We want a revolution

I've spent a better part of this week reflecting on where we were exactly two years ago; how afraid we were and how confused. We were thrust into a dynamic change that made us question our own definitions to seek out new meanings. Our sense of stability fell with the Twin Towers, and in those ensuing weeks, we were poised to set off a period in our history that rivaled those of our grandparents during World War II -- a period that celebrated unity in order to overcome a known evil.\nBut where did it all go wrong?\nThe rapid patriotism and unity that accompanied Sept. 11 has slipped from our fingers into a fog amidst talks of an "axis of evil." We've been abandoned with unanswered questions, unsure of what to believe in, calling in the integrity of both the left and the right. \nStill unmentioned is the untimely casualty of the soul of Sept. 11 -- a spirit that embodied patriotism, the search for truth and a longing for political and social upheaval in an effort to bring about understanding. Whether he intended to or not, when George W. Bush told us to "just keep spending" in order to help the post-Sept. 11 effort, he took us out of the active role as citizens and made us passive dwellers in a nation that influences the free world. In order to float an economy, we walked away from a chance to explore and renovate American values.\nAnd so America has let the soul of Sept. 11 become a fad, when it should have been a revolution. Soccer moms with flags on their caravans, "Osama: Dead or Alive" T-shirts and Freedom Kits have been relegated to the cynical sect of our culture which has been engaged in an ongoing Greco-Roman wrestling match with über-patriots. The soul of Sept. 11 may have contained one too many bad marketing tools, but at its core it wanted to achieve social change, and that is more commendable than any war.\nWhat puzzles me is that in this politically rich and turbulent timeframe, we have not been exposed to politically and socially charged art, mainly music, in the mainstream. An artist like Radiohead has a commercial reputation that depends on outspoken lyrics just as much as artistically adventurous music. They are creating an aural forum of debate, singing songs about our "witching hour" and screaming that we have not "been paying attention," churning out sonic opuses that engage our social standing head-on in order to awaken us.\nAside from Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and the Dixie Chicks, many mainstream artists are afraid to stand up and make their voices heard out of fear of commercial failure and public ridicule.\nNo one should be afraid, for this is the time for many to make their mark as the voices of a generation, to be the purveyors of a movement toward an upheaval of ideas. While there are many ready and willing to take on this task, record companies and promoters are not as eager because they have just as much to lose as the artists. It's a sad state where so much relies on the authority of a corporation, but them's the rules. \nCorporations like Sony Music and Clear Channel Entertainment need to let the enraged voices be heard, voices that have more to say than just "baby, baby."\nLast year I had the privilege of being in Professor Glenn Gass's Beatles class. On the first anniversary of Sept. 11 Gass asked, "What would John Lennon have to say right now?"\nThen he played "In My Life."\nI felt a chill, a tear and a moment of reflection. If someone could just give all of us a few more of those, maybe there'd be some beauty amidst all of this chaos.