Protest Songs

Discussion of performing arts, including theatre, film, television, and music.
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Protest Songs

Post by Alatar »

Watched this today to see what all the fuss was about. This could possibly end up in Lasto, I'll leave that up to Voronwë

So, on the one hand, this feels like incitement. But weren't most protest songs? Is this not a protest song just because I feel the subject matter is distasteful? This song to me feels like a rallying cry for MAGA. It suggests that "real patriots" wouldn't put up with this namby pamby leftist propaganda and would take matters into their own hands. But a lot of the leftist protest songs also use phrases like "we're not gonna take this any more" (Sorry I don't have concrete examples, but thats just the vibe I remember)

So, is this ok? Its just a song? Or its a call to incite violence and racially motivated.

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Re: Protest Songs

Post by narya »

Sounds like a condemnation of all things "urban". And "urban" is a dog whistle for People of Color.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... 235549458/
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Frelga »

I feel like protest songs should be directed at The Man. Not at your neighbors.
Let the other societies take the skilled, the hopefuls, the ambitious, the self-confident. He’d take the whining resentful ones, the ones with a bellyful of spite and bile, the ones who knew they could make it big if only they’d been given the chance. Give him the ones in which the floods of venom and vindictiveness were dammed up behind thin walls of ineptitude and lowgrade paranoia.

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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

This is a protest song.

"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Alatar »

No question V. But is Aldeans? I'm sure he thinks it is. And Frelga, Biden and the Left are "The Man" to these "Good Ole Boys".
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Alatar »

Thanks for the link Narya. I'd agree with all of that.
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I think it is the absolute opposite of a protest song. It is a plea to go back to the good old days, when uppity people of color and different sexual orientations or gender identities knew their place. Or were suppose to.

ETA: I thought this article at CNN talking about Aldean's song and another country success, Luke Combs' cover of the great Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," is worth reading:

Country music is at a crossroads. Two of its most viral songs show why

As for your question about placement, while It think this discussion *could* take place in Lasto, I think it is fine here. Depending on where the discussion goes, we could always decide to move it if it seems like it would make sense to do so.
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Sunsilver »

I think the two most important think to know about this song is that the singer is a Trump supporter, and it was filmed in front of a courthouse in which a black man was incarcerated for allegedly raping a white woman. He was dragged from his cell and lynched. Yes, this happened many, many years ago. Supporters of the song say there's no way the singer could know this. Yeah, I think there's no way he DIDN'T know it! Given that a lot of the other footage in the song is from the BLM protests, I'm almost certain he did.

'Nuff said!
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Snowdog »

It's a 'protest' song by a white racist, insurrectionist 'artist' championing all things Trumpism and the modern republican party. The fact it is a #1 song says all I need to know about anyone who likes this song, or continues to vote republican. I do think the title of the song should be 'Try This in a Small-minded Town'
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Re: Protest Songs

Post by Frelga »

The song seems to have become coopted for videos and memes about the Montgomery Brawl. I think this is what they call an ironic twist.
Let the other societies take the skilled, the hopefuls, the ambitious, the self-confident. He’d take the whining resentful ones, the ones with a bellyful of spite and bile, the ones who knew they could make it big if only they’d been given the chance. Give him the ones in which the floods of venom and vindictiveness were dammed up behind thin walls of ineptitude and lowgrade paranoia.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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