Gogol Bordello has a strong underlying social message. It's very clear they've got gypsy/immigrant sympathies and a general affinity for the dispossessed. They also reject stodgy decorum and embrace a more "wanderlust" approach to life. OK - great. Good stuff all around - and different stuff. And simply entertaining stuff.
I searched for them on YouTube recently - hadn't listened to them in a while - and turned this new song up:
What an incredible disappointment. The edge and the weirdness is completely gone. But worst of all, everything that just kind of floated around as subtext was made painfully explicit. We knew you sympathized with the immigrant experience - and not just sympathized with, but championed and flaunted the immigrant experience. Was this really necessary? Silhouettes of the countries of origin of a bunch of music video characters? Lyrics that basically lay everything out that everybody got loud and clear before. I don't know, there's something in how explicit this is that makes it a lot less genuine.
Anyone can express a thought explicitly. There are two ways to really distinguish yourself when you express a thought. You either:
1. Make the thought explicit and analytically deep: contribute a really significant original idea and contribute it explicitly. This is the goal of quality non-fiction. Or, you,
2. Express or critique a possibly common thought or feeling in a subtle, implicit, or unexpected way. This is art.
Gogol Bordello used to produce good art. Now - at least with this song - they took a pretty basic message and made it ridiculously explicit. And for some reason I'm finding that very disappointing. Spelling it out to your audience dilutes your message.
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It's seems like the problem is that the explicitness has revealed there's no substance there.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe... but I don't think we necessarily should have expected especially deep thoughts. It was a sympathy (an empathy really), and not and especially complex one. But "simple" doesn't necessarily mean "substanceless".
ReplyDeleteSince we're sharing videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw
ReplyDeleteXenophon - couldn't agree more: http://factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/evolution-and-pitfalls-of-teleological.html
ReplyDeleteNo reason to get worked up over animals on their way out...
...then again, there's no reason to worked up over people who want to either.
Cosmic indifference - that's the way to go.
He is absolutely right when he says that what environmentalists really worry about is themselves (ie - "the planet isn't going anywhere - we are!").
ReplyDeleteBut then aren't we worth worrying about? It's a sensible call to get past this silly idea that we care about "Mother Earth" or whatever else. But it's no reason not to tend to our own species-dominance. I rather like being at the top of the food chain, personally.
No, not really, not on anything like a cosmic timescale.
ReplyDeleteIf my brief twinkle of consciousness existed on anything like a cosmic timescale that point might have some relevance, Xenophon.
ReplyDeleteTo note the cosmic insignificance of man in worrying about Mother Earth is one thing. Mother Earth does exist on a cosmic timescale and we aren't much more than a minor annoyance to her (if that).
But to cite cosmic insignificance of man in worrying about man is meaningless. Do I matter as far as the universe is concerned? Of course I don't. But who cares? I matter as far as I'm concerned and as far as my family and friends are concerned.
That seemed to be Carlin's real point. Pollution isn't an issue for Mother Earth - she can take it. Pollution is an issue for people.
The point is that human beings are just not that important; furthermore, all this caring we engage in is merely the chemical processes in our head which are engaged as a result of a particular evolution as a species. Not that there is anything particular special about that evolution.
ReplyDeleteBut you haven't made that point, Xenophon.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing special about that evolution, but that's not the same as saying there's nothing important about it. Importance is a quality we impart to things. The cosmic significance of a thing has nothing to do with it - that just tells you how important we are to the cosmos. It tells you nothing about how important we are to ourselves.
A lot of fellow humans consider me unimportant. My answer? "Fuck them - of course I am". You think my response to the cold vastness of the universe would be any different?
Personally, I think you're just a figment of my imagination - and that I am just a brain in a vat.
ReplyDeleteBut a brain in a vat with import and meaning. Otherwise you wouldn't share pictures of your daughter and challenge yourself to hike the Pacific Coast (both virtually of course... you are a brain in a vat after all!).
ReplyDelete