I have a friend who is very intelligent yet who insists that Paul Simon's song "I Am A Rock" is the ultimate anthem to independence. This mystifies me, as I am equally sure that the song is the ultimate expression of lonely, agonized pain. Of course, my friend was not an English major, so perhaps it is not surprising that he doesn't see the literary devices in Simon's truly poetic lyrics which reveal Simon's clear intent.
The character singing the song is trying to convince us and himself that he is what he claims to be, "a rock . . . an island" who "feels no pain" and who "never cries." He is frantic to do this because he knows in his heart (even if he doesn't know it consciously) that just the opposite is true. If he really were so strong and independent, he'd be out among people, loudly proclaiming his strength, not hiding alone in his room, looking out at and down on the cold and impersonal world. (Hence the images of "cold and dark December" and a "silent shroud of snow.") Also note how the "and an island never cries" lyric seems to stumble to a halt at the song's end. The hesitancy with which it is sung shows the character's own lack of belief in what he's singing.
Besides, earlier in the song he says he is "hiding" in his room. Someone who was really so strong and independent most definitely would not be "hiding." There are additional literary devices that can be teased out of the song, but I've made my point. Nor is my friend's misinterpretation unique. Other people--lots of them--have misunderstood or misinterpreted other songs over the years, too.
When I was a junior in high school [Yes, back in the Dark Ages--Ed.], the song of choice for every prom seemed to be Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven." Here is a song about someone full of self-delusion, who thinks she can buy happiness because she is rich. This strikes me as not being the most appropriate theme for a prom, but I guess no one on any of the prom committees got past the words "stairway to Heaven" and thought that was a great image to use for the prom's theme.
In the same vein, starting a year or two earlier, Carly Simon's song "The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (You Want To Marry Me)" seemingly got played at every wedding reception and even during some weddings--despite the fact that this song is most assuredly NOT a paean to love and marriage. It's the somber cry of disillusionment of a woman who feels trapped and who has no other options but to marry the man who's asked her, despite her knowing her future will be full of isolation, loneliness, and despair, as the song's lyrics make plain. No irony here. It's stated flat out. Yet nearly no one gets beyond the title lyric to see what the song really means.
I see this tendency to ignore what's really being said also affecting and infecting people's ability to examine and digest the news. How anyone listening objectively to the news can continue to support not just Dubya's administration, but also John McCain's run to become "Dubya, Part III" is totally unfathomable to me. Yet (at least in these parts) a lot of people still do support both Dubya and McCain.
Many times it's because the people doing so presume that (1) anyone who disagrees with them is biased [but they never bother to examine their own biases first--Ed.] and (2) [and worse--Ed.] anyone who disagrees with them is a liberal. Gasp! Oh, horrors! That's a fate worse than death to some of the people around here. Yet neither of their suppositions is intrinsically true. But they will not or cannot see how their own biases and presuppositions color their view of the world. [Feel free here to break into a chorus of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black."--Ed.]
I will admit that some of my friends just don't think deeply about any of these matters. They presume that the President (when he's a Republican, that is, and "just like us") would be incapable of doing anything harmful to the country, so they think it is impossible for him to do anything harmful to the country. Even when it's plain as day that he has done harm to the country, they don't believe he could, therefore he has not. "Don't confuse me with the facts--I've made up my mind."
My mother--who is correct about this as she is about so many other things--blames our collectively increasingly short attention span on TV and the Internet. As said span gets shorter and shorter, we pay less and less close attention to things that require sustained thought, and pretty soon, we are incapable of paying attention to much of anything. And so TV and Internet segments in turn get shorter and shorter, starting a vicious cycle that ultimately will leave us unable to pay attention to ANYthing for more than about 5 seconds at a time--without being bored and turning to something else . . . for another 5 seconds. Our collective ruination cannot be far behind.
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