Power

Here are how two rap songs contemplate power. The first is "No Handlebars" by the Flobots.



In addition to just really cool orchestration, I like this song because I get two different messages from it, depending on if I'm watching the video or just listening to the song. Listen to the song, and you feel there is just one person talking. I feel like the song is contemplating what happens when emotionally immature people come into great power, be it economic, social, or political. If all our politicians are playing a game of one-upmanship ("oh, yeah? Well, I can ride my bike with no handlebars! Beat THAT!") then we'll never end up with meaningful compromise or social discourse. To get anything done, politics requires a level of maturity that seems to be sorely lacking.

Watching the video, however, gives me a second message. This time, the song is sung between two friends who both start out at the same place. One boy takes a job in a big company, where the culture of his business, the media, and everything around him twists him into a hateful, frightened, friendless beast. In this view of the song, it is actually society and/or the giant corporation that is the villain. The boy would've been just fine, had he been in a better environment.

In our political world, I do think this happens all the time. People may enter into politics for noble reasons, but the reality of campaigning will twist them. How can it not? We expect these people to perform all day, every day, for years if they are going into national office. We scrutinize them. Have they ever made any mistake, ever? We will broadcast it, blowing it out of proportion. In an effort to win votes, candidates will promise the world to everyone they meet - by intimation, if nothing else. Then we become disappointed when the impossible fails to happen after they get into office. It is near to impossible for a candidate who is not a lying, egocentric ass to get into office.

It doesn't happen all the time, of course. And some people who get into office are still honest people who are trying to serve their country well. But it does happen sometimes. Just like, sometimes, our leaders are children in 45 year old bodies.

I think the song also cautions against letting corporations have too much influence in politics. Large corporations have lives of their own, but they are unencumbered by such things as morality, empathy, and looking towards the greater good. They really shouldn't be in charge.

If the Flobots have something to say about the corrupting influence of power as seen from the outside, Kanye West speaks about power from the inside, as one who has it in abundance.



From the Sword of Damocles to the assassins to the gaggle of women who aren't even looking at him, Kanye West sits on a precarious perch, and knows it. Power is a fleeting thing, the song says. As soon as you get to the top, there are people surrounding you to tear you down. To be successful in power, you need to revel in their angry cries and accept that your time in the spotlight will end (probably sooner rather than later.) Live it up while you can, and let it go when your time is done.

I don't think this song is quite as meaningful (powerful, if you will) as the Flobots song, simply because Kanye celebrates his ascension over those who would keep him down a bit too angrily for me. But it is still a great song, and the video is a-freaking-mazing. The movement, the symbolism, and flashes of color...stunning. I just love it.

So, that's my review of power, cats and kittens. Now I'm going to go watch that Kanye video again.

Podcasts

The next section in the class I'm taking is about podcasts. I already listen to the podcasts of my favorite NPR shows: Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Radio Lab, and This American Life. Those podcasts are just the normal radio show in podcast form. It's like TiVo for radio.

Recently, I've started listening to a few shows that are made specifically for a podcast audience. These shows are shorter, and perhaps they don't have as exhaustive of a review of a subject, but their very brevity is what makes them interesting. If I've got a 15 minute car ride, I can listen to a story on The Moth instead of trying to remember what was happening on This American Life the last time I listened to it, a couple of weeks ago. I also started listening to Planet Money, which is a fabulous little podcast about the economy. It's a spin-off of This American Life, so it has a similar feel, and they do a very good job explaining specific parts of the economy.

I did a review of some different podcasts for this class, and my new favorite is called Grammar Girl. I just love it. Each episode talks about a different grammar rule - what the rule is, exactly; why the rule is, perhaps the history of the rule... Stupdendous. Oh, and Dad? It IS okay to frivolously split infinitives. HA!

I also watched the beginning of a few different podcasts offered by Stanford University on iTunes. This is a really cool idea, and I wish Colby did it. They have podcasts of guest speakers, podcasts of university performances, podcasts interviewing various academic departments (they feel like little documentaries), and podcasts that are made by and/or for students. I would be very interested if my alma mater posted dance performances online. (Although, that might run afoul of some very tricky music copyright rules...the bane of all podcast producers!) And I remember nights at Colby when a very popular speaker was coming. They televised the speech, and I'm sure the college still has the video in storage somewhere, but a VHS kept in a library box is nowhere near as accessible as a podcast!

So, what makes a good podcast? Well, an interesting subject matter surely helps, of course. More subtly, though, a good podcast involves people who are comfortable in front of a camera (or microphone, for those audio-only podcasts.) It can't sound stilted and scripted. The voice has to have natural pitch, and can be neither too fast nor too slow. Podcasts, no matter how easy or low-tech to produce, are performances. If you are uncomfortable performing for an audience, podcasting is not for you.

Try blogging.

Craigslist Intrigues

I don't have much time to write a blog post right now, as I'm really behind on homework. But it has been an awfully long time since my last post, and I felt the need to post SOMETHING.

So, here is an interesting article I found. I'm not very involved in Craigslist, but apparently some people use this version of the Classifieds to post ads for prostitutes. Or, I guess, advertising themselves as prostitutes. Fancy that, someone used the Internet to find sex.

Well, the plot thickened significantly last month when 17 state attorneys general demanded Craigslist drop all its adult ads. It's pretty clearly a political stunt, but it does open up a whole crazy host of questions.

Is Craigslist responsible for everything that is posted on their enormous site? If they are, where does the line of responsibility end? Are newspapers responsible for everything that shows up in their classifieds? Is eBay responsible for everything that is auctioned? Is Google responsible for all the sites its search engines find?

If you spend more than half a minute contemplating the attorneys general self-righteous letter to Craigslist, you might also feel more than a little annoyed at them. The letter written talks about the victims of prostitution, the women and the children. Can't you just see them? Just praying for that day when prostitution is finally eradicated because Craigslist doesn't advertise for it anymore. On that day, there will truly be no more violence against women and children. This letter is what infuriates me about politics - politicians surround themselves with rhetorical bullshit that doesn't actually accomplish anything at all, but gives them something to point at with pompous pride: look at how I have made you safer! As the blogger pointed out, "It's a heckuvalot easier to write a strongly worded letter (followed by a press release) to grab headlines for being tough on prostitution without having to getting your hands dirty by, say, actually being tough on prostitution."

Discuss amongst yourselves. I must return to my homework.