Welcome...and initial guidelines...

This blog will be used in the spring of 2008 by 80+ students at Drexel University to investigate the effects of Iraq on culture and the reverse. Our goal will be to better understand why the US is in Iraq, and to question whether literature can help us on this journey.

Weekly plans and other materials will always be posted in Vista, not this blog. So go to Bb Vista to get the discussion prompts and other instructions.

I intend this blog to manage our discussions and track our collective investigation.

You should have received an email from me inviting you to become a contributor to this blog. The email was sent Monday afternoon to your official Drexel email address.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Blog 4: Effect on pop culture

Ever since the war started, more and more artists are including something about the war or the president in their lyrics. For example the song "Dear Mr. President" by 'Pink' criticizes President Bush on the Iraq war along with many other things he has done during his term as Presidency. “How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?" are just some of things that are said in the song. I don't recall any song that was solely based about the president and criticizing him. A song like this would have faced plenty of bad remarks and scrutiny if it was sang before the Iraq war. But a lot has changed since the war started and certain things which before could not be said, are now being done.
Another song which is related to the Iraq war and criticizes president Bush is sang by Eminem called "Civil War." The following lines basically sum up what the song is about.
Look at the shoes you're filling
look at the blood we're spilling
look at the world we're killing
the way we've always done before
look in the doubt we've wallowed
look at the leaders we've followed
look at the lies we've swallowed
and i don't want to hear no more

(http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Eminem/Civil-War.html)
The rapper talks bout the lies about weapons of mass destruction, and the amount of deaths that are occurring over this lie. A lot has changed since the war, many of these songs would have never been written; musicians are using their talents and voice to protest this war.

1 comment:

Zachary Sherman said...

This is actually a cover of a song written almost twenty years ago by guns n roses, it was written the vietnam war, Kennedy assasination, and civil rights protests.