Societies and Cultures that "Work"

Sociologists and Anthropologists (my duel majors in college) attempt to study cultures and societies objectively, dispassionately, scientifically.  It is relatively easy to do when studying ancient societies or remote and isolated cultures.

Some societies, cultures and religions work and work well for centuries. And by working I mean they thrive, gathering wealth, power, population size and geographic size.  They have the ability to affect other surrounding cultures and spread their values, laws and morals.

If a culture or society works and thrives, that doesn't mean it moral, good, fair or free.  It does mean the members of the society generally follow their rules and laws. Very very often, historically, these laws and rules are religious in nature and survive nations and governments.  

Morals are passed down from parents to children, values that must shared by all and must be strictly upheld.  For example marriage is discouraged outside of many cultures, ethnic groups and religions. This insures children receive the values, attitudes and strict moral codes of the culture.

ISIS is attempting to form a Caliphate in Iraq and Syria (and beyond).  But the Muslim culture and the Islamic religion that is its base, including and especially Sharia Law, already have proven to be the basis of a culture and societal structure that works.  Sharia Law and the overreaching Muslim culture have already survived hundreds of years through multiple nations and governments.

That does not mean it's good or moral.  That doesn't mean its actions are fair or free.  Most of us are horrified by the stoning of non-believers, the murder of the victims of rape or incest or the enslavement of people from outside the tightly closed society.  We in the west, see these actions as savage.

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world are joining ISIS.  It's a virtual world wide mass migration.  Here in the west we're trying to stop people from moving the Iraq and joining the armies of ISIS.  Yet people do make their way to a society they see as moral, just and, especially, functional.  They want the rules, the laws, the morals and the leadership to guide their lives.

We need to understand how cultures, societies, nations and religions all work to help us understand why other cultures often breakdown. We need to understand why some cultures thrive and their members prosper, while others live in poverty, riddled with crime and corruption.

We need to understand this in our own American Society and culture where, through our inaction, ignorance and neglect, seem to have said "In spite of our Tweets to the contrary, Black lives actually don't seem to matter."  How is it that we allow this American Genocide continues unabated, ignored or tolerated by most of society.  We need to understand why violence and crime are rampant throughout American inner cities and now are spreading into the supposedly safe suburbs.  

This Wall Street Journal article by Heather Mac Donald is an excellent place to start. 

Are You Gonna Stay the Night?

For the last forty years (and probably a lot longer) the question has been "How much does media (films, television, music, even commercials) affect behavior and morality and how much does it reflect current society and the reality of life?"

Liberals and the folks that control 99% of the media tell us music and films are reflective, showing real life and people's aspirations to find a place within it.

Conservatives and media critics generally blame the media for encouraging promiscuity, bad lifestyle choices and the decline of morality in society.

In reality it is more a vicious cycle with breakdowns in traditional society portrayed in a positive way, encouraging further breakdown and movement toward a new societal structure.

Forty years ago most families, from every ethnic and socioeconomic group, had traditional marriages and families with both a mother and father in the home.

In the 1950's and 1960's the general result of teen pregnacy was a hasty marriage, the so-called shotgun wedding.

Today teen pregnancy all too often results in either abortion or unwed teen motherhood, often in a cycle of poverty.

What caused me to reflect on this situation is a Time Magazine report out yesterday that "Sexting" of the use of cell phones to act out sexual activity (including the exchange of nude photos) is now rampant among middle school aged children, even preteens. 

Today's pop music, virtually the entire "Top 40" glorifies sexual activity, often eschewing any potential of a long term relationship.  One of my favorite songs today is "Stay the Night" by Zedd featuring Haley Williams.  

LYRICS include:

"I am the fire, gasoline,

Pour yourself all over me.

Are you gonna stay the night?

Doesn't mean we're bound for life."

Enjoy this amazing, creative video, but keep in mind, every ten year old in America loves this song and hears it a dozen times every day!

This video is legally displayed here, but due to tight copyright control the copyright holder may well delete this video in the future. We apologize if it is no longer available when you read this blog.

Now let's flip the coin and show you a video from Argentine for a relatively new product not available in the United States, Coca-Cola Life, a Stevia Sweetened reduced calorie (but not calorie free) Cola.  Currently Coca-Cola has no plans to introduce the cola in the United States.

Regardless, this commercial has gone insanely viral and one viewing will tell you why. It's absolutely brilliant. One of the reasons it's gone viral is because it glorifies the family, and glorifies parenting, mother AND father parenting!





Which message do you want your children or grandchildren to see?

If U Seek Amy

There is something terribly wrong with our liberal agenda. I can feel it. Perhaps I might even be able to articulate it. But I don't have the slightest clue as to what to do about it. And I believe many other liberals feel the same way.

