The General Consensus of Society Today

By Dillon Wheeler

So what is happening to today’s (my) generation? We have all this technology at our disposal, much more than when my parents were my age, we have things like cellular phones, high definition and now 3D televisions, video games, computers and the internet, among other things. Most of us have grown up with these things, cherished them all our lives. They have made leaps and bounds on average intelligence. People are overall, smarter today than they were a few decades. So why is this important?

Art.

Art is eternal. Since the dawn of Man we have been expressing ourselves and humanity as a whole through art. Drawings, Paintings, Sculptures, Writing, Dance, Film, Music. All of these are only some of the ways we express ourselves. Drawings from Leonardo da Vinci, Paintings from Picasso, Sculptures like Michelangelo’s “David”. All are timeless works, studied and revered.

But now let’s take a look at some contemporary works, especially in music. What has happened to the days of the composer? The days of when music was actually music? Sure we still have some out there, but what about whats popular? Surely with all this technology and new found knowledge we could understand and appreciate the art of music.

And then we get the soul searching work of Soulja Boy.

“Soulja boy off in this hoe

Watch me lean and watch me rock

Super man that hoe

Then watch me crank that Robocop

Super fresh, now watch me jock

Jocking on them haters man

When I do that soulja boy

I lean to the left and crank that thang”

- Soulja boy Tell’em

If that doesn’t make you proud of all we, as human beings have accomplished, let’s take a look at another great contemporary poet of our time.

“They be like smooth(what?)

Can u teach me how to dougie?

You know why?

Cause all da ******* love me(aye)

All I need is a beat that's super bumpin

And for you, you, and you to back it up and dump it!

Put your arms out front, lean side to side

They gona be on you when they see you hit dat dougie right?

Aint nobody ****** wit my bro from morningside

He go by bubba and he hit dat dance wit thunder.”

- California Swag District

Do you see what I am talking about? Words like “He go by bubba and he hit dat dance with thunder.” Are oh so symbolic. Say them out loud at about half the speed you normally would, then tell me if they sound great to you. And I know, all new music is not like this, but the majority of the “popular” crap is. And sure, you could say songs like “Rocketman” or “Yello Submarine” are just a bad as music today. But you have to agree that shallow music was much rarer back then, than it is today.

So why did this happen?

The ideology that being a criminal, “Gangsta” was cool. Sure, it may be cool, but who will likely better humanity, The man who has a terrible vocabulary, and can hardly read or write and just want’s to get “crunk”, “slap dem hoes” or “pop bottles in the ice”? Or the intellectual man who goes to school, aspires to become something more, to make something of himself and enjoys learning.

Maybe now you see my pain.

I look at the world and the general consensus is that it is okay to aspire to be meaningless to society. U.S President Barrack Obama nailed it when he said,

"You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school."

Sure, Lil Wayne’s lyrics are terrible, but he did do one thing correct, become known for it. He may even try to send positive messages through the sounds he makes, dare I call it music. Good for him, but it does nothing to help people appreciate art and try to better express humanity.

But maybe I am wrong. Maybe music today will be revered and studied in the future. Perhaps society as a whole will benefit from these “Artists”, maybe people will study the symbols and the construction and the talent it took to string the words together. Maybe they will become known as the greatest poets in the history of Man. Just Maybe, but I doubt it.

/endrant.