We Ain't Got No.....

Back in the days of Bush Sr., there were the three R's. Can you even remember what they are? Readin,' Riten,' and Rithmatic. Bush senior saw the US educational system falling behind other countries and juiced up the program. School got a needed influx of steroids, I mean enthusiasm. What has changed this country for the worst? What has eroded out traditional educational system? What has left the next generation sorely unequipped to handle the responsibilities of running the US? First there is the cell phone. Everyone must agree with no standard protocol for using a cell phone adopted in this country, it has been detrimental. Maybe it has empowered the selfish immediate gratification that has run amok amongst our youth. Why is it so necessary to have a quick fix, whatever the anodyne? Crystal Meth. Gum. A quick phone call. Coke....a-cola. A short foray onto the Web. What is it about our world and country has driven people to sickness? We are a diseased country. ADD. Manic Depression. Hyperactivity. Panic/Anxiety. Much of that is being fueled by the frenetic pace of television. If you are not educated enough, you forget life can't move as quickly as juxtaposed, adrenalin-laced, sales advertisements. Hyping people up is a way to sell a product. If you get American people's panties so tightly in a wad they can't see straight, then they are likely to make a 'snap' decision and buy something as a Bandaid to their real need. This is what has made our society disposable. In China and India, where they are making our products now in their mainstream, government is moving against this. They are trying to strengthen the Middle Class, because the needs and reverence of the middle class ultimately are what are going to anchor your economy. It creates a mainstream under which artists, manufacturers, and sales people can market their products. We have lost that in America.
When I walk into a shoe store and an African-American couple enters behind me in search of shoes, it is a little unnerving to see their child walking in front of them TALKING ON A CELL PHONE. When I am driving in really bad traffic at rush hour, it is unnerving to see many people in their cars TALKING ON CELL PHONES. When I am shopping in the grocery store, scanning those endless rows of product in search of just the right thing, it is unnerving to have someone standing beside me talking to an apparition planted in their ear. It is ludicrous, not Ludicris. (Hustle and Flow was one of the worst movies I have ever seen) Hip/Hop once used to lead with edgy wisdom. Now that has been lost, and what once was an icon of the smarts of street life is now superficial grandstanding. "Pass the Covascia!" All those once hip mannerisms that epitomized cool are gone. With music making no money these days, there is no substance or art in the product. iTunes came and snatched the very life out of the music biz. While I agree digital music is the wave of the future, I lament greatly this influence on the recording industry. I, in fact, am stumbling along trying to regain my focus in a musical creative life that has wandered off track. I used to crank out CD projects left and right, comfortable with my Mac-equipped home studio. Now my 'process' has been confused, because of the new system with which consumers use music. Now I realize it shouldn't. Because music has shrunk and will fit on a portable hard drive, that doesn't mean the PROCESS of creating and making music should change. I think we all want creativity in music to continue. If there is going to be NEW music available for those iPods and Bill Gates machines, the traditional process of music making has to sustain. It should not become disposable. It should not become a "plug in." It should not live soley in a cyber-existence devoid of human emotion. Music must flourish as it always has as a pinnacle in American life. Long live the nightclubs!
All of this change in media as drastically changed our pop culture. It seems people no longer need to interact with one another, unless it is in the comfort and protection of their bedrooms. This process has confused people in that what used to be discreet processes now are seamlessly integrated tasks available at the flick of a mouse. You used to have to get up, put your shoes on, and drive to rent a porn video. If you wanted to seduce children, you had to stalk playgrounds and schools. If you wanted the latest hit song, you had to drive to the record store and buy it. The convenience of the personal computer has inadvertently made us "lone" beings, sordid, foul-breathed, sexually depraved pedophiles stalking our prey online. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but it has raised that possibility, hasn't it? The computer has become a crutch that in traditional America society didn't exist. You had to go out and make it own your own. That meant talking to people, not surfing the net naked. I don't think this influence is good. It makes us lazy and dependent on tools, tools that when we don't get them, we suffer. No longer are we self sufficient fulfilled human beings aware of our strengths and weaknesses, flourishing in schools which once were the stage upon which we were educated. Now we are own our on, and the structure that prepared us for life in society, a hypothetical world which fueled our self confidence and creativity, is failing. It seems no longer important. We as a country must realize surfing the net can not be a substitute for the traditional habits of our culture. If it is, we will just slowly and surely get sucked down into that LCD screen, destined to live in the hot and stagnant, mechanical pre-programmed world of some computer designer. Maybe he is the pedophile.