Cold Air-Acceptance, Thursday, January 7, 2021
Last summer, Acceptance announced their comeback. The band released this song on June 18th and the video on July 2nd. It quickly became one of my most played songs of the year. I didn't know what the song was about, but it was full of '80s ambience. The lyrics were repetitive, but passionate. Then they released the video on July 2nd. The video shows four friends of different races standing around a bonfire, but as the video goes on we see that the friends burn old furniture including a map of the United States, on which is painted the words: "We Don't Belong Here," words that are part of the song's chorus. After watching the video, I immediately thought about the Black Lives Matter riots that had been taking place at the time. Jason Vena released this statement to Spin magazine about the song:"'The lyrics in ‘Cold Air’ present a snapshot of a community that is being broken apart by prejudice, indignation, and division. . . [i]t’s about having the strength to recognize change is necessary. We wanted the video to reflect this as well.'"
DON'T IT FEEL LIKE THE FRONT LINES? I think rock music needs to do more toward diversity. Too often rock music is known as "angry white boy music," and fueling this alienation makes the working and middle class white males feel like they are oppressed more than anyone else. The facts are quite the opposite. I'm not saying that there are no economical issues with poor white people. I've had those perspectives before. However, taking a step back from your own problems and looking at bigger issues, like systematic racism, will stop dividing us and work toward a more equal society. This has been my politically neutral stance; however, today was a turning point.
WE CAN'T SURVIVE HERE. The word unprecedented seems overused these days. I woke up to the news this morning that the U.S. Capitol had been invaded by MAGA supporters. The sight of Confederate flags in the Capitol made me sick. I spent my teenage years growing up in the South and learned some whack-a-doo history (not hate but heritage, the Civil War was about States rights not slaves); however, the Confederate flag is a symbol of division. It stands in contrast to the Union flag. The Confederacy has no place in the Capitol. The Confederate flag in the White House was telling about Trump's presidency. Black Lives Matter protests? Send the tanks. Lose an election? Let the people check Nancy Pelosi's emails. In the U.S. black lives don't matter. Kids of immigrants don't matter. College loans don't matter. Hundreds of thousands of people dying from COVID don't matter. Being able to afford health care doesn't matter. Democracy doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the rich get to maintain their power.
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