Logic Times - Songs of the Simpleminded








		Songs of the Simpleminded Commentary by Aslan, 5.28.2006 \| Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream E. McCurdy Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was filled with men And the paper they were signing said They'd never fight again And when the papers all were signed And a million copies made They all joined hands end bowed their heads And grateful prayers were prayed And the people in the streets below Were dancing round and round And guns and swords and uniforms Were scattered on the ground This song, performed most notably by Simon and Garfunkel on their Wednesday Morning, 3AM album, seems to echo a noble sentiment. In the minds of the "artists" who write and perform these songs, the conviction reigns that speaking out against war sensitizes the world to its horrors and supports the exploited, downtrodden soldier. Nothing could be further from the truth. War Barrett Strong War What is it good for Absolutely nothing War What is it good for Absolutely nothing War is something that I despise For it means destruction of innocent lives For it means tears in thousands of mothers' eyes When their sons go out to fight to give their lives Contrary to the designs of this cadre of high school dropouts and drug addict poets, such infantile songs achieve an opposite effect: it spreads moral relativism and promotes mindless dissent, which provides aid and comfort to the enemy and costs the lives of soldiers. More simply, songs such as these – and the anti-war movement that embraces them – sustain war. The logic of the songwriter is straightforward: he stakes out a position against something that other people, in his mind, erroneously support. Such is the purpose of the protest song. Here is where everyone pays a price – willingly, I might add – for the "freedom" in free speech. Uninformed people can and do write songs, and with generic anti-war protest songs – as with generic anti-war bumper stickers (see Badges of the Simpleminded) and generic anti-war signs (see Fuzzy Moral Math) – the ignorance of the skilled musician/ geopolitical moron is on harmful display. Protesting war assumes there are those who support war and oppose peace. Those who believe that there are soldiers who want war reveal the utter depth of their ignorance. No one, anywhere, hates war more than the soldier. No one, anywhere, shoulders more of the burden for the horrors of war than the soldier. The anti-war musician and the soldier share a longing for peace, but at vastly different levels of maturity; the lyricist with the whiny petulance of a demanding toddler, the warrior with the sorrow-filled determination of an eyewitness to evil. The reality is that war is abominable, universally despised. Protesting war is akin to protesting, say...colon cancer. Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to colon cancer I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was filled with men And the paper they were signing said They'd never get colon cancer again …or… Colon cancer What is it good for Absolutely nothing Colon cancer What is it good for Absolutely nothing No one would write such songs because there is no message of any significance. Declaring that something bad is bad is hardly worth the effort. But these inane songs don’t just lie exposed; the message becomes imbued with a significance that is not there, and the meaning slowly morphs… Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to opposing evil I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was filled with men And the paper they were signing said They'd never stand for anything again This stop along the way from transforming idiocy into profound social commentary is a short one. Not finding this logic palatable, the song changes yet again… Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to judgment I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was filled with men And the paper they were signing said We’re all at fault, we’ll not condemn again Opposition to all war makes no distinction between the combatants. The nation that invades another to steal wealth and kill women and children is no more reprehensible than the nation that sets down its pots and plows and takes up arms to defend those same women and children. After all, both are at war, and war, what is it good for, absolutely nothing. What must underpin the logic of anti-war songs is a belief that no one possesses the moral credibility to take up arms, to pass judgment on the actions of another. If nations are or have ever been guilty of aggression or imperialism or less-than-pure geopolitical maneuvering, than no side in a war is right and no side is wrong. Moral relativism writ large. Unfortunately, this message persists and helps to legitimize dissent. Not the rare but essential dissent of a free nation reigning in rogue leaders, but the weak and shifty 60s dissent that encourages the enemy to kill one more American in the hope that his or her death will bring back Vietnam and make victory possible (see War and Dissent). On this Memorial Day weekend where we remember the sacrifices of our soldiers, let’s set aside the childishness of such songs and raise our voices in a new refrain: Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To fight evil evermore Copyright © 2006 Dan Hallagan. All Rights Reserved.