questions

stanley 'tookie' williams was put to death.

we've got to move on. anti- or pro-death penalty. we're still here so we need to be here, not wishing things had been otherwise. we can try to make the future otherwise but let the past be as it is.




in england... there will be no inquiry into the 7th july bombings. not because there shouldn't be one or there is no need. but because the government prefers that we have a 'straight narrative'. like in a story, fiction etc. what are they worried about finding? they know it all already one presumes. it's what they worry about us finding, i think which is more of a problem.
but don't think i'm all one-sided about this. i have no time for the government but i also have no time for people who think it's ok to go and blow people up on their way to work. we're all suffering under their lies. ok, perhaps 99% of us don't realise that but it's still true. and yeah we vote for them, some of us at least, but that's because we think we're supposed to, that doesn't mean we should be killed. and if you've got kids of your own, leaving them without a dad because you've got some misguided version of religion is not going to do them any good, it's not going to do the people suffering in iraq any good, in palestine or afghanistan the same applies, even in britain you're only making things worse for other muslims. what you need to be doing is making more friends. beat the government at their own game. get popular. we're all getting disappointed and turning away from governments but it won't stay that way if we're on your side and then you blow us up. make us like you, tell us good things, make speeches, get us up for the cause, the more of us there are the less power the government has to defeat us.
anyway...
yeah, so i'm not really on either side. they're all extremists and terrorists. but some are in power.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4526604.stm



akira the don's blog mentions something about moby vs eminem. moby criticised eminem because a crazy guy in britain killed a girl. he was a big eminem fan and was apparently influenced by some of eminem's lyrics about killing his ex-wife. now, this guy was obviously crazy. not just because he listened to eminem. you could say he would have killed someone anyway. maybe so. it's hard to say. living in the world that we do it's quite possible that this guy was more likely to kill someone because we seem so divorced from our natural selves, i.e. peace-loving and wise (hopefully...). and he was definitely a product of his environment. and it is silly to suggest that it is all eminem's fault. but it's also silly to suggest that there is anything worthwhile about eminem making money out of selling songs about killing women. eminem is as much a product of this topsy turvy world as the killer was. we live in world where people think it's ok to sing songs about killing each other. but they express surprise and feign innocence when people go ahead and do it. 50 cent says his 'character' is like a character in a movie, such as al pacino as 'tony montana' in scarface. and nobody complains about him. though many people have complained and campaigned against violence in movies. but then he also calls his music 'reality'. so which is it? the truth or the excuse? it can't be both. the censorship issue is tricky, but it wouldn't be if you could rely on people to make great art without lowering the standard. ok, people see strife and want to talk/sing/rap etc about it. but hasn't it been done before (and better)? isn't it time to add some sort of message of 'can't we try to sort it out?'? when liam and noel gallagher were doing their laddish thing it was quite ok to say that people were influenced by that and went out drinking more beer and watching more football and shagging more women etc. but to say that 50 cent, eminem, etc influence people to resort to violence is somehow wrong... how can that be? music only influences you as long as it isn't music about being violent? if you're a kid growing up in a tough environment and your hero is a guy telling you that if you have a problem with someone you should shoot them what are you likely to do? why can't we admit that some people are influenced by this? is it because in our nice, safe, white middle-class world such things don't exist? maybe not, but maybe we need to start caring about other people's environments. i know violence has existed for as long as man can remember etc etc and genghis khan never listened to gangster rap. but it's the level of casual, mindless unnnecessary violence that scares me and makes me think as a society we need to look at what we choose to watch/listen to/tolerate.

www.akirathedon.com