Why I’m Posting a “Song of the Day” Rather than Quitting Social Media or Talking Politics

Let’s start with the nice stuff:

I’d like to say “Thank you” to a lot of friends and/or musicians for expanding my musical tastes over the years. As a person who largely depended on corporate radio in his growing-up years, I was bored with a lot of the music I’d heard because I’d heard it all a thousand times.

In the early 1980s, a lot of the classic rock bands/artists died (as far as I was concerned) in a mass extinction much like the dinosaurs they’d become. And good riddance. But a lot of the pop music was too electronic/sound effecty (if I may coin a phrase) for my tastes. So, I kind of hated the 1980s (my formative years).

In a way, Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car was my light at the end of the tunnel. Her song signaled the beginning of the end of the musical blight that was the 1980s.

Music was already changing when Nirvana’s Nevermind exploded in 1991. That ended the heavy metal hair bands — and good fucking riddance. I had just started working with an sketch/improv group in early ’91 so I was primed and ready for a change and, in some ways, I felt as much a part of that zeitgeist as Nirvana was (you know, without the astounding success, but still . . . attitudinally, I was on the same page).

A little while later, I helped form another group and we started performing shows with local bands (sometimes we’d open for them, sometimes they opened for us). One guy from The Highway Matrons, Mark Stephens, once told me that our group was like the “punk rock of comedy.” I don’t think I quite understood it at the time but part of it was our anger and part of it was our DIY attitude.

It was because of Mark and a comic named Brian Whalen that I discovered and listened to The Replacements. After I heard their music, I was even more pissed at corporate radio than previously. Why hadn’t I heard this group (I’d actually heard I’ll Be You but thought it was Bryan Adams because of the “I was from Canada” line — I remember actually thinking “Wow, this is a pretty good Bryan Adams song.”)?

I was actually already mad because while I was buying more mainstream music I’d hear deeper album cuts of good artists and wonder “Why didn’t they play this song? This is great!”

In any event, I learned that there was better music in the ’80s than I’d previously been aware of: this while I was already veering away from AOR (Album Oriented Rock).

This is why I’m grateful to those friends who played and told me about music that I might not normally have bought or even known about. Keep in mind, I was a Rolling Stone subscriber but, let’s face it, particularly these days, they seem to give good ratings in their reviews to any old act they’ve had a relationship with. A previously edgy (or edgier) magazine had now just become another part of the corporate behemoth. Where was an all too trusting, not quite knowledgeable enough youth supposed to turn?

Keep in mind, I grew up in St. Louis, MO, a predominantly classic rock town. I still like a lot of classic rock but, thankfully, my palette has grown.

In any event, I’d say I tend to be a power pop kind of guy with an open mind to other genres. I like punk influence more than I like hardcore, for instance. I like jazz influence more that jazz itself, as a rule. I like great guitar but I don’t particularly want to listen to a jam band. I’m still relatively weak on rap and country music knowledge but I’m open to songs that work for me. I like blues and reggae but usually in small doses — they’re a little to sound-alike for my tastes (this is also true of some bands — I like a lot of their songs but only an album or so at a time — The Police, particularly their first three or four albums spring to mind, as better in small doses — you learn things on long road trips and at least one of those is: don’t play Zenyatta Mondatta and Outlandos d’Amour back-to-back — it will drive you crazy).

So, how does this relate to politics?

Well, I’ve noticed some friends dropping social media altogether. And a lot of that is based on politics.

And, I feel their pain.

During the Trump era (does he really deserve an era?) there is too much craziness. Those of us on the left feel like we’re going mad because we don’t share in the political right’s madness. When craziness is the political mantra of the day, those who are not crazy are made to feel crazy.

