Words as Weapons
Music is many things. It is a hobby or profession for some and an enjoyable way to pass the time for others. As a medium primarily meant for entertainment, the lyrics of songs have immense power to influence the minds of the masses without them even realising it.
An internet fad doing the rounds on social media of late is the 30 day song challenge. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it has different prompts everyday to share songs that mean something to you. This is a great way to discover more music and find out that one of your friends has a similar in taste in music as you. While it was aimed at quick, low effort consumption, I felt it could have been so much more.
Inspired by the idea of the challenge, I decided I would do something similar. A series of small articles talking about some of my favourite songs with social, political or cultural messages or anything that I feel conveys a lot of meaning. If you know any other songs about the same, please feel free to share.
This is part two of the series and for those of you who want to read part one, about bullying, I’ll leave the link at the end of this article.
We live in the age of information technology. News from across the world can reach you in just a few seconds. But it’s more appropriate to call this the age of misinformation.
Content on the internet and popular media today is the equivalent of fast food. It’s quick, easy to come up with, efficient and is incredibly bad for you. People today want to know something about everything but don’t have the patience or time to actually delve into the complexities of any issue. They are happy to satiate their curiosity with click-bait and misleading titles.
News media such as newspapers and television channels are often owned by political parties or controlled by specific groups that publish whatever suits their own agenda.
In this era of keyboard warriors who have consumed their fill of propaganda, misinformation and lies, it’s not uncommon to see heated debates between two sides that can turn very unpleasant. The worst of it is often both sides are wrong and once the echo chamber that is social media today pronounces the so called winner, only more misinformation is spread. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
With the 2019 general elections fast approaching and the recent conclusion of the state legislative assembly elections in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana, there has been no shortage of false promises made by politicians and their parties.
The song I have chosen, which I think best describes this is Words as Weapons by Seether. Like most amazing works of music, this song can be interpreted in many ways, one of which is an incredibly accurate description of politicians.
My interpretation of this song is that Seether talks about deceitful people who say whatever they can to use others for personal gain.
“Say can you help me right before the fall, take what you can and leave me to the wolves” Shaun Morgan sings of those who would ask for help, making promises in return that they never intended to keep.
In order to keep their vote bank intact, politicians not only lie, but are happy to say spiteful things to incite communal disharmony while constantly claiming to be flag-bearers of equality and secularism.
Since we can’t expect the sizeable illiterate population of our nation to see through this deception, the onus falls on us to use the privilege of our education to ensure that the less fortunate do not fall prey to the ambitions of these conniving megalomaniacs.
I too am guilty of trying to get to the crux of complex issues after consuming only snippets of relevant information, something I have been actively trying to remedy. The only solution is to arm ourselves and others with complete information so that words may become our weapons too.
P.S. Another popular song which talks about propaganda in media is Green Day’s American Idiot a song which finishes with Billie Joe Armstrong singing “One nation controlled by the media, information age of hysteria, is calling out to idiot America” calling on the American populous to stop being puppets of the media. If you haven’t heard this early 2000s classic, please do so now, it’s both profound and playful making for a delightful listening experience.
Link to part 1 : Make it Stop