The War

"and the houses, 

laid out like targets, 

with the deafening sound, 

we watched them all go down, 

and the families, 

now useless bodies, 

they lay still black and blue, 

a gift from us to you..."  -The War, Angels & Airwaves

This is the link to the actual song on youtube...

Since i have been experiencing a writer's block for the past few days, I was kind of at a loss with what to write about. However, I heard a song when I had iTunes playing on random and realized it had some relation to what we have been talking about in class. Once I looked up the lyrics, one verse (above) stood out to me, and I felt like I could write a little about it and what I think of it. This song is clearly an antiwar statement, with images of war throughout the song and the chorus chanting, "why won't you tell me that it's almost over?" I feel like this song makes a strong statement not only about war itself, but about how widespread war has become as an issue to address. We wrote letters on our blogs a few days ago about how communication about war can be improved and I hadn't thought about using culture (like music) to communicate, but now I see it is an effective way to get out  information and feelings about war. This verse struck me for some reason and the picture it painted sticks in my mind. The sarcastic last line, "a gift from us to you," reminds listeners that we are killing people and leaving them there almost like reminders of what we are doing. Now thinking about it, I feel like through music and other cultural activities that bring people together, the message can be spread about war and the destruction we are causing in today's war. Through different types of music, different people can be brought together to create more understanding of war through a common interest. This song, and I'm sure there are many others out there that are against war, is a way to bring people together over a difficult topic.

Einstein said, "killing under the cloak of war is no different than murder." The more people who realize that can make a difference in what is going on today. No matter how the message is spread, the importance is that it is. Culture of today's youth is a really good way to get the message out. Just some thoughts...