Willie vs. The Weaponizing of Music In The War of Identity
“We are all the same. There is no difference anywhere in the world. People are people. They laugh, cry, feel, and love, and music seems to be the common denominator that brings us all together. Music cuts through all boundaries and goes right to the soul.”
–Willie Nelson
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Sage words of wisdom from one of music’s most iconic figures, and a man who is recognized as a one of the world’s greatest pacifists. But unfortunately the era of listening to music for its universal appeal, or celebrating it for its power to bridge our differences is over, regardless of what style of music you’re speaking of. So is the practice of evaluating music based upon its own merit for things such as composition, originality, skill, or even infectiousness and overall appeal. Enter the new era where music for many is nothing more than a social tool used to tribalize and fracture individuals based on group identity, with the ‘who’ being the most important element to a song, album, or performance, not the ‘what.’
We’re seeing this pernicious trend sprouting up all over the place in popular culture. Often the media chooses to cover certain musical artists simply due to their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or political stances, sometimes prefacing that coverage with positioning statements and identifiers even before the name of the artist or the subject matter being discussed is mentioned. Some in the media even use identity as a litmus test on whether they choose to cover certain artists at all, or choose to cover them in a favorable or unfavorable manner. Often in these features and interviews, music isn’t even broached, and instead the discussion centers on social issues and identity narratives. Where before we were taught to look beyond factors such as race, sex, and sexual orientation, now it’s often the primary focus.
Similarly, performers are now actively courting tribes of individuals more than ever, and those tribes are coagulating around certain artists with an allegiance rarely seen before. The music itself is simply the excuse to draw attention to the celebrity and their public persona, and is almost superfluous in the equation. The ultimate outcome of this exercise is the further polarizing of society and the entrenching of ideals. This is the exact opposite result than most of popular music in previous generations pursued and achieved, and is against the ideals that artists like Willie Nelson and his peers espoused in previous eras.
Most certainly diversity and equality should be yearned for in music, and everyone—from fans, to the media, to the music industry and the artists themselves—should make sure that things such as race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or any other identifying factor never inhibit an artist from having their music judged equitably in the marketplace, and rising to its utmost potential. For years this wasn’t always the case, resulting in an understandable emphasis upon making sure performers of certain minority or marginalized groups were given equal footing in their pursuits.
But this new identity movement is something entirely different. Not only is it about purposely gerrymandering the systems to actively push artists exclusively based off of their group identity or their professed grievances with society irrespective of the efficacy or appeal of their music, but this same movement is actively looking to use music as a tool to wedge people apart, and even to incite rage, with the results at times being violence pouring over from social media and musical fandom into the real world. Where before music was seen as an agent for peace, now it is being outright weaponized in the raging identity war.
As music writer Tim Sommer asserted in a recent essay called Why Music Can’t Be Beat as a Shaper of Identity, “We are at war. Deep down you know this. Who will lead our army? I do very much believe in music’s ability to be a locus for identity, a pin on the map of who we are and what we believe in. And identity has the ability to incite rage. Identity has the ability to invite enemies and attract friends. Identity has the ability to provide comfort and shelter.”
One focus Tim Sommer’s essay is to point out how music often gives a home to the marginalized and forgotten who don’t feel like they fit in anywhere else. It’s shelter to those pushed to the fringes of society—the freaks and geeks of the school cafeteria so to speak, or as the essay says, “[Music] welcomed us when we were lonely, bullied, frightened, chased, and harassed, and it said, you are now one of us.”
In this case, music can most certainly offer a community and a sense of belonging that popular society withholds from many. But this gift imparted by music doesn’t have to result in the Balkanization of music culture as a whole based off assigned tribal identities. The power of music is to bring people together regardless of class or degree of conformity to societal norms. And though some of this rhetoric is (hopefully) symbolic, if not hyperbolic, the belligerence and parallel to violence we’ve seen from many sources in how they speak about music in 2019 is outright alarming.
“Music may still be the greatest and most dramatic way to establish identity,” Tim Sommer’s essay continues. “And we can fight with identity, nearly as surely—and more pervasively—as we can fight with bullets. The frontline of this war is identity. And the doorway to identity is music.”