Political nationalism is the order of the day, not just in the (allegedly) United States of America, but the entire world. Is it a result of the economic meltdown in 2008 or just that the pendulum has swung to the far right and will soon start swinging towards the far left over the next 30 years? To be honest, I don’t really know. All I know is that I see issues with both the far right and the far left — but I find the far right more dangerous (even though I hate it when people use the word “dangerous” in these circumstances). That isn’t to say that I don’t find the far left dangerous in its own way (who wants measles? Anyone?).

To be sure, I think many of my so-called “friends” on social media view me as being on the far left. But my “leftist” views are also ameliorated by a fairly heavy dose of pragmatism and doubt. I understand that there are consequences, both positive and negative, to my views. I also know that there are also unintended consequences that I might not foresee in my views.

I don’t see much of that doubt on the right.

The right are, essentially, fundamentalist right-wing zealots. And, to my way of thinking, that clearly makes them, “The Wrong,” not the right.

This is where I will get a little mean. And, to be honest, I don’t give a shit.

For one thing, they don’t give a damn about truth. They don’t care about honesty. Their policies are largely draconian and just plain mean. Their alleged values are, indeed, valueless. They don’t care about people — they care about the moneyed class. They don’t care about the planet — they care about the moneyed class being able to run roughshod over everyone, including themselves. As long as they’re doing okay, fuck everyone else. But, to quote Jesus, “They know not what they do.”

Yes, I know, I dropped the “Forgive them Lord” part but, honestly, after two-plus years of lying Trump and the fact that Republican policies have already been proven failures, I’m not in a forgiving mood. If that makes Bernie Sanders a better man than me then so be it. I cannot make excuses for them.

Trump, as I’ve said many times, is just the chickens coming home to roost. The Republican Party has been subtly racist for years. The fact that Trump’s supporters and the Republican Party have allowed Trump to be overtly racist (with the tiniest morsels of push-back) doesn’t make any of them less racist. Subtle racism is just as racist as overt racism: it’s just racism with a different adjective. Take away the adjective and it’s still racism.

Look, I didn’t like everything that Barack Obama did and didn’t do (would like to have seen a lot of those bankers who sold shares knowing that everything was going to shit go to jail, for instance). But, my differences with Obama had nothing to do with his race while many of the so-called complaints about Obama had much to do with his race rather than his policies. To the Republicans, Trump can do no wrong. Why? I guess because he’s white. They will believe Trump’s lies over Obama’s truths any day of the week. Hell, many Republicans believed Obama wasn’t born in this country with no evidence (and, if there had been any evidence, would have been shown long before his election — it isn’t that fucking hard to prove, morons).

Both the left and the right have issues with believing conspiracy theories. That’s a fact. Another fact is that conspiracy theories drive Republican policy on the right much more than they do on the left. And, there are many more bullshit conspiracy theories on the right than there are on the left (that’s why it drives both policy and elections).

I don’t believe, for instance, that George W. Bush blew up the twin towers in order to go to war in Iraq. Clearly, that’s bullshit. But, I do think Bush/Cheney saw it as an opportunity to “experiment” in the Middle East with a war in Iraq to promote democracy. Those are their honest views. The fact that they used dishonesty in order to “test” their experiment does not mitigate their honest views. Rather, it highlights and obvious question: Why didn’t it occur to them that in the conservative Middle East that people might elect right-wing extremists?

Why didn’t it occur to them that Saddam Hussein might be lying about WMD in order to keep Shiite and Sunni Muslims somewhat orderly?

When many of these Middle Eastern countries were formed after WWI, little thought was given to these sectarian conflicts. Perhaps, it took a thug like Saddam Hussein to keep order in these unnatural countries.

But, as a result of our incursion, we destabilized the Middle East. We didn’t fight for “our” freedom, we fought for Iraq’s freedom (because Iraq was no threat to us). We weren’t, in the words of W., “defending our freedom.”

Rather, we enacted the so-called Patriot Act. We diminished our own freedoms in the name of “freedom.” All we really got was “freedom fries.” I’m sure McDonald’s was thrilled as we got full and fatter.

