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So I've decided for my final project for music class I will base it on the political side of music and how it is a very dangerous tool in the hands of any tyrannical organization. Will post back when it comes along.

Here's my draft so far.

Act of expression, creative work, political tool, mind control device, and weapon of mass destruction. These describe the nature of music as an art. For what is art but anything that can touch the soul of the stupid?

Those who will allow themselves to be moved by the aesthetic values and principals of others often do not have a concrete philosophy themselves. They would turn to others for guidance since they have no faith in themselves that what they believe is true and righteous. These people are content with ignorance and place their faith in the ignorance and biases of others if, for no other reason, only due to a common experience. It is they who are lax that are easily manipulated. Through common experience and relatable experience, artists are the puppet masters and the people merely players in this grand stage of life.

Art is often described as a collective of creative works crafted for the purposes of beauty and goodness. But what is beauty but a common perspective? It is through that common perspective that we are able to portray ideas and beliefs to others. A way to communicate our ideals to others in a way they can understand. If it just stopped there, we would have no problem. But much like religion, science, and philosophy, it does not. Instead it degrades into a war over whose beliefs are the right beliefs. In reality, there are no such thing as right beliefs. Only wrong beliefs. Yet artists have a tendency to portray their own philosophies as the correct philosophy. This outlook is, in fact, one of the wrong beliefs as they would find it right to motivate others toward their cause, effectively controlling their minds. It should be up to the people themselves to find their own truth based on the knowledge we have already gained. But the lack of artistry across the many plains of perspective causes an inherent bias towards those that lack said artistry. The people are not allowed to make an educated decision because of the many manipulative art forms in our societies.

The only solution is music for music's sake rather than music for the sake of others. Pop music is infamous for its catering to the whims of the populace. As such, they are often put down for being “mainstream”. But what many of these critics don't realize is that their music (indie music, alternative, etc.) are just as manipulative if not more manipulative than their mainstream counterparts. The only truly discernible difference between the two is that one group is hypocritical/completely ignorant in calling the other out. The simple fact is that many people are comfortable with, if not enjoy being told what to do. The question is only, at that point, who is doing the commanding? Ideally the commander would be someone who is very knowledgeable and educated in the subject matter they are pursuing.

Discerning the educated from the uneducated and the manipulative, self-righteous megalomaniac from the honest, humble good Samaritan can be very difficult. Hacker conglomerates “Lulzsec” and “Anonymous” have both been led by the former. Anonymous claims to have no leader and instead unite by a hive mind structure. However this structure only truly works when everyone is well educated on the matters at hand. This is obviously not the case and the uneducated are very often fed biased propaganda by those with some degree of knowledge on the subject of which they gobble up and regurgitate to fellow uneducated persons. A prime example of this proof by assertion in recent times is the “Kony 2012” fiasco. People who previously had absolutely no clue about any goings on in Uganda watch a single, 30 minute video and suddenly believe themselves experts enough on the matter to spread that propaganda to their peers as if it were unbiased fact.

The fragile structure of our social system is, by its very nature, extremely exploitable by any organization with the resources and the backing to do so. Most often, it is done through art whether it be painting, music, film, etc. and with the advent and mainstreaming of the internet, those lies are spread at an incredibly alarming rate. Many governments of today preach freedom of speech and expression, but the only reason they can do that is because they, in essence, control the media. Corporations control the media and the government in turn controls the corporations. We are all being manipulated in some way as marionettes by some puppet master. It's just a matter of seeing the strings and choosing your master.

I'm hoping to expand on it before the due date. ATM, I'm focussing on my other project about Hans Zimmer since that is an actual research paper. As per the project, it's actually more a presentation style format. Something not so much an essay, but rather a speech detailing our thoughts of music in modern day culture. It's not a research intensive final and is more based on critical thinking and observation. As per the due date, it's on Monday. We'll see how this goes over.

It was really up to us to decide. She basically told us "whatever works" lol.