There have been many diaries written about what donOLD tRUMP did at Arlington last week stating that it was appalling, opportunistic, inappropriate and disgusting. Indeed it was all of these things. But I‘ve seen way too much controversy stirred up by what many think they saw the other people in the photo doing. Are they showing signs of white supremacy, bigotry, hate and disrespect to all the non-MAGA’s in this country, or is it showing support for a favorite sports team, or is it a sign of SATANIC ALLIANCE?! Who the fuck knows? I don’t, and personally I don’t think I have the perceptive skills to know what they were thinking when they did it. And I don’t believe YOU do either.
Yet that hasn’t stopped many from espousing that they think they do know what they mean and have made more comments about different interpretations of it than I can count (or read). Nothing new here.
What I’m getting at is that in a way, I see history repeating itself here. It’s very similar to what happened when a furor was created about song lyrics decades ago. Remember that? Religious leaders and politicians getting on their soapbox and proclaiming the evil intent of certain songs while fans of whatever band’s music heard no such thing in them. They even formed activism groups to try and force the record industry to conform to their personal standards. Remember the PMRC (Parents’ Music Resource Center)? Many said they were trying to protect innocent lives while others were calling it out for the attempt at censorship that it actually was. There were groups doing record bonfires to make a public statement of how they felt about it.
A good example of this was the song by Blue Oyster Cult called “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. The “guardians of society” were convinced it was a song that was encouraging suicide. Eric Bloom, who wrote the song, said that he had meant it as a positive song about the hope of an afterlife and therefore there was no reason to fear death.
But people who thought that their interpretation of it was the “RIGHT” one were out to eliminate this “hazard to our youth” and make it go away. Basically their attitude was “I don’t like it so you shouldn’t have it”. I think Eric had the best answer to them when he said (paraphrasing) ‘I hope they burn all of our records they can get their hands on, provided they buy them first.’ (apologies to all who want a link to an article; I remember seeing this on a TV show called Night Flight 40 years ago, and I don’t know where to find that now.)
The short point is this — I don’t know what was in that family’s heart and no one outside the family does either. Even when they try to defend themselves against the attacks many will believe they are lying about it because “I know what they really meant.”
STOP IT. The rampant spread of disinformation all over the internet is just generating clicks and not INFORMING anyone.