Where have all the protest songs gone?

Tic-
let me see if have this straight: Those of us here who have gone to school, worked hard, had some success, have homes and families that we love and take care of, are devils? We haven't sponged off everyone else, using our lot in life as our excuse, expecting others to house, feed and clothe us because we are too lazy, stupid to do it ourselves...
We are the bad guys because we have the personal responsibility to care for ourselves and our families? Maybe if more people took the responsibility to care for themselves and their families, people like you wouldn't have to see the children going hungry and dying. It's not in your best interest to support this theory because then you and other Chicken Little tub-thumpers would be lost and have nothing to do. I admire your desire to seek change. Yes, the world is a tough place, life is unfair. Always has been, always will be. The United States, for better or worse
has afforded EVERY citizen the right to an education and as such, the tools required to pull themselves up out of the muck (your words). The key is the ability to motivate people to care for themselves. People who are "comfortable" are not the demon. That argument is as old as the problem. The problem is uninformed people glomming onto causes and issues to make themselves feel better, all the while being part of the problem, believing that we have to "help these people". Following that rhetoric is the worst form of discrimination. That message says we (the folks who know what's best for you) will take care of you, because we know you can't take care of yourself. That is institutional slavery without the forced labor.
As far as this being a "busy street", that is true it is but it's not the street you should be working on. Want to make a difference? Join VISTA, spend more time worrying and working against Bush, and Adolph Ashcroft before all our rights to privacy are gone. Time is coming soon that you won't be able to speak out on the Internet or anywhere else without Ashcroft getting a verbatim transcript.

LUGNUT...May I point out to you that ART regardless of your personal opinion sways and or galvanizes opinions.Earlier I alluded a vast forgetting we are locked in with regards to self respect.I would wager you a pair of tenor amps that if you asked a person regardless of age how they cultivate personal respect they wouldnt have a clue...most think being wealthy or popular or politically powerful equals it.I am sorry that the protest movement of the past equates with getting laid for you for I have no such experience like that.Mine was an awakening of the illusion of differences between races and politics of being just that,an illusion.Onhwy61 is correct,only time will allow us to gain perspective on 9/11.But time and a vast forgetting tend to walk hand in hand and there is a danger of additional jingoism being heaped upon the memory of the fallen and the whys and wherefores of the event.The media will undoubtedly twist it all into rating compromised pap.

P.S. I firmly believe that we can agree to disagree and be civil and learn from one another because thats what I WAS BORN FOR to learn from you and anyone else who has something interesting to say.The alternative is too onerous for me to contemplate.

Brucegel,

I have no problem agreeing to disagree. This phenomenon of art being a prime mover, or galvanizing force, behind social change just isn't supported historically. Prior to Woody Guthrie's dust bowl commentaries through song, art and music was created after the fact to record what happened. What you are describing is a phenomenon that has occured only after the advent of the broadcast medium. It is an illusion that the likes of Bob Dylan, Pete Seger, Peter, Paul & Mary, and others somehow pushed society over the top on any one issue.

I'm moved by lyrics that express the human condition. Being moved in such a way has never influenced me to the point of taking to the streets though. I arrive at that point through a process of discovery aided by a sound knowledge of history, absorbtion of scholarly writings and a sense of right and wrong instilled in me by my father.

As a pretty good example of what I speak, consider the founding of this country. The signers of the Declaration of Indepenence arrived at that point through dialogue, historical consideration and an firm knowledge of right and wrong. The U.S. Constitution was written about at great length through the exchange of letters written by the framers of that document. At the Constitutional Convention the participants may have had different views of the purpose and structure of government but they certainly debated the issues to form a concensus; all without benefit of a song.

God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner and America The Beautiful were all written after the fact. I'm just really trying to argue that most of the people at the time of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war weren't tuned into the songs that so moved you. They were moved by the printed word and a sense of right and wrong. Our generation wasn't the only generation involved in making these changes and the other folks were getting their motivation from sources other than song.

I would hate to think that a people couldn't make necessary change without aid of three stanza's and a chorus.

Patrick

To Brucegel: Many thanks for your caustic remarks about my post. However, I do stand by what I say. I think most so-called "protest songs" are in the same category with tie-dyed t-shirts, bell bottom pants, and other relics of the 1960s.
I grew up in San Francisco during the 1960s - and saw all this sort of stuff - including almost all the various "artists" who played protest songs live - and remain fully underwhelmed by all of them. With the possible exception of Bob Dylan - I think most of the protest song singers/writers of the 1960s are totally irrelevant. I can't think of a more pathetic sight than seeing a balding, 60ish Peter & Paul; and an obese Mary on PBS singing songs that are 40 years old.
As mentioned - if I want commentary - good or bad - I can listen to talk radio or TV (or maybe read the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.). Sorry, but that's the way I see it.