Why can’t we all just get along?

I think one of the symptoms of the human condition is an overwhelming need to define oneself.

            This isn’t a bad thing. Building an identity, understanding of who we are as individuals, and making personal decisions about how to interact with the rest of the world are vital parts of being of living in a society.

            That being said, it really bothers me when I see people trade introspection and analytical thought about  the rest of the world for a one-dimensional, cookie cutter persona shaped by parents, teachers, friends or the media.

Everyone is a product of their own experience and choices but it shocks me how many of the people I meet define themselves almost exclusively by their political affiliation, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, job or social status.

I think that’s sad. I’m not saying that these things shouldn’t color our perceptions. Obviously, personal believes and values should be the guiding force in a person’s life, but I think people are too often swept up in the rhetoric of a belief system and stop thinking for themselves.

By defining ourselves solely through one aspect of our life, we cut ourselves of from a whole world of interesting people and experiences.

Nobody wants to hang out with the guy with the hemp belt and knit sweater who only talks about legalizing pot and playing Madden.

I’m not going to get into politics or religion here, because this is a friendly blog, where I crack jokes about Lady GaGa, and the strongest political statement I will ever make is to tell celebrities to keep their opinions to their own damned selves. I’m looking at you Kanye and Ted!

 

No, I’m going to bring this lofty issue down to my level… Music.

Haven’t you detected the pattern in my writing yet?

Really?

Ok look, go back and read this, and this.

As I was saying, the world of music is a microcosm of society as a whole when it comes to one-dimensional…ness. Fans come up listening to a certain kind of music, decide they like it, and say “Screw you” to everything else.

Pretty much everybody, myself included, have had this attitude at one time or another, and for the most part it’s not a big deal. Some folks like country music, and it’s their God given right to be wrong. Where we as music lovers run into trouble, is when camo-wearing dude with a deer rifle in the back of his F150 beats me to death with his oversized Stars and Bars belt buckle for cracking that joke.

           

Obviously that’s an exaggeration, sure I might get a cold shoulder in West Virginia for wearing a Bad Brains T-Shirt, but it isn’t 1969 and my life isn’t Easy Rider.

 Still, when by blindly adopting the lifestyle associated with a certain kind of music you run the risk of ruining the very thing that made it.

Punks ruined punk rock by making it an exclusive club with uniforms and a three cord maximum limit, never mind the fact that Jimmy Page was Johnny Ramone’s favorite guitarist.

Thousands of kids grew up listening to gangsta rap and decided they’d make themselves hard and die young in the hood rather than do whatever they could to get out and live long enough to make something of themselves, never realizing that’s exactly what their idols had done.

And every year hundreds of rednecks with Toby Keith T-Shirt refuse to change the channel to the Stanley Cup Finals at my local sports bar, explaining very politely that, “hockey is for Yankee queers,” no matter how many times I explain it’s just as awesome and violent as football and way more exciting than NASCAR.

I’m the last person in the world to tell someone not to listen to the artists that makes them happy, (unless that “artist” is Britney Spears, in which case, take off those poor headphones, slap yourself, and check out a couple of hot chicks who actually deserve your attention.) but keep your mind open to new things.

Just like in life, good things come from unexpected places. Who knows, maybe the guy who’s been listening to nothing but GNR for 30 years would actually like that new grunge crap if he ever bothered to give it a chance.

            And hey, while we’re at it maybe you could actually have a conversation with the gay couple down the street or the Vietnam Vet across the way who hangs out at the VFW every night.  You might even like the same music.