Review to come later. But they did an excellent cover of Billy Talent’s Try Honesty. Nice.
– I was speaking to a gentleman last night who did not appreciate when people (who have access to the masses) express their points of view without providing a disclaimer. Examples of people he spoke about were Bono of U2 (using the forum of his concerts to express the need to help the impoverished), Oprah Winfrey (expressing views of who she supports in an election) or even Jared Paul (a spoken word artist opening for Raine Maida who expressed his thoughts on various issues around the world through spoken word/poetry.).
This gentleman also indicated that he is fine with these people expressing their views if they add the disclaimer “You should inform yourselves of all sides of the story and not just take my views as Gospel.” He was upset that there are clearly apathetic blind followers out there that simply agree with a view because “Bono said so.”
Discuss.
– In this digital age, it is hard not to see the following scene: You are in a crowd and an artist is on the stage. In your direct line of view is the person in front of you holding up their digicam and you can see the artist through the viewscreen as well as seeing the actual person on stage. I thought that would make an interesting album cover…what’s more important to these people? Watching the real thing or watching the real thing through a screen?
iplaying: Line and Sinker – Billy Talent (Billy Talent)
4 replies on “Random Thought Processes from Raine Maida Show”
“You should inform yourselves of all sides of the story and not just take my views as Gospel.”
Is he a friend of yours? Because he’s an idiot. It’s implied that you should consider other opinions. OF COURSE you don’t have to say that every time.
And really, he’s upset because people will blindly believe that there are impoverished people out there?
Come on!
Did said person give a disclaimer before he expressed his views on the lack of disclaimers preceding other peoples views?
Well no, said person did not provide a disclaimer but clearly he must believe he doesn’t fall into the category of people who have access to the masses.
Well guys, I definitely agree with Paul that it’s implied that you should consider other opinions. This brought back a memory of Seinfeld where they always added the line “…not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Imagine if we went ahead and said “…but inform yourselves.” after everything we said!
I can definitely see where your “gentleman friend” is coming from. As many of you may recall, I started my blogging days with a guest rant on Palmer’s World about Bono and his political views, particularly within the scope of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas”.
I think the point the gentleman was trying to make by saying that a disclaimer was necessary is that there are members of the general public who lack the common sense to know that they should investigate the issue in question themselves and form their own educated opinion.
Remember: “Common sense is not so common.” There are people out there who will blindly support whatever cause the celebrity they love promotes.
Look at how many people will rush out and buy whatever book Oprah is currently promoting. All authors need to do these days is get Oprah to read and like their book and they will have an instant best seller on their hands. Does this mean that every book Oprah promotes is a good one? Heavens no. Has anyone actually ever read She’s Come Undone? I was shocked to see that it become one of Oprah’s picks since I had read it before and found it to be the most depressing book ever.
The problem is not really about whether celebrities use disclaimers. The notion of having to preface your every statement by encouraging people to form their own opinions is somewhat ridiculous. The real problem here is that many people in our society lack the critical thinking skills necessary to make informed decisions.
Don’t get me wrong. I do love ranting about Bono and how his preachiness about the children in Africa drives me insane. However, I think in the big scheme of things, perhaps the problem truly lies within our school systems, where many children are taught to just regurgitate what the teacher tells them. (I even experienced this in a university class where my professor actually wrote on one of my papers that my “opinions were wrong”. Does that even make sense?) Encouraging this “teacher is always right” mindset produces sheep who are easily dazzled by celebrities rather than independent thinkers who can see through the celebrity status to the heart of an argument and decide for themselves whether they agree or disagree.