Article ReviewIn "
Is A New Dark Age At Hand?" Lawrence Murphy likens causes of the medieval "dark age" to current social trends and concludes that America is headed for one. In the article he is a little overly dramatic and morose, but he's got a point: we only have so much time in our lives, and so much of the meaningful part is pushed aside as advertisers, who care little for our overall well-being, grab up our free time.
My AdditionBut, I think that America would be headed for a dark age regardless of the effect of the Internet, cell phones, and other tools of trite indulgence.
Rock music simply isn't the music of civilization, but it's the music exemplar of America. In public life, rock muzak is played on background speakers at restaurants, college eateries, weight-rooms, fitness clubs, gymnasiums, discount stores, sporting events, fairs, supermarkets, cafeterias, mall stores, delis, and just about anywhere some half-wit can fit a speaker. The important distinction about these places is that nobody goes to them for music, but everybody gets it anyway.
Rock music is also interlaced in TV shows and movies scenes, and is found in an increasing number of TV and radio commercials. Loud ipod speakers further contribute to noise pollution in a public place.
At least in my experience, it is impossible to avoid rock music unless one is a monk in a monastery or a nun in a cloister.
When someone
must listen to rock in order to partake in everyday life, it becomes the defining haze of life, and haze can go a long way in terms of influencing people; not right away, but very slowly over time.
The real problem is that constant exposure to rebellious, grotesque rock music stealthily eventually makes one lose the desire to protect and fight for his way of life, because he realizes he has nothing worth fighting for. In such a case, a lack of caring will destroy civilization and will be the catalyst to a dark age. After all, under the haze of rock music, caring itself cannot be justified. It doesn't fit with the music's let-loose message.
Maybe radical Islam will fill the void in the West left by modern rock. But youth in places like Iran are increasingly liberal, increasingly contemptuous of sharia law, and may end up the same as youth in the West if they become a market for MTV. There is already an
Arabic rap genre. The West doesn't seem to be the only realm that has its days numbered.
So although writer of the article above may be right about the hazards of misusing (or abusing) technology, the spiritual death of mankind will be set to music.
