This is an unedited version of a letter sent to TriCityNews in
response to criticism of the appropriateness of Springsteen's
participation in politics... I guess because he isn't one of "We, The
People" and has no business using music to voice his concerns, or to
raise our level of consciences.
========
Kudos to Tommy DeSeno for his incite-ful article - Losing Springsteen
to Haute Monde Politics - in the recent Tri City News (The Educated
Issue, no less!). I loved how he articulated Bruce Springsteen's
attempt to politicize American rock and roll: "Why do you want to
change, Bruce? In your interview with 60 Minutes, you announced a
change from singing about people's personal struggles to Washington
DC politics."
Everyone knows that people's personal struggles have nothing to do
with DC politics.
Mr. DeSeno further pointed out: "Even his songs regarding war
weren't political. They were about the soldier."
Duh! There is absolutely no relationship between war and soldiers
fighting halfway around the world in lands where they don't speak or
understand the language, culture, or history, with their fingers on
the trigger of a Colt XM 177 cold, exhausted, (undoubtedly poor) and
ready to shoot at a moment's notice all in a (promoted) effort to
protect our freedoms here at home.
I mean how can someone with only a high school diploma, and who comes
from a small, blue-collar, working class American town whose
classmates were deployed to "fight the yellow man" in Southeast Asia
in the prime of their lives - know anything about "the big issues"?
Stuff like that never shapes your life. Instead, it takes a Yale
University and Harvard Business School graduate from a long line of
prestigious college alumni and worth millions of dollars - to
adequately express the intricate and ever-expanding relationship
between the common man and the common man in fatigues.
Just who does Bruce Springsteen think he is? He is not fooling
anyone, least of all Tommy DeSeno: "(Bruce) when the subject was
politics, you stammered and stumbled. It's not your talent."
That's right. Leave politics to the politicians. Hey, look at the
bang up job our "representatives" are doing now (with the common
man's tax dollars, the common man's sons and daughters, and
continually picking the common man's pockets). As an aside, I'd like
to share my personal decision-making criteria for
identifying "talent" during campaign season: Always vote for the
candidate with the most vibrant shades of red, white, and blue on
their election signs. And if they're decorated with stars and
stripes, it's a slam dunk.
Rest assured, they've got your back covered!
Additionally, I would love to see (court jester) Bill O'Reilly make a
fool of Bruce over his political virginity. Imagine the ratings
phenomenon that would be! (Note to self: Invest in Fox stock
today.) I can see it now. Bruce fumbling for words to illustrate
some poor national guardsman's attempt to make ends meet while
securing personal lives and loved ones during repeated and endless
deployment to war zones. Just let Bruce try and find the (right?)
words to describe soldiers watching as comrades and civilians are
blown to smithereens.
What a hoot!
I hope Bruce takes the (right) hint and forgets all this political
stuff. It can get you into a whole mess of trouble. Consider the
words of Brazilian Archbishop Helder Camara, a man who spent over 70
years tending to the impoverished citizens of his nation. He had the
audacity to speak out against censorship, torture and killings. He
implored the Catholic Church to move beyond charity for the poor by
tirelessly advocating for fundamental social changes: "When I fed
the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked, `Why are they poor?'
they called me a Communist."
Thank you Mr. DeSeno for pointing out that when the subject was
music, Bruce was like "Shakespeare." That is an interesting analogy,
though especially considering that this author of Henry VI also
said: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
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