Peace, Drugs and Rock & Roll

Anybody who has read this blog on a somewhat regular basis knows that one of the things that really gets under my skin is institutions (be they religious or political) that feel morally obligated to tell others what to think and when to think it. I get so tired of people who think they know what’s best for the rest of us going out of their way to help save us from ourselves. I can’t think of more apt examples for words like audacity and arrogance. And oddly enough, my beef today is with words. Actually, just one word, a word that the FCC has decided we are not allowed to hear.

Is it what many consider a crude word, like the infamous “F” word that millions use on a daily basis, but aren’t allowed to hear broadcast publicly? No. Is it what the bleeding hearts consider a racial slur, like the “N” word, a word used flippantly by those who (often in the same breath) chastise others for using? No. Is it a blasphemous word, the use of which can be cause for arrest and even beheading in backwards countries ruled by zealots? No. In fact, it is a common word, a word so mundane and ordinary that it can be seen plastered on neon signs in just about every town in this country. The word we are no longer allowed to hear is “drugs”.

The popular Canadian band “Nickelback” has a song called “Rockstar” that was released just a month ago, and in that song, the newly dreaded “D” word is used not once, but five times. I think I was fortunate, because I inadvertently heard it before it was censored. I liked it the first time I heard it, and in spite of the “D” word usage, it didn’t make me want to sell everything I own and become a junkie, which is apparently what the FCC thinks will happen if people hear the words “drugs” or “drug dealer”. It’s as if hearing the word will cause people to deviate from their normal line of thinking and embrace the ideology of cultural icons, of musicians, of people they have never met. Let’s follow that line of logic for a minute.

Consider these lyrics, written by a musician so dangerous that the FBI felt the need to keep a file on him:
“Imagine no there’s no countries/it isn’t hard to do/nothing to kill or die for/and no religion too/Imagine all the people/living life in peace…” The man, of course, was John Lennon, and his subversive message was, quite simply, world peace. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that song reached a lot more people than Nickelback’s latest, and I don’t seem to remember hearing that formerly hostile people realized the error of their ways after hearing that song. By the same token, I just don’t see hordes of previously law abiding citizens (yes, even the young ones) giving up on sobriety because of Nickelback and frantically phoning the local crackheads for some rock. The obvious point is, I really don’t think that hearing the lyrics to a song is going to change someone’s behavior, and it angers me that there is a federal agency with, no doubt, a multi-million dollar budget deciding what words must be bleeped out of the public’s consciousness. It’s absurd.

For the edification of the FCC, I say this: As long as people behave like, well, people, and feel the need for a reality beyond that provided by the standard five senses, they are going to use drugs. The Nickelbacks and the Ozzy Osbournes of the world did not start a drug epidemic and I don’t think they can make it any worse. And for Pete’s sake, everybody knows that forbidden fruit is the sweetest. Attempting to demonize drugs only makes them more desirable. By attempting to hide the lyrics of the song, you are ensuring that more attention is going to be paid by a public who, as it happens, actually enjoys listening and deciding for themselves what they like and what they don’t.

I’d like to prattle on some more on this topic, because it’s such a good one, but I just heard Bobby Darin’s “Mack The Knife”, and I feel the need to do some schmoozing with the floozies that will line up at my door after I kill a few men. I don’t want to, but I just can’t help myself. The music has moved me.