Who’s Working Hard for Peace? (Part 5)
It’s standard practice to laugh at musicians, artists or writers who speak out on politics. “What the hell is Bono doing in Africa? Why don’t these rich rock stars leave the politics to the politicians?” Yeah, sure, the politicians are doing such a good job of it, right?
I applaud any celebrities who stand up for political causes, and I’m sick of hearing people put them down. I don’t particularly like Bono’s music, and I usually change the radio real quick as soon I start to hear “un … dos … tres … quatorce”. But I really respect the fact that he constantly risks embarrassment by working for causes that have nothing to do with music, and the fact that so many amateur comedians make fun of him (or Bob Geldof, or Bruce Springsteen, or Pearl Jam, or the Dixie Chicks, etc. etc.) for this only proves that these comedians don’t have the brains to come up with better material.
There’s a long tradition of writers covering the political field. Shakespeare’s history plays were firmly grounded in the partisan politics of his day. Rousseau, Voltaire, Locke and Hume created the intellectual environment that gave direction to the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Emile Zola famously stood up for Alfred Dreyfus in France, Harriet Beecher Stowe raised awareness of slavery with Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Joseph Conrad exposed the hypocrisy of Belgian exploitation of the Congo in Heart of Darkness. There are far too many examples of politically-engaged writers to even consider listing any subset of them.
Outspoken artists and musicians like Pablo Picasso, John Lennon, Bob Marley have also reached large audiences in the past, and famous musical events from Woodstock to Live Aid to Live 8 have succeeded in generating public awareness of global issues. It’d be hard to say the artists and writers and musicians of our time are doing enough to affect important global issues, because so much needs to be done. But many are doing everything they can do. In these cases, I think it’s pretty sad that the best most of us do in response is laugh their hard work off.
July 31st, 2006 at 10:23 am
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was a reformer against slavery as well as a preacher. His sermons were so performance-oriented that large audiences flocked to see him. Beecher once said, “All words are pegs to hang ideas on”.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:10 pm
I see a glitch - those who are working so desperately hard every day for war, are better organized, better funded, and in more positions of authority; than those that we might wish to counteract them.
Religious leaders: Mullah Omar, Ayatollah Khamenei, Muqtada al-Sadr, Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli Hassidic party, Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed. These people have considerable influence over Muslims and Jews in the Middle East; and Christians in America. They can meet with the president of Eqypt, the prime minister of Israel, the Saudi king, or the president of the United States whenever they want to.
Celebrities: George Clooney, Tim Robbins, Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, et. al., can try to make a tiny little difference - but compared to the number of followers, and degree of access of those listed above, what could we ever hope for?
The American corporate media has a vested interest in war. As Hurst said - war sells copy (it’s good for business). And if 60% of Americans believe in, and look forward to the Rapture, who’s going to convince them that the end of the world shouldn’t be a part of our foreign policy?
August 1st, 2006 at 8:01 pm
[…] • Writers, Artists and Musicians […]
October 16th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
So Clooney is thinking about running for office? I know he’s pretty politically active, but with his party past I can’t see him going far.