Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] re: music and patriotism

Miron Mizrahi mironmizrahi@yahoo.com
Wed, 14 Aug 2002 13:50:24 -0700 (PDT)


Hi,

disclaimer - if I digress here to over analyzing American society
(my fav. subject since moving here 3 years ago), hit the delete
button.

I tried to think about American musicians. I came up with a number
of them but quickly realized that they only represent a part of
America. as you said, Bruce is blue collar, John Mellencamp is
farmers, the beach boys are Calif., country music is country folk,
rap is black inner city..... I could not come up with someone who
represents all of America. this lead me to thinking about "is there
actually something called American?". and I guess there isn't. it
has been my observation, since I got here, that I can't think of an
American society. it looks to me more like (and I am being
simplistic here) a group of people who happen to be living in the
same place. for some odd reason, a feeling that was very clear and
distinct for me in other countries I've lived in (Israel, where I
grew up and Australia, which I now call home) is absent here. A
quick simplistic example to illustrate - in the US, it means a lot
when you say about someone "he is from the east coast". in
Australia, it means little to say the equivalent "he is from
Sydney". the fabric of society seems more disjointed and with more
gaps (I have a theory why, but it is a separate discussion). as a
result you really can't say that if you have characteristics A, B
and C then you are American. there are many ways to define American
and they are all equally valid. hence, I can't think of anyone who I
would call American, or who calls himself one.



=====
Miron

It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
(Midnight Oil)

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