You may also remember them as being of the first - at least, one of the first well known bands - to try a "concept album" in which the album was, essentially, a musical. The album in question is Kilroy Was Here (1983) in which an aging resistance singer (Kilroy) uses a robot as a disguise (Kilroy) to reach the resistance to help them rise against the evil and musically oppressive Dr. Righteous (theocratic and fascist, which of course is the only kind of government that ever oppresses people). The album had three hit singles: Don't Let It End, High Time, and Mr. Roboto - but all nine songs had something to offer. The album was a complete success, the corresponding tour a complete failure (and, eventually ended up breaking up the band.) If you are looking for a nostalgic walk through mid-80's rock, you could do worse than spending a couple of hours listening.
One of the songs that was on the album but was not a hit was called Cold War. It was sung by the young revolutionary Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw) and is a cry against the powers that be that revolution is coming and they should pay attention to that fact. As I was pondering the events of the last few months, I suddenly realized: we are in a domestic Cold War.
Oh, we are not to the point of shooting (and hopefully never will be). But we are essentially at the point that sides are being more clearly and clearly delineated every day: State governments resisting the Federal government, the Federal government acting against the State governments, citizens of the States starting to clamor for splitting of the states. (If this all sounds horribly familiar, that is because it is.)
In other words, we all disagree with each other and we are reaching the point that the disagreement is showing. A lot.
Is there an end to a domestic Cold War? Well, there are really only four solutions: an actual hot war (any Civil War, any era), one side completely collapsing (Soviet Union), the sides separating rather than continue to live together (Czech Republic and Slovakia, parts of the old Yugoslavia), or simply agreeing to live together through their differences (which, to some extent, is where we seem to remain today). Do I have a sense of which wins out? History is a fairly lousy guide here, as a seemingly random event can catalyze an entire population or lead to nothing.
We really are in a domestic Cold War. To say otherwise is to disguise the problem and have it not be as serious as truly it is.
Cold War (Tommy Shaw)
I'm
tired of your psychology
To
bring me to my bended knees
And
if I could only talk to you
I'm
sure that I could make you see
'cause
time has a way
Of
bringing even mountains down, down, down
Storm
clouds are coming
I
suggest you head for higher ground
I
say you're a thing of the past
And
you ain't gonna last
No
matter what you say or do
It's
all caught up to you
You're
duty-free, you're tax-exempt
You
party with the president
And
you dance the dance so naturally
Why
not believe you're heaven-sent
But
time has a way of bringing
Even
mountains down, down, down
There's
a storm cloud a-comin'
I
insist you head for higher ground
You
talk talk and you get so intense
That
you almost make sense
And
that's what scares me the most
You
as the host of celebrity lies
It's
prime time, baby
Can't
you see in my eyes, it's a
Cold
war-runnin' in the streets
Everybody
you meet knows
It's
going down, don't you know
Cold
war-blowing in the air
Everyone
everywhere says it's time
To
get ready for a cold war
Don't
you look now
But
the skinny boy's becoming a man
You
say it's the luck of the draw
And
you can't have it all
And
I'll die young trying to make it
Into
something that ain't gonna last
You
ought to reconsider
'cause
I'm coming fast with a
Cold
war-running in the streets
Everybody
you meet
Know's
it's going down, don't you know
Cold
war-blood is in the air
Everyone
everywhere says it's time
To
get ready for a cold war-looking at me
From
behind every tree
There's
a scared man running from a
Cold
war-don't you look now
But
the skinny boy's a streetfighting man
I dunno TB. If this turns into a shooting war - I think it will make the last civil war look like a food fight. My family fell to pieces in the current culture war. There will be no borders and boundaries if this gets hot, just long drawn out urban warfare right in your own back yard.
ReplyDeleteNow every time I turn around, I am accused of racism, sexism, chauvinism, homophobia, fascism, etc. I am bigoted, privileged and entitled. All their unhappiness is all my fault - and all I want out of life is to work, pay my bills and be left alone. When my family rejected us we were adopted by a tiny Christian community just outside of town. They love us, we love them... and our own families hate us all the more because of it.
I don't get it. I dunno what else to do. I've stocked supplies, ammo, saved money... because from where I sit, I see the wheels falling off.
I hope I'm wrong.
I have no idea at all if I am remotely prophetic Glen - in fact, I would pretty well argue that I am not. What I am is a student of history - and human nature not having really changed over the past 4000 years or so, history can be very illuminating.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I hold no illusions that in the event of a "Hot" war, things would be anything other than awful - in fact, if an enemy wished to attack us, that would be the most splendid time. And the culture war is quite probably leveraging parts of my own family apart - but ultimately, I never could have controlled that anyway. We do the best we can.
To me, probably the saddest thing is that the very people who blame others for their own unhappiness and argue that by putting them down, they are pulling others up (ignoring the fact that they are doing precisely what they accuse others of) is that in the event of an actual catastrophe, they will be the least likely to make it- because they have endeared themselves to precisely no-one in their attempts to gain power (nor, interestingly, have any taken the first step in actually preparing for such an outcome).
It comforts me that a Christian community has adopted you, and you them. That was the way it was supposed to work of course: the Church was to become as a family, especially in a world that rejects Christ. The size never matters; the bonds and love do.
My biggest concern is that I cannot see any way this level of rhetoric rachets down. It only goes up - and that only really goes to one place.