When I first learned that we were going to be required to find a protest song, The Black Eyed Peas song "Where is the Love," was the first one that came to mind. The song has a mellow tone but a strong message against social injustice. The song addresses racial division "The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK," but the major theme of the song is the issue of world peace and acceptance of others. It addresses the issue of "nations dropping bombs, chemical gasses filling the lungs of little ones." The song similar reminds us to think about the promblems in the world and see that they are somehow connected to the lack of love we have for each other as humankind. The song asks us to consider "Where is the Love?" The song does a great job of reminding us that the issues of hate and intolerance exisist throughout the world - "overseas, yea, we try to stop terrorism but we still terrorists here living in the USA." The song shows that we are simply living in ignorance and denial about our state of intolerance and hate. The song warns us that "if you never know truth, then you never know love." The song wants listeners to admit that "most of us only care about money making." The song is blantly telling us that the main reason we still have these issues is because we are too selfish and worried about ourselves to notice the problems in the world, or we don't think we can do anything about them.
I think this song does a great job of getting the message out that people may think that issues of hate and intolerance don't exisist here in the USA or that they aren't really that big of a deal. The song does not use judgemental or angry words to say that we need to change, there needs to be a social justice revolution. The song uses examples that unite the world together in the fight against issues resulting from a lack of love and understanding among people. The song is clear, and easy to listen to, I think it is a perfect example of a modern protest song.
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4 comments:
I've never known how one song can communicate so much information. I really like your song and the message it is conveying to the public. I think songs shouldn't be just about emotions and should represent or demonstrate something about the world.
I think it's interesting how different groups use various methods to communicate the same message. For instance, the Black Eyed Peas try to keep their message positive even while they sing to bring change, whereas groups like Rage Against the Machine use "angry" lyrics to bring about the same change. I guess it depends on each person as to how they will respond to the different messages.
This is a cool song and adresses a lot of social issues. I wonder, actually, if it tries to attack too many. Since the song protests pretty much any types of evils in the world, its difficult to get a perfectly concrete message about a single issue. I think it is interesting to examine the different affect this has from a song that protests a single issue.
This is a cool song and it addresses a lot of issues in society today. One of the reasons this song was popular was because it is very catchy and easy on the ears. A lot of successful protest songs seem to be that way as well and more aggressive ones don't seem to be as well received.
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