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Aug 24, 2004 An Open Letter to Michael Mulville: I'm sure by now you've received dozens of emails pointing out your obvious ignorance regarding Bruce Springsteen, his music, and his credibility as a political voice. ("Bruce Springsteen and Stupid People" Aug 20) It's embarrassingly apparent that you no nothing about the man or his 30-year commitment to social justice and human rights. If you're interested, I suggest that you listen to The Ghost of Tom Joad or Nebraska a couple of times. You might want to get the liner notes in hand and read along while you're at it. By your twisted logic, the likes of Ezra Pound, John Steinbeck, or Woody Guthrie have absolutely no right to voice a political opinion, which even the most partisan of hacks would agree is ridiculous. Or at the very least, you are postulating that anyone who listens to the opinions of those artists is "stupid." Finishing your screed left me wondering about a few things. Whom, pray tell, do you think is qualified to "have a voice" in these matters? As Springsteen pointed out in his interview with Ted Koppel, why is it that people are willing to suggest to musicians and other artists that they should just "shut up and perform," while at the same time, these same people are perfectly willing to legitimize corporate lobbyists, for example, who shill on capital hill on a daily basis for policy changes that will directly benefit their own self interest? Why is it that people, such as yourself, apparently have no problem that the current Bush gulag will hire, for example, lobbyists for the Energy Industry and put them in charge of environmental policy? What possible "qualifications" do they have to set environmental policy? (I might point out that this is probably one of the reasons an ex-republican EPA administrator who served under both Nixon and Ford recently called Bush's environmental policy a "disgrace" and said that the EPA should be renamed the "Polluter's Protection Agency." But I digress.) Secondly, I think your general point, that "stupid people" let uninformed and/or partisan voices sway their thinking, is a valid one. But I would submit that you are barking up the wrong tree in your criticism of musicians, who in this case, are holding roughly 8 concerts in early Oct. The real culprits in this arena are the 24-hour cable news networks and talk radio. Do you, for example, level this same criticism at listeners of Rush Limbaugh? Why aren't you focusing your energy on "debunking" the supposed legitimacy that surround the Bill O’Reillys and the Sean Hannitys of the world, who are out furthering our descent into soundbite nation? Aren't they just as ill qualified as say Bruce Springsteen (although I'd postulate that Springsteen is far more qualified to talk reasonably about politics than either of those egomaniac self-aggrandizing hacks), to tell people how to vote? ... And make no mistake, they are telling people how to vote. Michael, I have no idea about your politics, although I'll surmise from your frontal attack on the key member of the "Vote for Change" tour that they are right leaning. But either way, it wouldn't hurt you if you engaged in a little "intellectual honesty" regarding this issue so that in the future you'll be less inclined to look like one of the stupid people that you are indicting. ------------ About the author: Rob Haswell is a freelance writer. He can be reached at: bigskiphazzy@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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