Today the internet is a-buzz about the display of civil disobedience from Representative Joe Wilson during President Obama’s speech. Many people think it was uncivil disobedience. While I will admit rules of protocol are on their side, the history of Presidential speeches is not exactly awash with civility!
However, more interestingly, I today discovered the House of Representatives has rules of decorum which expressly forbid exclaiming that the President is a liar. Who knew? I suppose there are logical reasons for this, considering if such exclamations were permitted, every speech would likely be presented against a cacophony of insults.
But I think Wilson’s gaffe was one of bad timing, not necessarily bad taste. Surely he thought others would join in, and if they had, his individual words would have been incomprehensible, much like in this clip from 2005.
I love moments like this in a democracy. They make me hungry for more information, history, and thoughts from great thinkers and leaders of the past. I came across this incredible quote, and am inspired to revisit Thoreau today,
I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. - Martin Luther King, Jr, Autobiography
Writers, artists, and musicians have long contributed to the “legacy of creative protest” by bringing forth works that carry messages of dissent against those abusing power. I find this tradition to be a fascinating mix of active and passive protest. Active, because creating and disseminating such messages is dynamic, requiring energy, thought, and passion. Passive, because such works are often voluntarily viewed and shared amongst like-minded groups of people hoping to spread their influence via peaceful, enlightened means.
The article Rebel yells: A protest music mixtape discusses this idea, and provides a comprehensive view of relatively contemporary songs of dissent dating from the Bush administration and earlier,
A lengthy list of musicians has bashed Bush and his policies. The Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines ripped him from a London concert stage in 2003. Last summer, Bruce Springsteen penned a New York Times op-ed that, without naming the president, all but demanded his defeat. Springsteen then joined the Chicks, R.E.M., James Taylor and assorted left-leaning performers on a “Vote For Change” concert tour. And a week before last November’s U.S. election, Eminem released an anti-Bush video for his song Mosh; it showed a horde of disaffected youth storming the White House. Jagger denied a direct Bush connection soon after the story appeared online, but said, “[Sweet Neo Con] is certainly very critical of certain policies of the administration, but so what! Lots of people are critical.”
Protest music has existed since the first time a caveman got short-changed on mammoth soup by the campfire. For millennia since, people have used the power of song to express their disagreement with political ideas, slavery, militarism, economic oppression and myriad social concerns.
The entire article is a fantastic compilation, and I’m thinking of downloading all these songs to my iTunes as background music to my reading of Thoreau today.
Tags: Civil Disobedience, Music, Politics
Testing.
I agree 1000% that the people’s right and ability to voice dissent should not be curtailed. One could argue that the ‘free speech zones’ set up by the previous administration did just that, but that is another topic for another day.
Joe Wilson, however, isn’t most people. He’s a sitting congressman, and thus should have the decency not to do such things. Granted, this isn’t the first time that Wilson has done something of this nature. (He spoke out harshly against Mae Washington-Williams when she came forward that she was the illegitimate daughter of the recently-deceased patriarch of Sen. Strom Thurmond.)
More importantly, the moment involving Joe Wilson perfectly illustrates for me the irrationality and insanity of much (not all) of the opposition. For the past few months, this could—and should—have been a real debate about whether health care should be overhauled and, if so, how. There’s no right or wrong answer, obviously, but it’s a worthy issue to discuss. Instead, the entire conversation (and any chance at a real debate) has been hijacked. Words like “death squads” and “socialist” have reigned, and those screaming loudest seem to know the least and make minimal sense.
I ought to test it too…
Great post. This is a very thought provoking post. At first when I heard about the whole incident I didn’t really give it much thought, but after reading you make some great points.
Keep it up!
This is just my sort of my music, thank you! I found loads like this to download at http://www.legal5ounds.com