Cockfighting
Whether people out of Louisiana realize it or not, one of the yearly legislative efforts is to finally ban cockfighting, as has been done in most other states. I mean to keep blogging about this, because I feel the whole media emphasis is wrong. Most of the complaints come from animal rights groups. They say it's cruel to the cocks. The defenders say it's part of a culture that mainstream America just doesn't get. I think everyone reading these articles is completely missing the point.
The moral quandary should have nothing to do with the birds. It's about us. I think if we stopped and asked the roosters, they would probably say they'd rather train to fight and kill and die in battle rather than be bred on farms to make chicken nuggets. Think about, they die no matter what. Maybe one's more more cruel. Maybe not. At least they die with pride in the ring. No, I'm worried about us. About what it says about our culture (our as in human, because these things happen in other states too) that we want to watch animals fight each other and die.
And also, this is not just about America. The interest in various ultimate fighting and extreme fighting and mixed styles fighting is growing worldwide. Are we so cultured to promote violence that this is our best entertainment? An old friend of mine said that he had studied with a professor teaching "psychohistory" I think it was called. His whole thesis was that you could tell everything you needed to know about a culture through its popular culture as a reflection of that culture's character.
I worry for all of us.
The moral quandary should have nothing to do with the birds. It's about us. I think if we stopped and asked the roosters, they would probably say they'd rather train to fight and kill and die in battle rather than be bred on farms to make chicken nuggets. Think about, they die no matter what. Maybe one's more more cruel. Maybe not. At least they die with pride in the ring. No, I'm worried about us. About what it says about our culture (our as in human, because these things happen in other states too) that we want to watch animals fight each other and die.
And also, this is not just about America. The interest in various ultimate fighting and extreme fighting and mixed styles fighting is growing worldwide. Are we so cultured to promote violence that this is our best entertainment? An old friend of mine said that he had studied with a professor teaching "psychohistory" I think it was called. His whole thesis was that you could tell everything you needed to know about a culture through its popular culture as a reflection of that culture's character.
I worry for all of us.
Labels: louisiana, morals, politics
|| posted by mW @ 5:32 PM
The Nightwatchman
Last night Sarah and I caught The Nightwatchman at the House of Blue's Parish Room in the French Quarter. That is, the folk-guitar solo act alter ego of Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and more recently Audioslave. It was a fantastic show in many ways. The concept itself is great. Tom is not just a celebrity, but one who has used his success to benefit others, working hard to support the working class, civil liberties, and all who would be oppressed under any guise. At many of the protests and rallies he attended he realized that the songs sung were from the 60s and 70s, that there were no consciousness aware singable songs railing against the infinite varieties of social oppression that were so ubiquitous in those times. 
He wanted to change that. And perhaps the world a little. And so he wrote modern tales of political leftism, that dirty word in modern times, which conservatives have posed as a negative, rather than someone who is brave enough to fight for truth at any cost.
The Nightwatchman, as he calls himself now, was not only a great act musically, but the kind of person that inspires us all to be acts of change. And now I have one more album that I can listen to periodically and remind myself of my duty to make the world a better place. If not for myself, than for all those who are less fortunate than me. He reminds us that none of us have a right to complain about anything to which we have not actively struggled against.
He wanted to change that. And perhaps the world a little. And so he wrote modern tales of political leftism, that dirty word in modern times, which conservatives have posed as a negative, rather than someone who is brave enough to fight for truth at any cost.The Nightwatchman, as he calls himself now, was not only a great act musically, but the kind of person that inspires us all to be acts of change. And now I have one more album that I can listen to periodically and remind myself of my duty to make the world a better place. If not for myself, than for all those who are less fortunate than me. He reminds us that none of us have a right to complain about anything to which we have not actively struggled against.
Labels: music, New Olreans, politics
|| posted by mW @ 10:12 AM[top]
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