Monday, September 22, 2008

In which Three Questions are asked, and none adequately addressed

Question the First: Is music (especially lyric-heavy pop) good for us? I wonder whether it warps my thinking sometimes. I always do that; listen to pop music and then overthink it to a ridiculous degree. Sometimes I catch myself twisting my perceptions of my life to make it fit with the lyrics. This is definitely bad, I’d imagine. You know, you listen to a great catchy song about how annoying it is to be given a lot of advice (or whatever) and even though you don’t actually mind, you find yourself going “yeah!” and resenting something you actually appreciate normally.

Probably this stems from my vain (as in “you’re so vain”, not as in “it was all in vain” attempt to extract compliments and comfort from songs in high school. So when Green Day tells you that “she’s an extraordinary girl” (or, indeed, a “rebel”), I (and at least 5 other girls that I know of) go “aw, thanks, man! It’s true, I am pretty great. Awesome.” And so on.

This is a well-attested phenomenon, I know that R.E.M. wrote “Everybody Hurts” to make teenagers feel better (which is why it’s so simple in structure, to be more accessible to angsty 16 year olds).
Eh, this is uninteresting perhaps, but still, it intrigues me that sentiments that I would normally dismiss out of hand have such an impact when sung.

This leads us to…
Question the Second: Why is it that figuring out what we oughtn’t do doesn’t stop us?
I’ve noticed recently that a lot of people do irritating things, things which I know I do (or have done) but not previously realized are annoying to innocent bystanders. Surely this sort of this should make me better? I’d realize that when I show off absentmindedly, (or whatever), my dear friends suffer through the urge to stab me in the throat. So why do I still do it?

Lastly, and much less introspectively (thank goodness) is Question the Third: Why, in this recent series of Doctor Who, is it so often presented as being Not Okay to kill people but Heroic & Perfectly Fine to kill people and sacrifice yourself at the same time? Seriously, it happens a bunch of times! Every third episode had people heroically leaping to their deaths with villains in their arms, practically. Why is that sort of thing fine, but heaven help you if you kick a Dalek? Honestly, it seems a little suss to me.

3 comments:

Katy said...

hey! you're blogging again!

and massively! very long posts!

phwoa

Ang said...

Hello thesis!

Vivian said...

lol you're so funny Angi...must resist the urge to stab you in the neck next time you do something irritating..