For me, as a career muso, social media is first and foremost a necessary 21st c. promotional tool, the added benefit of course being the personal engagement component - a fluid, hybrid community of friends, family, acquaintances, fans and even approachable strangers with which to connect, have some fun and share info. Now I have "heart-on-my-sleeve" tendencies and I occasionally post an anthro-socio-political quip, meme or reply, but I've always been consciously measured about how far and deep I'd go with personal opinions and socio-political assertions; That is to say, I'm a songwriter, so I've always left the deeper stuff for the realm in which I feel more articulate - my songwriting. Until now.
I, like many of you, can plainly see the smoldering tinder and I think it's time to start screaming "FIRE!" and seek out the extinguishers wherever and whenever we can. I believe we are in human crisis writ large. I believe, as a species, we have breached our lease on this planet and it has begun the eviction process. I don't believe this is a mere swing of the socio-political pendulum and things will simply "come around" for us in time. I believe there are some dark and destructive forces at work - starting with the petrol economy and its predatory, oligarchic proponents - that need to be opposed and stopped if we're to survive as a species.
Now I have no illusions about my ability to rise above the social media din, nor about the extent of my impact on anyone's thinking. But I need to stay hopeful, and quiet reservation is surrender, and therefore simply not an option. So since I've been inspired of late to dial up the participatory-global-citizen burners in my daily life, that energy will naturally also be spilling out more and more onto my blogs and timelines (of course alongside my usual updates and tomfoolery). I will be civil as much as I can and strident when necessary. I will be receptive to, and sharing of, thoughtful, rational and sourced information/arguments. But I also will not be silent to ignorance, racism, injustice, intellectual dishonesty and general dumb-fuckery when I see it. And I stand utterly unapologetic.
If you think me melodramatic and unnecessarily alarmist, maybe I can change your mind. But if you just don't like what I have to say or share, you are perfectly free to ignore me or unfriend me or leave my fan club or boycott my music or all of the above. But still: