in the 1920s, has never retreated an inch from its professed mission to establish Islam’s global hegemony.

So, despite the wishes of Congress, our idiot president gave our tax dollars to the Godfather of Muslim Terrorist Organizations, whose membership wants to behead each and every one of us Americans, and Christians the world over.

And, then, in January of this year,Fox News.com reported that

A source who works on the Naval Air Force Base in Dallas confirmed the departure of the state-of-the-art fighter planes to FoxNews.com. Sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks are to be given to the Egyptian government before the end of the year under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010 with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally..

Critics, including several in Congress, say it doesn’t make sense to follow through with the package, given that new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, elected last summer, has given decidedly mixed signals about relations with the U.S. While he has toned down his rhetoric since his election, in 2010 – the same year the aid package was struck – Morsi attacked Obama for supporting Israel.

So, not only did Obama send money to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, he sent them overwhelmingly lethal weaponry, as well.

This is Smart Power? No, but it sure was against the best interests of our nation. It was an Anti-American action.

And, that’s where the Bizarro World part of the title comes in…

All average Americans, boys and girls, were brought up on Superman, whether through reading comic books, or watching television. As you know, Bizarro World is the home of “Bizarro”, a replica of Superman who does everything completely opposite of the way normal people do this. In fact, his entire world runs the same way

And, so it is with the Manchurian President. His words and actions, time and time again, are the exact opposite of what an American President would say or do.

On Thursday Morning, Obama made the following statement about the rioting by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Government’s response to it.

Guess whose side our sitting American President took?

Let me begin by stepping back for a moment. The relationship between the United States and Egypt goes back decades. It’s rooted in our respect of Egypt as a nation, an ancient center of civilization, and a cornerstone for peace in the Middle East. It’s also rooted in our ties to the Egyptian people, forged through a longstanding partnership.

Just over two years ago, America was inspired by the Egyptian people’s desire for change as millions of Egyptians took to the streets to defend their dignity and demand a government that was responsive to their aspirations for political freedom and economic opportunity. And we said at the time that change would not come quickly or easily, but we did align ourselves with a set of principles: nonviolence, a respect for universal rights, and a process for political and economic reform. In doing so, we were guided by values but also by interests, because we believe nations are more stable and more successful when they’re guided by those principles as well.

And that’s why we’re so concerned by recent events. We appreciate the complexity of the situation. While Mohamed Morsi was elected President in a democratic election, his government was not inclusive and did not respect the views of all Egyptians. We know that many Egyptians, millions of Egyptians, perhaps even a majority of Egyptians were calling for a change in course. And while we do not believe that force is the way to resolve political differences, after the military’s intervention several weeks ago, there remained a chance for reconciliation and an opportunity to pursue a democratic path.

Instead, we’ve seen a more dangerous path taken through arbitrary arrests, a broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters, and now tragically the violence that’s taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more.

The United States strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by Egypt’s interim government and security forces. We deplore violence against civilians. We support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. We oppose the pursuit of martial law, which denies those rights to citizens under the principle that security trumps individual freedom, or that might makes right. And today the United States extends its condolences to the families of those who were killed and those who were wounded.

And given the depths of our partnership with Egypt, our national security interests in this pivotal part of the world and our belief that engagement can support a transition back to a democratically elected civilian government, we’ve sustained our commitment to Egypt and its people. But while we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back.

As a result, this morning we notified the Egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise which was scheduled for next month. Going forward I’ve asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S.-Egyptian relationship.

Let me say that the Egyptian people deserve better than what we’ve seen over the last several days. And to the Egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. We call on the Egyptian authorities to respect the universal rights of the people. We call on those who are protesting to do so peacefully and condemn the attacks that we’ve seen by protesters, including on churches. We believe that the state of emergency should be lifted, that a process of national reconciliation should begin, that all parties need to have a voice in Egypt’s future, that the rights of women and religious minorities should be respected, and that commitments must be kept to pursue transparent reforms of the constitution and democratic elections of a parliament and a President.

To use an Internet Abbreviation…WTH?

Egyptians overthrew their burgeoning Radical Muslim Theocracy, in order to install a more Moderate, Democratic Pathway, in search of good, fair national government. What can’t Obama see this? Is he that stupid? Or, that devoted to “the Religion of Peace” that it has blinded him to reality? if so, Americans, we are totally scre…err…shafted. And, in the worst possible National Security Situation we could find ourselves in.

Evidently, Obama is either naive, or he’s in agreement with the stated mission of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Either choice means dangerous days ahead for our Constitutional Republic.

May the God of our Founding Fathers, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, protect and preserve us.

Until He Comes,

KJ