Pseudo Existence

This is something that I find comes up a lot when talking to sheltered white kids, so I figured I’d get my thoughts on the subject down.

First off, I feel it’s entirely ignorant to invalidate an entire culture of music because you’re not into it. Not to mention, it’s foolish to base an entire genre off of a few songs you’ve heard or seen on TV.

Now, if you’re under the assumption that rap consists of one guy standing around spitting lyrics, your definition is very limited. Although ppitting solo is more of a poetry with advanced rhythm and inflection, rap can be and is often so much more.

Music is simply an expression of emotion, like any art, but in the form of sound organized in time – usually containing elements of rhythm, melody, timbre and other qualities. Not all need to be present to qualify the piece as music. A drum solo may not have the harmony of a full symphony, but that does not disqualify it from being music.

Rappers use a wide variety of voice timbre when producing their music, as well as various rythyms and dynamics. Inflection and tempo are obvious examples, otherwise you’d never be able to distinguish one rapper’s style from another (those of you who claim you can’t are obviously not listening).

The tracks laid behind the lyrics, especially during the chorus, often include both a beat and some form of melody. Go out and listen to some Andre 3000, Wu-Tang, Dr. Dre, Onyx, or any number of the better artists. Hell, the song Conspiracy by Onyx uses a fucking Violin!

If you choose not to like Rap because it’s just not for you, fine. However, trying to say it’s not music is like declaring to the world that you’re living your life couped up in your own little cave of self-culture. You’re missing out on some amazing music and I feel sorry for you.

I am dumbfounded at what is going on with the Republican party. Are they trying to run themselves into the ground day by day?

First it started out with John McCain’s campaign. It seemed like every decision made sunk him further and further into the ground. The more they focused on absolutely ridiculous accusations of relating Obama to terrorism and socialism, the less interested people were. Not to mention they go and pick Sarah Palin as VP running mate?

Then you’ve got this Joe the Plumber debacle who wasn’t even a plumber and had no intentions of buying his own business. Stood to make more money from Obama’s plan than McCain’s. Alright, that was a failed project… Then why is he still around? Why is he still making speeches for the Republicans on the economy and foreign policy? What the fuck does he know about either, he can’t even figure out if he’s a plumber! What a joke.

But the worst of the worst is happening right now. It seems the entire Republican party has banded together under the ruling of Right Wing talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh is one of the most idealistic lunatics in existence who is constantly spewing from the mouth some of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve ever heard. He lies to his listeners and manipulates the truth in any way possible to fit his ideals.
The far right seem to get their information from him, which is a dangerous thing. He has no moral standing when it comes to reporting the truth.

So the Republican party has banded together to Filibuster and vote against anything the new President tries to throw their way. He comes up with a stimulus package that has the most probable outcome of stopping, if not slowing down our current downward spiral of job loss and foreclosure and the Republicans band together to try to stop it completely!
Do they have a plan of their own put together? NO! All they’re suggesting is “More Tax Cuts!”. We tried that, it doesn’t work! Pull your heads out of your asses and realize that tax cuts will never dig us out of this hole!

But what I find fascinating about this entire ordeal is the Republican Party’s strategy.

If they vote No on the Stimulus and it doesn’t pass, the economy gets worse and worse while the Democrats have majority and the Republicans may stand a chance next election campaigning “This is what happens when the Democrats have Majority”. Maybe people’s memories are short-term enough for this to work, or maybe they’ll seen as the party that stood in the way and lose even more votes!

If they vote No and the Stimulus works, they hope they can campaign on the fact that the stimulus may have worked, but there were better ways of going about it. (Yet they haven’t really offered any plans to the table except a general ‘Cut Taxes’ consensus, which history has already shown to have failed.)

If they vote No and the stimulus passes, but doesn’t fix everything or fails horribly (not likely) they campaign on being the party that tried to stop it and take back over.

The Republican Party as a whole is betting on the stimulus to fail and the economy to get worse, as it’s their only chance in the next election season. They want us to suffer for two more years so they can take back a few seats in the house and senate, only to make things worse anyway!

Well, the American people have already spoken. We elected Obama because of his plans for the economy. The majority of Americans are pro-stimulus, because we’re smart enough to realize that something needs to be done about this situation. So when the stimulus helps turn the economy around, the Republican Party better hold on tight. If they thought the Democrats had a hold on Washington now, just wait. The more they follow the ridiculous ideals and logic of people like Rush Limbaugh, the more they dig themselves into the hole with everyone but the far right. And as the election showed, you’re going to need more than just the far right to win the next election season.

Besides, anyone who voted for McCain on the assumption that Barack Obama is a terrorist… I really don’t know what to say to you and doubt you’re smart enough to work a computer to read this anyway.