We are able to stand and fight with great passion, courage and an unyielding sense of right and wrong for environmental issues. We see our planet in peril and we know we must defend her. The facts, the statistics and the scientists help us and solidify our arguments, but our hearts tell us we must do what is right.

We are able to stand and fight with great passion, courage and an unyielding sense of right and wrong for civil rights and the rights of minorities. There is no doubt in our minds or hearts. Equal pay for men, women, minorities. Equal protection under the law. We are on rock solid ground.

Our instincts are keen. We rebel instinctively against any attack on our basic rights. Freedom of Speech is one of our most sacred rights. Sexual freedom is another. The right of a woman to control her body, her future and her destiny are beyond debate.

So when the Southern Baptists and the censorship fanatic Parents Television Council and several other conservative groups launch a very public and well coordinated attack aimed at these rights, we react instinctively.

Except.... Today's target is Britney Spears, an easy target if there ever was one. Spears is having one sensational comeback. God knows she had hit the lowest depths. She had no where to go but up. Her new album Circus is topping every chart. Her first two singles off that album, Circus and Womanizer, are super hits. You can hear them on virtually every pop and adult contemporary radio station in America.

The problem arises with the record companies decision to release the third single from the album, the obviously suggestive "If U Seek Amy." Let's let Southern Baptist Kelly Boggs tell the story:

"If U Seek Amy," is offensive, inane as well as immature. This means with the state of American popular culture one step below the gutter the song likely will be a success. Only a week after it hit American radio it is already 92 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart. While it is true that lyrical depth has never been a feature of American pop music, Spears' "Amy" scrapes the bottom of the barrel. In fact, it seems as if the song's only purpose is to provide the framework for a refrain that is on par with the worst lyrics found in rap music. The lyrics of the refrain are: "But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging me to if you seek Amy." The fact that the written lyric makes no sense is really not the problem. Quite a few rock song lyrics have not made much sense. However, what Spears does phonetically when she sings the song makes all the difference. When listing to the song, there is no doubt she is spelling out one of the most offensive words in the English language.

If U Seek Amy = F-U-C-K Me.

Cute. Actually, it is cute. And I strongly disagree with Boggs analysis of the song. It's the strongest song on the album. If kids (or anyone) really listens to the song and lyrics it is really about a person longing for an unattainable icon. It is a story of a tragically overinflated ego. But few people will ever submit this song to this type of analysis. For one reason the song is fun and catchy, fast and danceable. It is going to be a huge hit at clubs.

But what about our teens and pre-teens? As this hits radio stations, what messages are we sending? One reviewer, who I won't bother to link because he is a compete idiot, claimed that young listeners would never pick up on the double entendre. Instead I'll quote a young lady named Cassie who added this comment to a lyrics site:

*snort* I love this song. My mum still doesn’t get it, so lets me listen to it when I’m driving my grandmother to work. My school played it at a dance. Thank you Brit for being tongue-in-cheek. It lets us pull one over on my school and my mother. I O U 1

Don't ever underestimate our children. They get it. The current efforts to play a "censored version" are certainly not going to accomplish a thing. For one thing the song is all over "You Tube." It's spreading like wildfire.

But back to my question. What messages are we sending to our young teens and pre-teens? Read this cautionary essay written for the UK Daily Mail by Olivia Lichtenstein, "How the faceless and amoral world of cyberspace has created a deeply disturbing... generation SEX"

Remember that Hilaire Belloc cautionary tale - Matilda told such dreadful lies, it made one gasp and stretch one’s eyes? I used to love it as a child when telling lies was one of the naughtiest things you could do: Matilda ended up getting burned to death. These days, however, everything has changed and it’s the truths that children tell that make one gasp and stretch one’s eyes. A couple of years ago, my daughter Francesca, then aged 13, told me about a party she had been to one Saturday night. In the course of the evening, she came upon one of her friends, also aged 13, performing oral sex on a boy in the garden. The boy was standing and videoing the event on his mobile phone. I apologise for shocking you, but then there are a number of things shocking about this event: the casual nature in which such an intimate act is performed in public, the young age of the participants and last, but by no means least, the fact that it is being filmed.

How do we, as liberals, handle this continuous onslaught of sex and sexual message directly at our teens and preteens? Do we join the conservative outraged parents in Australia and America are demanding radio stations stop playing the song? **

If not, what message are we sending? Can this problem be fixed? How? You realize it's not just this one song.

I hope you will all discuss this issue in the comments section.

**Additional link: MUCH MUSIC: Racy Brit Song Angers Parents