I’m seeing a lot of stuff out there in blogland, from people I generally respect, about the great conspiracy to control us. The government is reading our emails to Aunt Sally, to find out exactly when and where we will meet for dinner. Corporations are conspiring to dictate our very desires, our taste in everything from clothes to music. People, we are being led to the slaughter like so many bovine schlemiels. Resistance is futile.
Except a few of us, small in number, but grand in courage and determination, have been able to see through it all. We few are smarter than all the sheep in America, hell, the world. They are being diabolically controlled, and don’t even know it, but we geniuses have their backs!
The exact nature of this forcible brainwashing is variable. A lot depends on what it is that we, as individuals, are having trouble being successful (okay, rich) at. Personally, I am pretty sure that, since I haven’t made a dime on poetry, that the combined forces of the government and industry have made it their mission to make people believe it’s not good enough. Literary magazines are in on it as well; you can tell from the poems they publish, which I personally can’t make head nor tail of. They don’t publish mine, therefore depriving the ignorant but somehow noble masses from seeing them. And paying me lots of money. Justin Bieber and Billy Collins are both in on this as well.
Bob Dylan probably started the whole thing.
Omniop 
I’d definitely go with Dylan. How could anyone with such a whiny croak of a voice possibly make the big time without some devious plot?
Exactly. I mean, who listens to lyrics, anyway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Au1FqqQ-BU – Soulja Boy – industry born Interscope, one of the biggest record labels around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3nbTB2KHuM – Shad – Debut album, self made, currently on Black Box Music, independent record label out of Canada.
Up there, that was the point. Not certain who said anything about having trouble being rich. It’s easy to get rich. Like I said in my article, I’m jealous I didn’t think of being a carbon copy first… That said, I still could be, and I could probably make it big. There’s any number of things I could do to get rich quick, right now. But why? None of those things would be good. I used to rap, myself, and had the chance to get a record deal. My problem is, I refuse to “do what makes money” simply because it makes money. Good fun or no, the point is, there’s a problem, and the problem is the pushing of garbage to the masses, and if everyone saw it, I don’t think there would be so much garbage. It’s just like the landfills and the nuclear waste dumps and the American political system. If everyone was paying attention, the world wouldn’t be as polluted as it is, and the politicians wouldn’t be as corrupt as they are. How do you explain it all without the obliviousness of the masses? Or is it easier just to say, “That’s just the way it is?” I’m not content with that.
This was satire, so doesn’t necessarily represent my most nuanced view of things. There’s a quote from somewhere I’ve never been able to track down: “The masses! When they’re not sheep, they’re swine!” A bit harsh, but undeniably relevant. I would just remove the contemptuousness.
Where I disagree with you is the degree to which it’s a result of some brainwashing scheme. The Biz is just interested in making bucks, and it’s easier to figure out that the masses like swill than it is to figure out how to get them to prefer it. If you could find a producer who put only the best out there, I’m willing to bet they’d go broke very quickly. It has happened.
Can you at least tell me that Soulja Boy is trash, and that NOBODY on Earth should spend any amount of money on his albums, or accept them for free? In fact, can you tell me that they should be burned? Okay, not burned…because that might have a negative environmental impact. But they should be confiscated from everyone who has one and destroyed.
I don’t think it’s a “brainwashing” scheme. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I think people are just oblivious to certain things. I don’t think not being given enough information is the same as brainwashing. It’s the same as how I didn’t know about my local farmer’s market. I just wasn’t aware such a thing existed (which is stupid on my part because I live in the Midwest and there are plenty of farms around here).
Can you tell I HATE Soulja Boy?
I totally agree there’s vast amounts of trash out there, catering to the very worst instincts of humankind, yes, including soulja boy.
I’m taking that as permission to crucify him. If I’m not back next week, it’s because I’ve been taken out by some “Souljas”.