Justify Yourself

While at the barbershop I was watching a clip on CNN; they were talking about the president not inviting women to any of his sports outings. They were practically attacking him for not exercising gender equality. To me it seems that the media in this country is always focused on the social issues rather than on any political issue. Every time I watch the news it’s always about the Hollywood and not the real issues affecting us or the rest of the world. Broadcast stations only releas what they can and they are only giving us one side of the story. They are manipulating our knowledge of the truth so that we don’t rise against them.

The news and media are doing a great job of keeping the citizens of this country under control. Most people believe their country, why wouldn’t they, but they are blindfolded believing anything they are told because it comes from “officials”. Some artist are conscious about what is going on in the real world today and are trying to get their audience to see, think and react to what is going on. Rock music is notorious for appealing to sex, drugs, and violence. However, there are artist that speak about real issues in their songs. System of a Down, a rock group, has a song titled B.Y.O.B. the song brings up an important issue about war, the armed forces, and the government. “You depend on our protection, yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth” these lyrics speak about how the government needs us, the common everyday Joe-Shmoe, to go out and fight to protect this country, but the government doesn’t tell us the truth about why we are really fighting. This is really significant because the government/media makes everything about “What can you do for your country” rather than what can they do for the average person. In the same song System of a Down says “blast off, its party time, and we don’t live in a fascist nation, blast off its party time, and where the fuck are you?” this line depicts what the commercials for the armed forces look like. They glorify the armed forces and say that those people are making a difference, what is the difference, and for whom are the differences, if we are winning then who is losing and what cost?

The problem is not that we listen to our officials the problem is that we don’t doubt them. In the song Killing in the name of, by rage against the machine, they start the song by saying “some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses” this is a powerful opening line for a song. While your listening to the song you’re thinking are they really talking about what I think they are talking about? The next line of the song says “and now you do what they told ya (now you’re under control).” “Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they’re the chose whites”. These lines depict a true story about officials taking advantage of their position and their power. People in higher positions sometimes justify what they are doing because it is what they believe its for the better good. People should approach every issue with an open mind. Think about the issue, what they tell you, what you see, and what you think about it all together. I think that if this kind of reason was applied to every day life as well as national issues more people would be able to see the truth.

Lewis Black, a well-known comedian, did a stand-up act in Broadway where he talks about the citizens of this country. In the first part he says that we are the only country that tells the rest of the world that we are better than them. On top of that, Black speaks about people that have never been outside the country and say that this is the best country. Black later describes a 30-page article he read on diabetes and how after reading the article he had diabetes. People are being inundated with negative media and are so biased that they believe anything the government tells them, but they have never really considered any other options, they are limiting themselves to only one point of view.