Let me point something out to you dear Republican readers: authoritarianism and diminished democracy are much more about cowardice than freedom. And, let’s point out, Trump clearly has authoritarian proclivities. He loves Putin, Un, Erdogan and MBS, among others. Trump has made this very clear. And, with Putin in particular, he was very clear before the 2016 election.

Authoritarian-minded people like Trump are not strong, they are weak. In a democracy, you are required to be strong because you have to take criticism from the people and the press. In authoritarian regimes, you stifle any criticism because you can’t take it. You are a pantywaist because criticism points out your flaws. Authoritarians, naturally, have no flaws. At least, that’s what they tell you to say.

In my lifetime, there has never been a perfect president of the United States. No president is above criticism — I don’t give a shit which party you’re from. Naturally, I’d tend to give lower marks to a Republican president but, in many instances, those differences were relatively minute. With the election of W., those differences became extreme. The election of Trump has made them exorbitant.

And there’s a good reason for this: Trump, and his supporters, are assholes.

If you have no differences with Trump, you should go to a Republican’s Anonymous meeting right now and say, “Hi, I’m <say your name>, and I’m an asshole.” If you predominantly support Trump, you should go to a Republican’s Anonymous meeting right now and say, “Hi, I’m <say your name>, and I’m an asshole.”

But, let’s face it, you’re not going to do that. You’re going to continue bitching about Obama (who can’t run again) and Hillary Clinton (who, thankfully, isn’t running again) and you will not defend specifics.

I’ve talked to many right-wing people (assholes) online over the years and several things have been consistent: you are unable to defend your points-of-view.

If I point out that the separation of church and state is good and that religious involvement is not only bad for me (an atheist) but bad for you, but also the religious person because, gosh, what if a Catholic is in charge and you’re a Baptist: you will accuse me of “attacking your religion.” Or, the inverse. Basically the same question and the same non-answer.

If I point out that the American flag represents all citizens of this country not just the military, you might respond, as one person did, “The American flag represents me and my family.” Gosh, what a personal view of the American flag. I’m sure Betsy Ross was thinking about you ( . . . and your family), in the far-flung future, when she sewed the first one. Or, you might say, “my great-great granddaddy died for that flag” and I’d reply, “Wasn’t your great-great granddaddy a Confederate?” Or, you might say, “My Granddaddy or Daddy died for that flag.” And, I might respond that, “Didn’t your granddaddy or daddy died for what that flag represents rather than that piece of cloth, in and of itself? And, doesn’t that flag represent all citizens, regardless of skin color, religion or place of birth?”

If I point out that people of color are trying to attain the rights they deserve as American citizens and you refer to them as “special” rights, aren’t you just being a racist asshole? Here, I’ll help you with the answer: “Yeah, I guess.”

I suppose what it really comes down to is this: in many respects, my arguments with people on the right are based on this: I argue with facts and logic and the other side reacts emotionally, like little girls.

Here’s another point, if I type a lengthy, well thought-out and logical response to something you’ve said and/or posted and your response is “SMH,” “Zzzzzzz,” or a lame meme that you’ve posted several times already, I don’t think you’ve really thought about your political philosophy.

YOU, are not worth my time and effort. YOU, have not thought about your political philosophy. YOU, frankly, are probably stupid, thoughtless and guided by your worst instincts. See #1.

That’s why I post “Songs of the Day.”

If you don’t like the songs I post — no skin off my back — we may just have different tastes. I’m not into dance music. Maybe you are. I probably don’t like your music either. But, I wouldn’t bother to say anything unless, at worst, I was on the fence about your song choice. If I like it, you’ll know. If I don’t, you won’t know I’ve listened. Why would I ever bitch about a song you post that I don’t like? And the same goes for the songs I post. If you don’t like it, the chances are 99%+ I’ll never know you bothered to listen.

And that’s fair.

And, in that rubric, I don’t have to hate you.

I don’t have to think you’re stupid.

And, I don’t have to become you.

And I feel fine.