by Apparently pop singer Moby wants to use his 15 minutes of fame for something meaningful. “I resent having our foreign policy determined by oil men,” he wrote. “And I resent having a cabinet that is filled with old men who have no understanding of the new economy. And I resent anachronistic, right wing politics that focus on absurd issues like the Pledge of Allegiance while the economy falls apart. And I resent having people who work at energy corporations determining our nation’s energy and environmental policies…”
When I was a teen, musicians and artists seemed to have something to say to me, but as I grew up, their stature shrank in kind until I could see them for what they were: mere boys and girls living in a fantasy world. This is not to say that all stars are ignorant of reality; Bono and John Mellencamp have exemplified themselves with their actions. As for most of the rest, I am glad to have outgrown their strident ravings.
Apparently Moby thinks it would be more appropriate for ennergy policy to be determined by persons ignorant of the way that industry really works. Sloppy thinking like that is one reason I was eventually able to see through the facade of meaning cast by the pop stars of my time.
As for the “new economy”, there’s no such thing. There’s only THE economy, and the remaining new economy players are simply scrambling to find a place with in the reality of it.
Moby does get one thing right, in part, when when he decries the time and effort that is being wasted bickering over the Pledge of Allegiance. He is quite correct in calling this farce ridiculous; however, it is hardly as a result of the right wing of our political system. Rather, it is the very constituency of which Moby is a part that have wasted our time and resources with this childish natter. Pop stars…
