An Ugliness Of The Soul

[Flanders]

Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. William Congreve (1670–1729)

I don’t know about rocks and knotted oaks, but I believe the part about the savage breast. Music used to sooth. As Socialism gained ground in our society some very destructive individuals, determined to assert their “artistic” independence in the government-imposed mediocrity of the times, set about proving that music could also unleash the beast within; hence, the ugliness that is heard in so much contemporary music.

Rebellious teens today, as in every generation, resent parental control of any kind. The difference with today’s young rebels is that they then turn around and willingly subject themselves to control by the most hideous music ever heard; never realizing how they are being manipulated by the sound of music simply to arouse the brutish creature lurking in everyone.

To me, and to many others, the violence that is so prevalent among some young people is directly related to the music kids listen to. And it’s not the lyrics that I am talking about, although angry, hate-filled, political-statement lyrics are a part of it. Tragically, it’s the opposite of William Congreve’s observation.

I am not saying that every youngster listening to such music is going to go out and commit acts of violence. It is more an ugliness of the soul that is spreading to a larger number of teenage Americans each succeeding year.

Alas! all music jars when the soul’s out of tune. Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616)

Cervantes never dreamed that one day music would be specifically formulated to vanquish souls.

And the music is incessant. It is with some kids almost all of time as though they are trying to drown out everything else. I fear that once they are saturated, today’s troubled youngsters who are so horribly scarred by a trusted segment of their culture will see themselves as victims. That view will make them prime recruits for Socialism’s evils as the country moves closer to Communism. Submission becomes a habit difficult to break whether it starts with obedience to music’s subliminal message, or begins with an oppressive political system. The result is the same. On the day that America is beyond turning away from Socialism the beast will rein.

From the day the march toward big government began, young iconoclasts struggled to establish their uniqueness; to rise above the crowd. Today’s would-be nonconformists are the most frightening conformists among us.

The sound of music

I’ve always considered recorded music to be the sound of history. Recordings can accurately provide a partial account of a specific time period because they represent what a generation literally heard. Example: Everyone knows what the people in the nineteen twenties and thirties were hearing because most of the recordings made back then are available today. You can hear precisely what long-dead people heard. That’s not true with the music Mozart (1756-1791) wrote more than two hundred years ago. A recording of Mozart’s music made today does not let us hear what people heard before Thomas Edison (1847-1931) invented the phonograph.

When more astute historians learn to interpret the sound of history correctly in relation to the overall structure of society they will be better able to illustrate a more complete picture of a bygone time. What will the chapter on the recorded music of our time say about us? Young and old alike.

Political music

This article about music caught my eye:

Pandora Knows How You'll Vote, and It's Not Keeping Your Secret
The online music service is telling campaigns what music you listen to, which they say gives away your party affiliation.
By Alex Brown
February 19, 2014

Pandora Knows How You'll Vote, and It's Not Keeping Your Secret - NationalJournal.com

Whether or not music tells those folks at Pandora how a person will vote, their claim set me to thinking about the influence music written in the past few centuries had on Western civilization.

Let me begin with my take on lyrics

Much of the popular music in Christian countries sings to a woman or sings about women. Many lyrics sing to a woman by name; Laura, Susanna, Marie, Stella, Jeanie, Charmaine, and so on. The list is long. Note that music with a religious theme has Ave Maria (1825) but not Mary Magdalene:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y]Schubert - Ave Maria (Opera) - YouTube[/ame]​

whereas, contemporary popular music often sings to women of questionable virtue:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r_l_-2bI18]Ray Charles - Hard Hearted Hannah - YouTube[/ame]​

I’m not sure how to interpret musical discrimination. Maybe it’s nothing more than lyricists being unable to combine commercial success with religion and trollops.

Is music in non-Christian countries the same as it is in Christian countries? I wish I knew the answer. I can only speculate. If the music is the same it would have to contain lyrics dedicated to women. I’ve never heard one.

