Thoughts on Who Knows What

So basically every problem in America is a failure of reconstruction… thanks Booth. If it weren’t for you Lincoln would have fixed the country. We’d probably still have problems, but maybe racial issues wouldn’t be as big of a problem. If racial issues had been handled the right way, then maybe the KKK wouldn’t have been the end for so many individuals, but it goes both ways so there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have had the important changes that came across with the Civil Rights Movement either (which I hope everyone who reads this can agree would be horrible). What that lead me to was the question of how important the individual is. Who causes what to happen and how much power does one individual hold? Do you have to be an important figure head like Lincoln to really make an impact?

People always say “you can change the world”, “you are important and what you do sets the tides of human history”, which to an extent I believe. However, I don’t think every person has an equal chance of setting times in motion, some are luckier then others when some have names lost to history. It’s kind of depressing really… I do wonder though, if its just a person’s situation that determines it. When it comes to important figures in history, a lot of them turned a situation into their favor. It’s that manipulation of cards almost, playing your cards smart. Rosa Parks could have been any African American lady, she just got to it first; she steeled her courage, spoke her peace, and played on her attributes. Now she’s one of the many faces of the Civil Rights Movement. There’s other examples too, it’s about taking what you have with enough passion to make a difference.

How then, does this all relate to the concept of digital media and authority? The person who has authority is the person who takes control of their own situation, their own life. I think it’s fascinating. We, in the year 2018 and our foreseen future, have a responsibility to take authority through control what is digitally presented to us. It’s so easy to lie and spread fake news, so it is our job to do the required research, be informed and stand for the only the truth. It’s so important to have opinions but be malleable to others’ thoughts as well, extremes in any sense are the worst fate humanity could bestow on itself. And what’s frustrating is that we are the only one’s capable of hurting ourselves like that.

I guess I have no idea how my thoughts all connected like that, it’s a little all over the place; but hey, that’s what this class is about! Making some thing out of who knows what… (see what I did there 😉

If I’m being totally honest, I didn’t really understand the beginning of this day’s class. No background in music means I have no idea what a 415 rhythm pattern means; I understand a little in that it’s when the beat hits, but that’s about it. The rest of the class, however, was pretty interesting.

I particularly enjoyed the question of “who are the ‘folks in folk music?’ if only because it’s so complicated. One version of the ‘folks’ is those who were not in touch with commerce, people played music for people for only that reason. It was a time so different from our own where people didn’t try and monetize everything which is something I feel people in my generation might have a hard time understanding. So why did they did they sing for people instead of the money? Well, partially, I’d imagine they, being “folks” from the regions of the world without a strong industry in commercialism, simply weren’t used to it. However, I also believe it may have been tied to the culture of people like that. In that I mean, culture is a binding agent that connects us to those who are important to us. Culture can take numerous forms and span whatever gap it has to, but it’s thread that helps we as people define ourselves. It can also be part of why nationalism exists. Biologically, mentally, physically, we tend to be drawn to and feel connected with those who are similar to us, culture is just one of those things. This connection, however, is known as nationalism.

Possibly the most complicated thing about the USA is that nationalism in the States takes on an entirely different form than anywhere else in the world. This is simply because the USA is too young. Most people can’t trace roots in the States, the only one’s who could would be Native Americans; but when settlers first came to America persecuted them to a point of near non-existence. While Native Americans are still around, even a few tribes are, their numbers are and have been dwindling. Most citizens of the USA are for a completely different origin. Nationalism in America has it’s own definition, its something else that drew us together, and unfortunately I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to pin point what that definition is or why it exists at all.

