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Waiting for the World to Change, John Mayer |
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Edit: I didn't realize the entry would grow this big.
I used to like John Mayer. I really did. I have Room For Squares (except for "Wonderland") on my iPod. But then Heavier Things came out, and "Daughters" started playing on the radio, and I couldn't understand how any self-respecting female could listen to the line "Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters too." Because, honestly, I preferred the objectification of the vague female second person in "Wonderland". I don't want to be a mother, thank you very much, so I'm not going to be. Now, I have nothing against anyone who does want to become a mother, but this isn't the fifties and is hasn't been for a while. Girls don't become mothers very often any more. Girls become doctors and politicians and professors and a plethora of other things as well as mothers, and some are both (successfully or otherwise), but we're not baby machines, and our mothers should be good to us because we're or are going to be good people, not because we have the same fate in our lives.
So, from Heavier Things only "Heavier Things" made it onto my iPod. And now Continuum is out and once again, John Mayer has managed to piss me off. No, this time it has nothing to do with my feminist opinions. Nope. He just justified our generation's political apathy. Thanks, John, thanks.
Because, you see, we're all misunderstood, it's not apathy no, see, we just don't have the means to do anything. Forget rocking the vote. We'll just wait because if just wait long enough the political fairy will sprinkle some special magic on our pillows before we go to sleep, and when we wake up, the world will be a good, happy place because we waited for it to happen!
Now, not only do we have the means, but apparently "It's hard to beat the system / when we're standing at a distance". Now, can someone explain to me what this distance is? We have just as much power as just about all the other generations. Now, Mr. Mayer, you're twenty-nine, which means, no, you can't run for president, but give it a year and you can run for a seat in the Senate and you are already old enough to be a member of the House. There are other more local political offices out there too, not to mention voting age is 18, and there are millions of other ways to get your voice heard. Like, on the off chance you're a famous music artist, you can write songs or speak at important events. So, what exactly are you looking for in terms of "means" and what exactly is this "distance"?
Is it our refusal to watch the news because "'cause when they own the information, oh / they can bend it all they want"? I'm not quite sure who "they" is, but since it's the television we shouldn't be trusting I'm going to guess it's the media. Now, see, I like that the media owns the information, because if ABC found out that CNN was giving out false information, they could tell everyone because it's good for their business. They compete to, yes, tell us what we want to hear, but also, to stay in business. So, if he'd rather it be like North Korea where the government owns the information, then, please, I wish he'd move there. Or would he rather have a society without journalists so that no one could bend the information? Really, I don't see how biased information should be a deterrent to following the news. There's no such thing as information without bias. And I don't see how waiting is going to change the media. Maybe if we wait long enough without watching the news and we become the majority, "they" will stop playing it all together because it's not worth the money. That might just be what he's trying to say.
"It's not that we don't care, / we just know that the fight ain't fair" oh, well done! John Mayer said something true! Now, yes the fight isn't fair and it never will be. At least, it won't if we just keep on waiting. Or maybe, maybe his naive optimism is right! If we keep just letting the generation of our parents continue to do what they're doing and vote for whom they're voting, things will work themselves out for us when it's our time to vote and run for office. And don't be silly, don't vote when you're 18 because the fight isn't fair and using the political sway that is your birth right won't do anything about it.
Not to mention that I'm rather upset with John Mayer's choice of words. See, if we wait long enough, we won't save the world, or make things better, or link hands in peace. Nope, we're going to rule the population. We're going to put on our little Burger King crowns and we're going to go out there and make everyone else listen to what we have to say and do what we want them to do. We're going to rule!
So, yes, I'm finally done complaining. I just want to say that this pisses me off. And I'll admit the music video softens the stupidity a bit with grafitti art that says stuff like "think" but the radio and a lot of other things don't show music videos. So why don't you all sign a petition or register to vote or something that will make me happy. Or, if you wait long enough, my rant will fall of your friends' page.
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