Instrumentals

My travels many years ago gave me the impression that some music in non-Christian countries is instrumental only —— as it is in Western countries. Unlike ballet written for male and female dancers, some music in non-Christian countries is written especially for female dancers only. I believe such music is, or was, popular in the Far East. Belly dancing in the Middle East also comes to mind. Belly dancing amounts to adoration of the bellybutton rather than the entire woman.

Here’s my burning question. Did Western civilization’s musical adulation of females contribute to the reason women in Christian countries, especially in America, are much better off than women in the rest of the world?

More importantly, if music basically idolized women the world over, why did it have so little influence on improving their lives in so many countries?

Finally, what do feminazis think about it all? Inquiring minds want to know. Feminazis claim they adore their sisters, but I have some doubts:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUdE92n4ido]Kathleen Willey Megyn Kelly. Hillary Clinton Is The War On Woman. Kathleen Willey The Kelly File - YouTube[/ame]​

 

[Flanders]

Star Parker does a nice turn about the importance of the Clintons and how they treated women. I love the cartoon! Star also slaps Karl Rove around pretty good:

When Kentucky senator and Republican presidential aspirant Rand Paul resurfaced the Monica Lewinsky scandal as relevant to Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy, fellow Republican Karl Rove immediately took him to task on national television.

“Frankly, Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country,” said Rove.

XXXXX​

So what’s up with one of the Republican Party’s pundit-in-chiefs, Karl Rove, attacking one of his own party’s presidential contenders? Isn’t it the other party’s candidates you are supposed to attack?

Yes, Clintons' past is 'a big agenda' issue
Star Parker counters Rove, says Bill & Hill helped break down traditional values
Published: 11 hours ago
Star Parker

Yes, Clintons? past is ?a big agenda? issue​

Republicans like Rove spend all their time NOT offending people who will never vote for them anyway, while Democrats spend all of their time offending everybody except their base. Somebody should tell Rove to take a good look at which party’s agenda has been codified since the FDR years.

 

[jasonnfree]

Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. William Congreve (1670–1729)

I don’t know about rocks and knotted oaks, but I believe the part about the savage breast. Music used to sooth. As Socialism gained ground in our society some very destructive individuals, determined to assert their “artistic” independence in the government-imposed mediocrity of the times, set about proving that music could also unleash the beast within; hence, the ugliness that is heard in so much contemporary music.

Rebellious teens today, as in every generation, resent parental control of any kind. The difference with today’s young rebels is that they then turn around and willingly subject themselves to control by the most hideous music ever heard; never realizing how they are being manipulated by the sound of music simply to arouse the brutish creature lurking in everyone.

To me, and to many others, the violence that is so prevalent among some young people is directly related to the music kids listen to. And it’s not the lyrics that I am talking about, although angry, hate-filled, political-statement lyrics are a part of it. Tragically, it’s the opposite of William Congreve’s observation.

I am not saying that every youngster listening to such music is going to go out and commit acts of violence. It is more an ugliness of the soul that is spreading to a larger number of teenage Americans each succeeding year.

Alas! all music jars when the soul’s out of tune. Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616)

Cervantes never dreamed that one day music would be specifically formulated to vanquish souls.

And the music is incessant. It is with some kids almost all of time as though they are trying to drown out everything else. I fear that once they are saturated, today’s troubled youngsters who are so horribly scarred by a trusted segment of their culture will see themselves as victims. That view will make them prime recruits for Socialism’s evils as the country moves closer to Communism. Submission becomes a habit difficult to break whether it starts with obedience to music’s subliminal message, or begins with an oppressive political system. The result is the same. On the day that America is beyond turning away from Socialism the beast will rein.

From the day the march toward big government began, young iconoclasts struggled to establish their uniqueness; to rise above the crowd. Today’s would-be nonconformists are the most frightening conformists among us.

The sound of music

I’ve always considered recorded music to be the sound of history. Recordings can accurately provide a partial account of a specific time period because they represent what a generation literally heard. Example: Everyone knows what the people in the nineteen twenties and thirties were hearing because most of the recordings made back then are available today. You can hear precisely what long-dead people heard. That’s not true with the music Mozart (1756-1791) wrote more than two hundred years ago. A recording of Mozart’s music made today does not let us hear what people heard before Thomas Edison (1847-1931) invented the phonograph.

