Friday, October 19, 2018

"Love It If We Made It" by The 1975

The new video for "Love It If We Made it" by The 1975 is pretty devastating. Lyrics reference drug culture, racism, the new nonsensical world of post-facts, dying and dead immigrants, the looming death of our planet via climate change, the current culture's (and President's) stomach-churning obsession with fame and celebrity, Black Lives Matter, Trumpism and his revolting misogyny and breathtaking lies and cruelty and petty gossip mongering, and WW III happening right now, fought piecemeal all over the globe. The video images reference the death of the world's oceans by plastic, the destruction of cities and countries by their own regimes, the insane gun culture of the United States, the opioid crisis, the continued assault on people of color, the unethical for-profit prison system that has infected much of the world, ongoing homophobia, Harvey Weinstein and Brett Kavanaugh and the #MeToo movement started by women who have had enough of being sexual victims, the horrific Grenfell Tower fire, and white supremacists and the KKK. That is what this song and video is about while masquerading as a fun little pop ditty.

But the montage of the faces of young people must be--has to be--a direct call to action. The youth vote is the only thing that is going to turn the world around. THAT is what this song is about too. With the rise of xenophobic right-wing isolationists in the United States and around the world, with Trumpism ripping apart any shred of humanity left in the US, we MUST vote in the upcoming mid-terms. This is the first step in restoring sanity and humanist values. This is not a drill, this is not a test, this is not something that will blow over, this is not something that can be waited out, this is not a game, this is not a reality show. It is literally life and death at this point. We have had decades and decades of warnings to change the way we behave and now we hear the news: we have maybe 20 years left. After that, the seas will be too warm to support the oceanic food chain so no more food. More Category 5 hurricanes, more droughts, more wild fires. The rising waters will displace millions and millions of people--if you think there is an immigration problem now, just wait 20 years. Earth is really dying. We are killing ourselves. And the ones who are in power now are doing nothing to right the ship and reverse course. They don't care. They--and their supporters--don't care that we are going to be out of land, out of food, and out of luck. They don't care that people of color are being assassinated, they don't care that women are being raped, they don't care that children are shot en masse in their own schools (of course conservatives shriek about protecting fetuses, but once you are born, then they will destroy you). We need decency, sanity, the ability to think ahead and determine consequences. As John F. Kennedy said, we need leaders who believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, and the human heart as the source of national compassion. And when you see conservative leaders and their supporters siding with Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, denying a safe haven for those ravaged by poverty and war, giving--yet again--huge tax cuts and more money to the wealthy and more and more hardships for everyone else, deliberately telling lies to incite violence toward one of our most cherished manifestations of democracy which is a free press, blaming women for being victims of male violence, supporting child molesters and wife beaters and embezzlers and black-out drunk sex-assaulting judges for public office (they have admitted the only reason they do so is to annoy and incite the left, which is harming themselves as well), and trying to destroy any system of sane healthcare in favor of profit margins for insurance companies, it is clear that they are NOT the ones who will bring much needed dignity, purpose, action, liberty, or compassion to the United States.

If you or someone you know has ever thought or said, "I don't vote because my vote doesn't count" has to realize that 2/3 of the US population usually does not vote. If that missing 2/3 did vote, then their vote would matter tremendously (and we have seen proof so many times where a candidate won an office by only a handful of votes). Then they would wield power, and in order to wield power, you have to take it. You have to actually vote. If you or someone you know has ever thought or said, "Well, I'm not really into politics" has to realize that what is before us is not "politics." This is not partisan, this is about survival. We have a chance now. Maybe the last real, clear shot. I too, like The 1975, would love it if we made it, if we pulled through and were brave enough to create the world that the best part of ourselves strive toward.



We're f******g in a car, shooting heroin
Saying controversial things just for the hell of it
Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men
Start with misdemeanours and we'll make a business out of them
And we can find out the information
Access all the applications
That are hardening positions based on miscommunication
Oh f**k your feelings
Truth is only hearsay
We're just left to decay
Modernity has failed us
And I'd love it if we made it
Yes, I'd love it if we made it

And poison me daddy
I've got the Jones right through my bones
Write it on a piece of stone
A beach of drowning three-year-olds
Rest in peace Lil Peep
The poetry is in the streets
Jesus save us
Modernity has failed us
And I'd love it if we made it
Yes, I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

Tell me something I didn't know
Consultation
Degradation
Fossil fuelling
Masturbation
Immigration
Liberal kitsch
Kneeling on a pitch
"I moved on her like a bitch"
Excited to be indicted
Unrequited house with seven pools
"Thank you Kanye, very cool"
The war has been incited and guess what?
You're all invited
And you're famous
Modernity has failed us
And I'd love it if we made it
And I'd love it if we made it
And I'd love it if we made it
Tell me something I didn't know

https://the1975.com/

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