I like to think of the USA as the sitcom Friends. We are all just individuals who came together as a group, decided to live together, and ascribe to some sort of contract as to how we treat each other. It could also be compared to a “Dungeons and Dragons” campaign where all the players and characters agree to follow the Dungeon Master but also have a say in what happens and how things play out. That being said, you don’t send off your children to war for a contract or loose agreement. There has to be something else that leads people into wanting to fight for our country. It may be that humans have this conflicting balance between rational and romanticism. We rationally know that the USA is just a name, our country is just where we live, and we ask ourselves if it’s worth dying for. The romantic in us says that this is our home and it’s special; it’s where we live so we have to protect it and our loved ones. Nationalism, why we feel pride or empathy for the USA, is all emotionally driven; there’s more to it than laws and contracts. But why do we feel an affinity for a country that has such a messy dark past? Is it really and equal balance that deems it alright that we’ve done bad things? These are questions people have studied for years and never found the answer to. Why nationalism? Why patriotism and pride? Why do we love our country when we don’t have a rich cultural history here and everyone who lives here is so diverse from places all over the world?

And then there’s a question of t0 what extreme should we be going to. One extreme was Hitler, he was also a nationalistic romantic… and we all know how that went. It’s funny to me that nowadays people are advocating for building walls, deporting immigrants and solidifying true Americanism when the meaning of American has never really been clear. This country was founded on immigrants and settlers, we don’t have a vast and extensive sameness like other countries. America isn’t even a full 300 years old which is nothing when scratched into the history of humanity. It’s infuriating when you look at the big picture.

I hate country music, I will never like it. At least I can appreciate it more now, that classics that is, I don’t think there’s much substance to appreciate in modern. One genre I do like, however, is folk which I find entertaining. I don’t know what it is, but whatever the difference between the two— that thin line that separates country and folk— is what I like. Maybe it’s just because my dad used to listen to folk and classic country all the time and I grew up with it… well that and 80s music. I think a significant chunk of a person’s taste come from what they grew up listening too, no matter what, even if you don’t listen to a genre because it’s what your parents liked.

I have this philosophy about pop music and why people seem to like it. It’s so easy to just accept what is frequently listened to and accessible. Therefore, people don’t go looking for other genres, they just accept what comes on. Instead of looking for new or different music they’d rather just not listen. The number of people I hear who claim, “I don’t really listen to music” is disheartening. It isn’t until some different song comes on the radio that’s a little different than typical pop songs that people’s interest is peaked. I say all this because it was my experience.

Way back in 7th grade (and honestly one of the only good things to come from middle school) I heard what I thought was a lesser known song called Bring Me to Life by Evanescence.

Now me, not really having considered that there was other music than typical radio pop, was fascinated. I remember being awestruck with the heavier guitar and intense lyrics/vocals. It wasn’t until the end of the song that I realized I needed more, so I went on a hunt for the song. Eventually I found it and was quickly sucked into the Evanescence void that was my dark middle school phase. I decided I wanted to investigate more bands like them so I found Nightwish, Flyleaf and my favorite of the four (given it’s the only one I really listen to still), Within Temptation. I then picked apart whatever genre it was, classifying it as alternative metal in my head (which was the beginning of my genre making, something I still do that is really just my best attempt to file separate genres under one classification in my head). From there I started investigating metal music, Metallica was my first metal band which I realize now is it’s own sub-genre of metal, and it just grew from there. Eventually I ended up on punk music, pop-punk, electro-swing and dubstep/electronic, there were and still are other genres I got into that kind of branched off from the main ones like steampunk, rockabilly, big band/swing music and so many others, even folk (particularly dark-folk) which I never had considered before.

It really is funny to trace people’s music trails. This whole semester we’ve been talking about how music has evolved and been adapted. I never really understood why that happened with my music taste but now I see why. Under the surface of every song and every band is the stuff you don’t hear without thinking about it. It’s those flavors that lead you down a path, you’re drawn to things you like.

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve decided I’m going to pay more attention to outfits of performers. Looking at Buck Owen and his Buckaroos and how they dressed in a very flashy appropriated Mexican garb. So why do a lot of artists like NateWantstoBattle (a YouTuber gone musician) perform in all black and skinny jeans? It’s an interesting thought.

One final note, and something that still bothers me… what happened to yodeling???