Gimme some truth

wee_ginga_yin · Apr 25, 2017

stevepetergal said:
Ginga played a song and posted it.
bunnyf started a discussion about politics.

In the past I have posted Deportees by a song by Woody Guthrie
which deals with shipping illegal immigrants back to Mexico and the
song is based on a real story of how they died in a plane crash.
In my opinion a song is just a song which expresses an idea.
Not everyone will agree with the idea expressed in the song.

"The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps"

At its heart the song protests the ill treatment of migrant workers and also
at the time, government policies which paid farmers to destroy their crops in
order to keep farm production and prices high.

I ask myself what if Guthrie were alive today and posted a song to the ukulele
underground about deporting Mexicans... would he be shouted down and told
to keep his politics away from the forum.

The people with a real political agenda have a vested interest in silencing any kind of protest.

bikemech · Apr 25, 2017

stevepetergal said:
Ginga played a song and posted it.
bunnyf started a discussion about politics.
bunny, do you see the problem the moderators have? They want to keep the site musical and they want discussions about politics out.
I'm the first to admit that there have been thread discussions in which I was the bad guy, too.

You really need to be honest with yourself. The purpose of Ginga's song is to make a political statement, thus began the topic of politics in this thread. To suggest that none ought to respond to an obvious political dig because that begins a political discussion in this forum is silly. The political discussion began when the song was posted.

bikemech · Apr 25, 2017

wee_ginga_yin said:
In the past I have posted Deportees by a song by Woody Guthrie
which deals with shipping illegal immigrants back to Mexico and the
song is based on a real story of how they died in a plane crash.
In my opinion a song is just a song which expresses an idea.
Not everyone will agree with the idea expressed in the song.

"The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps"

At its heart the song protests the ill treatment of migrant workers and also
at the time, government policies which paid farmers to destroy their crops in
order to keep farm production and prices high.

I ask myself what if Guthrie were alive today and posted a song to the ukulele
underground about deporting Mexicans... would he be shouted down and told
to keep his politics away from the forum.

The people with a real political agenda have a vested interest in silencing any kind of protest.

I haven't read the rules regarding politics in this forum, and I really don't care, so I won't argue your right to post what you wish. That is entirely up to the moderators. But you should not expect that you won't receive push-back against your overt political messages. As difficult as it may be for you to believe, there are many who will disagree with your views.

And yes, I believe illegal aliens ought to be deported. We should send them all to Finland.

wee_ginga_yin · Apr 25, 2017

bikemech said:
You really need to be honest with yourself. The purpose of Ginga's song is to make a political statement, thus began the topic of politics in this thread. To suggest that none ought to respond to an obvious political dig because that begins a political discussion in this forum is silly. The political discussion began when the song was posted.

What bemuses me is the fact that those that would want to concentrate on Ukulele music
being posted to the links forum, rarely if ever post any ukulele music, yet they object to others
who do post some ukulele music, so the only conclusion that I can come to is that their own political
views colours what type of music is to be allowed or disallowed.

If we consider the civil rights movement in America, that was a protest movement which was galvanised
by the singing of Spirituals and Gospel songs.
"We shall not be moved"
"Before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave"
"We shall overcome"
"Oh Freedom"

I bet a pound to a penny that someone on UU has covered some of
those songs and not a whisper was said against them, and at their
heart they are very political songs.

I rest my case and I think I have said enough. Time to move on.

bikemech · Apr 25, 2017

wee_ginga_yin said:
What bemuses me is the fact that those that would want to concentrate on Ukulele music
being posted to the links forum, rarely if ever post any ukulele music, yet they object to others
who do post some ukulele music, so the only conclusion that I can come to is that their own political
views colours what type of music is to be allowed or disallowed.

If we consider the civil rights movement in America, that was a protest movement which was galvanised
by the singing of Spirituals and Gospel songs.
"We shall not be moved"
"Before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave"
"We shall overcome"
"Oh Freedom"

I bet a pound to a penny that someone on UU has covered some of
those songs and not a whisper was said against them, and at their
heart they are very political songs.

I rest my case and I think I have said enough. Time to move on.

If someone were to perform an American spiritual or gospel song related to the civil rights movement and then claim that Trump wants to enslave the African-American population, I would likely speak more than a whisper against that view.

stevepetergal · Apr 30, 2017

bunnyf said:
Politics has many guises. Music is one of them. Politics and religion are volatile subjects that are wisely off limits on THIS forum. Certainly discussions and music about politics are a good thing...elsewhere.

You're right. This is exactly the standard we must use when fellow members post gospel or religious hymns and those of us who don't believe in the performer's god or messiah will post "Good job", "Excellent singing" or even "I love this song. Thanks for posting". Some might not respond at all. I will listen, express my appreciation, and never argue with your views. I don't want to ban music written/performed for the glory of a god in which I do not believe. How can we ban music written/performed with political inspiration that insults my/your sensibilities? That would be wrong. The music is allowed. The argument about its' message is not. UU has a very good policy. Let's follow it, bunnyf.

bunnyf · May 1, 2017

stevepetergal said:
You're right....The music is allowed. The argument about its' message is not. UU has a very good policy. Let's follow it, bunnyf.

The music was not out there on its own. It was connected to a political comment in the initial post.

Gimme some truth

wee_ginga_yin

Well-known member

bikemech

Well-known member

bikemech

Well-known member

wee_ginga_yin

Well-known member

bikemech

Well-known member

stevepetergal

Well-known member

bunnyf

Well-known member

Similar threads