SEPT 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 9

GUEST COMENTARY police

GUEST COMENTARY police law news yrs. Daniel Carr It’s a Damn Shame. Oliver Anthony’s poetic wrecking ball. I am the last person who should write a music review. I blew out my eardrums and have permanent hearing loss from attending hundreds of metal/rock concerts in small venues around the Chicagoland area while in high school and college. And because of that I nearly failed the audiology examination to get hired at the police department when I was 22 years old. But, on what I am qualified to write about - it is not music. Just ask my wife who has a degree in vocal performance and is a classically trained opera singer. She rolls her eyes at my musical preferences - which include Third Eye Blind, Atmosphere, and Zach Bryan. But the seismic rise of Oliver Anthony over the last few days cannot be brushed off as a purely musical achievement. This is a defining cultural moment where self-reflection of society itself is inevitable. If you are one of the 6 people in the country that hasn’t heard it yet - stop reading - go listen (here) and then I’ll connect this work of raw art to everything else that matters to decent people. THAT’S IT Oliver’s song Rich Men North of Richmond is THE anthem that a lot of normal people had a 14 The BLUES craving to hear - to remind us that we are not the problem. A necessary admonishment that our aggressive resistance to bad ideas is instead - the solution. I wish politicians would look out for miners And not just minors on an island somewhere Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat And the obese milkin’ welfare Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down When was the last time you that were stopped dead in your tracks by the lyrics of a song? THE WHY As a society we passively allowed rioters to destroy cities and businesses in 2020. We allowed maniacs to take control of our streets and offered up our sense of security as payment for the hope of woke social credit. We then had to think twice about where we let our kids play. My 70 year-old life-long Democrat mother felt compelled to remove her yard sign that expressed support for first responders so that her windows were not smashed in. And those who challenged the anarchy and took up arms to defend life and property were labeled by the media as “racists”. Elected leaders across the country bowed down and groveled at the boots of angry mobs that demanded we (via the threat of violence) defund our police departments to achieve their goal of destabilizing communities. Our weak leaders were cuckolded by dishonest elites who reside behind high walls with expensive private security forces - knowing that they enjoy the luxury of avoiding the consequences of their faux public beliefs. Employers held their workers hostage and forced compliance on personal health issues. The deep state nudged the dangerous and unelected administrative industrial complex to erode individual rights and promulgate scientific wrongs. And after all that we now have this guy calling us out - singing a song in the middle of nowhere - infecting our ears and smashing us in the face with truths that we can no longer deny. FINAL THOUGHTS Oliver Anthony now has a massive audience. This is the result of an honest man with something important to say - who has balls to say it. And we should listen. As the time to stand back and standby has long passed.

The BLUES 15