Thursday, August 12, 2010

If Only Johnny Horton Were Still Alive! - The Ballad of Steven Slater!

If this all doesn't tell you folk music is still alive, I don't know what will!


Do not tell me the days of the balladeer are over. Technology has just made it possible for the "wandering minstrel" to be a "stay-put minstrel" and regale an even larger audience with their melodic tales of heroic acts and legendary battles.

Without even really looking for anything in particular, I typed "Steven Slater Song" into a YouTube search yesterday afternoon and found no less that 7 songs about our stalwart young righter-of-wrongs. No less than three that were titled "The Ballad of Steven Slater". And even one which took the opposing viewpoint, that Slater was not in the right. Ah, it's a glorious world were even the folks who are wrong get to air their views.

Here's my 2 favorites. If you like them, please check out the respective YouTube channels and see what else these fine creative folks are doing. I'm sure you'll find more you like!





In the media onslaught that has been washing over us since Steven Slater slid down the airplane emergency ramp into our collective consciousness, I see a lot of talking heads on TV that are not seeing the big picture. I've seen commentaries that were all about rudeness of airline passengers and what causes it.

It's NOT about airline passengers, folks. It has to do with the general population being rude. We are existing with 2 generations of Americans who have been told since the cradle, that they are the most important individuals alive and that their shit don't stink! So when the reality of the world crashes in around them (a reality consisting of 400,000,000 other people who feel that THEY are the odorless shit-maker) they become pouting, griping little snot-nosed A-holes.

What Steven Slater did was try to make one feel accountable.

I guess it didn't work.

Accountability is what is most sorely missing from today's American society. If you are a rude dick, you should at least be told so. Lose the righteousness. Don't just wallow in your dick-itude.

And then shut up and let the rest of us get something done.

Talk to you soon.

2 comments:

  1. These past three posts have been very thought-provoking in the bestest way possible. I have forsaken watching 'THE NEWS' for many months now (to keep my blood-pressure down), and I heard about this Slater character through you first. Several of my screenplays deal with 'Doing What is Right/Common Sense' versus behaving the way most of us have been 'Trained' (spoiled rotten). Sounds like this Guy Slater is a Gateway drug back to sanity. I hope he gets his own Reality TV show !

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  2. I hope a trend of "outing" the D-bags of the world becomes a trend to replace the current trend of turning our other cheek to them. They really have been taking too much of our collective energy and time.

    Slater saw that the D-bag emporer had no clothes and we need to do more of that and thin their herd.

    Glad to provoke your thoughts, buddy!

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