I'm pretty sure DC is north of Richmond...

[Vort]

Any thoughts on the latest viral video sweeping the nation in mid-August of 2023? I won't link to it because of naughty words, but I'm pretty sure most of you know what I'm talking about.

[Carborendum]

2 hours ago, Vort said:

Any thoughts on the latest viral video sweeping the nation in mid-August of 2023? I won't link to it because of naughty words, but I'm pretty sure most of you know what I'm talking about.

I saw it.  I didn't realize it had gone viral.

My thoughts:

It has a really catchy tune.  It says what a lot of people are thinking.  And it is also a hopeless song.

Too bad it's true.

[Vort]

6 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

And it is also a hopeless song.

Too bad it's true.

It's a folk protest song. Comes with the territory.

[NeuroTypical]

It is a misery/poverty chant, one of several to come out of the Appalachian coal miners.  I don't come from Appalachia, but my dad's line comes from poverty.  I was taught various chants growing up, as he taught me how to work, and responded to my complaining in song.  Some of these came from coal miners, some from the cotton/tobacco plantation.

Hot sun 'a shinin', daddy's got me workin'.   Workin' in the hot hot sun!  (Also, same chant to "cold wind a-blowin'")

You load 16 tons, and whaddaya get?  Another day older and deeper in debt.  
St. Peter don't you call me 'cuz I can't go!  I owe my soul to the company store.

Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton.   Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day.

 

When I grew up and began researching our Scottish roots, I discovered my ancestors (and their descendants) have the same songs.
Now, you may have heard of the foreign trade, And fortunes made by tobacco lords,
But the working man slaved his life away And an early grave was his sole reward.
A dreary room, a crowded slum, disease and hunger everywhere.
And the price to pay was another day, and fight the anger and despair.

 

I pity folks who are more than 2 or 3 generations away from soul-crushing life-shortening poverty.  Y'all get comfortable and entitled, and forget how it can be for folks.

For decades, kids have made fun of parents and their "I had to walk to school uphill both ways in 6 inches of snow" stories.   In the 1920's, my father really did have 3 hours of dusty hot chores to do before he got breakfast.  He was the oldest of 5 kids, his father was off riding the rails looking for work, and the family really did go hungry if he (or another sibling) couldn't find a jackrabbit or a rattlesnake to eat that day. 

 

I guess my main thought:  If cultural and generational poverty is an alien concept to you, I could suggest spending an hour with one of this guy's videos would be time well spent.  (Or 40 minutes if you play the thing on 1.5 speed.)

 

[zil2]

18 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

You load 16 tons, and whaddaya get?  Another day older and deeper in debt.  
St. Peter don't you call me 'cuz I can't go!  I owe my soul to the company store.

Double thumbs up for this one!   Anyone can sing that low deserves up-voting.

21 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Y'all get comfortable and entitled, and forget how it can be for folks.

Quote

Helaman 12:2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

Mosiah 27:16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. ...

Alma 5:6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? ...

Moroni 10:3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

etc.

  Remembering can be a holy thing; forgetting can be sin.

[Vort]

A politician bravely fires back against Oliver Anthony's slanderous lies! (WARNING: Potty-mouth vulgarities)

 

[Carborendum]

9 hours ago, Vort said:

A politician bravely fires back against Oliver Anthony's slanderous lies! (WARNING: Potty-mouth vulgarities)

Wow!  Even more true than the song itself!

[NeuroTypical]

Dude continues, with clean language this time:

 

(Dude also lets us all know that he's Piedmont born and raised, nothing to do with Appalachia.)  

[prisonchaplain]

I just read a Christian Post article about the video/song. Apparently, many did not like it. However, the author said that while he bemoaned the conspiracies and victimhood that so many who supported the last president expressed, he came to understand why they felt as they did and elected someone to go north of Richmond and blow everything up. I haven't heard the song and have my own biases against conspiracies and victimhood. Nevertheless, a call to active listening is always healthy. 

[Ironhold]

It just debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100; the latest chart came out earlier today. 

I keep trying to tell people that the chart is now vulnerable to gaming because it factors in digital these days, and Streisand Effect tends to drive people to digital to see if something is as bad as the hype says it is.