Monday, February 08, 2010

Played Out



There's gotta be a better way, than this hypocritical system.
Yes there's gotta be a better way, because the people are always the victims.
They set our wages, and they set the prices,
this wicked system, and it's evil devices.
They took the chains off our ankles, and they put them on our pockets.
They've gotta new kind of slavery, runnin it like a rocket.
They've got all the money, but before they will lend it,
they say they must tell you, just how u should spend it.
Don't pay the teachers, and they can't pay the nurses,
see illiterate children need only tombstones and hearses.
Yes there's gotta be a better way!


~Mystic Revealers, "Got to be a Better Way"

I'm done with capitalism. Not only does it contain all the tragic scenarios that come with being the predatory phase of human development, and not only is it unsustainable due to its exhaustive exploitation of resources both human and natural, but it is getting just plain boring. No bigger annual example of marketing schemas exists than the Super Bowl commercials and this year I was forced to watch most of them since I attended a Super Bowl party and could not bolt the room during every commercial break like I wanted to, or flip channels via remote like I do within the cozy confines of my own vegetative viewing domain.

In a word, they were flat. In two words, they were played out. They reminded me of any Hollywood sequel of a sequel. Unimaginative, formulaic, predictable, tame and the opposite of anything that might actually offend someone, which is what worthwhile artistic endeavours never fail to do. Then it hit me. This is exactly the current state of our society, politically, socially, artistically. Everyone is too busy trying to sell something to take a chance on offending the most conservative senses of the marketplace. We are the land of the safe and the home of the tame. Then there was the other supposedly culturally iconic halftime show. It consisted of a band that was cutting edge...in 1965. I'm not even exaggerating, either.

Then something else occurred to me, selling stuff can't be revolutionary because, well because you're SELLING stuff, which is what this great country is all about and has been since the days of snake oil salesmen and faith healers. It is our most hallowed tradition, the freedom to buy stuff and the liberty to charge a little extra for it. P.T. Barnum has turned to dust, but his axiom is still keeping the economy chugging, or in these days more like wheezing, along. Sputtering and wracked with arthritis, very much like its entertainment institutions. Is it finally, mercifully on its last legs?

7 comments:

Black Diaspora said...

Did you write the poem? I like it.

"They reminded me of any Hollywood sequel of a sequel. Unimaginative, formulaic, predictable, tame and the opposite of anything that might actually offend someone, which is what worthwhile artistic endeavours never fail to do."

As you say: They're safe. They don't risk, because risk-taking invites a flop. And millions are at stake: investment cost and profits.

It's a Disney animated flick formula: if you seen one, you've see them all, just different characters, different scenery, and different dialog.

Maximize profits, not creativity, not vision, not innovation.

This approach has to be mind-numbing, soul-wrenching, and ultimately disastrous for our economy and our colletive spirit.

We (the country) need to rethink our values. We need to rethink what makes life worth living, and truly productive.

It can't all be about our customary definition of winning, where the winner is the one who dies clutching the most toys.

As one wealthy person observed as he recuperated on his Intensive Care bed, a BMW can't park along side my bed, and comfort me.

You're evolving my friend. You're putting things in their proper perspective, sizing them up as to which ones really matter, and which ones don't.

Be warned: You'll have to replace your disenchantment with something meaningful, or you'll think this journey you're own is useless, and for naught.

It has a purpose.

Ernesto said...

BD...I didn't write those song lyrics and it really annoys me that the internet has failed me in finding who did. I heard that song a few years ago on a CD I have but I can't find it now. It was a reggae song, but I'm not sure who did it.

We are on exactly the same page on this issue. Your words are so eloquent they make me want to chisel them in marble.

"You'll have to replace your disenchantment with something meaningful, or you'll think this journey you're own is useless, and for naught."

Yes, I never let the frustration with the way things are stop me from believing that we will evolve to a better place. This can't go on indefinately, it is not sustainable. We will see a change to a better way probably within our lifetimes. Extinction is the only alternative!

Black Diaspora said...

@Ernesto: "We are on exactly the same page on this issue. Your words are so eloquent they make me want to chisel them in marble."

Coming from you, that's quite a compliment. Thanks.

"I never let the frustration with the way things are stop me from believing that we will evolve to a better place."

And we are "evolving." Not as quickly as I'd like, but, then, I'm not in charge of the clock.

Black Diaspora said...

@Ernesto: "BD...I didn't write those song lyrics and it really annoys me that the internet has failed me in finding who did. I heard that song a few years ago on a CD I have but I can't find it now. It was a reggae song, but I'm not sure who did it."

Try here: The Mystic Revealers - Got To Be A Better Way.

Ernesto said...

That's it! Thank you! My googling skills ain't what I thought they were. How did you find that?

Black Diaspora said...

"How did you find that?"

My profession require that I find hard-to-find information.

I'm a researcher.

If I told you how I found it, I'd have to....:)

Okay, I used the clues you gave, and the lyrics. There were certain key words: Reggae, the fact that certain words were repeated in the lyrics: "there's gotta be a better way."

I would have found it sooner, but was given incorrect information on one site regarding the name of the group.

The site called the group, mistakenly: the Mystic Revellers, when in fact, they are the Mystic Revealers.

Ernesto said...

I remembered just one line "there's got to be a better way than this hypocritical system" and I googled that with the quotation marks. Only a couple items came up, one of which was the block of lyrics I used.

Mystic Revellers...hmmm I like that. If I ever start a reggae group, that's the name for it. :)