When more astute historians learn to interpret the sound of history correctly in relation to the overall structure of society they will be better able to illustrate a more complete picture of a bygone time. What will the chapter on the recorded music of our time say about us? Young and old alike.

Political music

This article about music caught my eye:

Pandora Knows How You'll Vote, and It's Not Keeping Your Secret
The online music service is telling campaigns what music you listen to, which they say gives away your party affiliation.
By Alex Brown
February 19, 2014

Pandora Knows How You'll Vote, and It's Not Keeping Your Secret - NationalJournal.com

Whether or not music tells those folks at Pandora how a person will vote, their claim set me to thinking about the influence music written in the past few centuries had on Western civilization.

Let me begin with my take on lyrics

Much of the popular music in Christian countries sings to a woman or sings about women. Many lyrics sing to a woman by name; Laura, Susanna, Marie, Stella, Jeanie, Charmaine, and so on. The list is long. Note that music with a religious theme has Ave Maria (1825) but not Mary Magdalene:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y]Schubert - Ave Maria (Opera) - YouTube[/ame]​

whereas, contemporary popular music often sings to women of questionable virtue:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r_l_-2bI18]Ray Charles - Hard Hearted Hannah - YouTube[/ame]​

I’m not sure how to interpret musical discrimination. Maybe it’s nothing more than lyricists being unable to combine commercial success with religion and trollops.

Is music in non-Christian countries the same as it is in Christian countries? I wish I knew the answer. I can only speculate. If the music is the same it would have to contain lyrics dedicated to women. I’ve never heard one.

Instrumentals

My travels many years ago gave me the impression that some music in non-Christian countries is instrumental only —— as it is in Western countries. Unlike ballet written for male and female dancers, some music in non-Christian countries is written especially for female dancers only. I believe such music is, or was, popular in the Far East. Belly dancing in the Middle East also comes to mind. Belly dancing amounts to adoration of the bellybutton rather than the entire woman.

Here’s my burning question. Did Western civilization’s musical adulation of females contribute to the reason women in Christian countries, especially in America, are much better off than women in the rest of the world?

More importantly, if music basically idolized women the world over, why did it have so little influence on improving their lives in so many countries?

Finally, what do feminazis think about it all? Inquiring minds want to know. Feminazis claim they adore their sisters, but I have some doubts:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUdE92n4ido]Kathleen Willey Megyn Kelly. Hillary Clinton Is The War On Woman. Kathleen Willey The Kelly File - YouTube[/ame]​

Ted Nugent's not a socialist and I doubt if his vulgar shouting soothes many souls.

 

[MaryL]

Music aspires us to all sort of things. Richard Wagner inspired Hitler with that beautiful music of his, like Der ring des Nibelungen. Still, I don't feel like annexing Austria or invading Poland humming a few bars of "imagine" by J. Lennon, either. But when I hear 'rap" music about rape, drive bys and violence, I really question people’s taste. AND sanity.

 

[hjmick]

 

[Flanders]

Ted Nugent's not a socialist and I doubt if his vulgar shouting soothes many souls.

To jasonnfree: As far as I know he defends the Bill of Rights by attacking powerful politicians and what they stand for. That’s a lot different than the brutality hate-filled music attempts to set in motion. The people who make that stuff defend nothing but the Right to debase.

Music aspires us to all sort of things. Richard Wagner inspired Hitler with that beautiful music of his, like Der ring des Nibelungen. Still, I don't feel like annexing Austria or invading Poland humming a few bars of "imagine" by J. Lennon, either. But when I hear 'rap" music about rape, drive bys and violence, I really question people’s taste. AND sanity.

To MaryL: That’s a nice point. In the same vain many of America’s worst gangsters were lovers of grand opera. My interpretation is that the music they enjoyed was not enough to sooth their savage breasts. I ask myself how much worse might they have been had their young lives been inundated with today’s brutal sounds and lyrics.
More importantly, it’s no secret that many want to be seen as gangsters. The question is: How many want to be dictators with the power of life and death over tens of millions.