Along with the violent parallels is the encouragement to build tribes as opposed to work to resolve them. The fracturing into separate groups is counter-intuitive to the coming together often promoted in the songs of the folk revival of the 50’s to the counterculture revolution of the 60’s. The essay goes on to say,
“If you identify, either by birth or choice, as anything other than a heterosexual white male, you are under attack as you have been at no time in the last fifty years. Maybe the battle is not yet on your doorstep—or maybe it is. In any event, I guarantee it will be soon. You can pretend otherwise, but you are fooling yourself. I promise you this: At this moment, the core aspects of identity of you or someone you love is under assault.”
As a matter of statistical certitude, this statement that non-white males are under assault more than at any time in the last 50 years is completely untrue. Through the work of individuals such as Harvard Professor Steven Pinker and scores of other statisticians and crime experts, including leading work from the Pew Research Center, our current society has been proven to be unequivocally safer, less violent—including towards women and minorities—and more open to opportunity than in any other time in the history of Western society.
Notions about the civil liberties of of individuals being under greater assault than ever before in the last 50 years is simply a construct of the media focusing on sensationalized stories and anecdotal evidence which often works to further tribalize society, and on purpose. That’s not to say there isn’t serious levels of prejudice and injustice still pervading American and Western society. But it exists in lower levels than it has ever been before, with strong consensus behind these conclusions. It’s often the media attempting to hold on to dying business models which emphasizes the tribal warfare occurring in society for the heightened attentiveness it delivers to their respective outlets. These anecdotal stories and bias coverage is often amplified in social media echo chambers, where individuals isolate themselves from being exposed to ideas an perspectives counterintuitive to their own—a further pernicious trend of tribalization.
Furthermore, with things such as the legalizing of gay marriage in the United States in 2015, the passing of the American with Disabilities Act in 1990, along with hosts of other civil rights statutes from the Federal to the local level—along with similar statutes being instituted throughout Western societies—it’s impossible to look at modern society as worse off today than it was at any other time in the last 50 years for minorities, marginalized populations, or anyone else in 1st world countries.
However one alarming trend against the positive backdrop of lowering crime statistics has been the indisputable increase in race-based violence in the near term on both sides of the political spectrum, from white supremacist groups on the right, to anti Jewish groups which straddle political ideology, to groups such as ANTIFA on the left. Granted, these violent acts are still minuscule as a statistical likelihood that an individual may suffer a race-based or political-based crime compared to previous eras, and are exacerbated once again by sensationalized and myopically-focused media coverage that benefits from tribalizing groups of individuals and pitting them against each other. But the numbers on the violence and discrimination throughout society are increasing, just as the calls are being increased to further tribalize society, including through music.
Tribalization doesn’t happen in a bubble. If you call for groups of individuals to band up based upon race, gender identity, marginalization, etc., a similar counterbalance will often sprout up on the other side of society. Calling for the marginalization of white males has in turn led to the increase of tribalism among them. And as rhetoric has ratcheted up, so has actual violence, as well as virtual violence online. One reason virtual violence has turned into actual violence is due to the pervasiveness of polarization throughout society. Where before polarizing rhetoric was mostly isolated to the political realm, now it has spilled over to movies and television, sports, advertisement, and music especially.
Meanwhile the rise in tribalism in music has paralleled a similar rise in the Stan culture—or individuals who go well past regularly-ascribed fandom to outright identifying their personality with the public personas of music stars, facilitated by the access and intimacy fans are able to forge with their favorite artists via social media. This has become especially pervasive in the LBGTQ community, with fans being told to specifically Stan for artists solely based on identity. An example would be an article like 9 LGBTQ-Affirming Country Musicians to Stan Instead of Shania Twain.
“Stan” is a song by rap artist Eminem released in 2000 about an unhinged superfan who begins to emulate Eminem so closely, he becomes delusional and violent to himself and others. Of course commanding fans to become Stans has a bit of the same hyperbole in it as comparing songs to bullets, but individuals immersed in the delusion of the Stan culture may not be able to tell the difference. The prevalence and immersion of social media has paralleled a rise in this Stan culture, with legions of fans acting as lock-step emissaries for their favorite artists—often with their avatars and subject matter solely being about these superstars in often unhealthy aberrations of reality. Furthermore, many of these Stans have infiltrated popular music journalism, and actively advocate for their favorite artists, or for their tribe’s causes in a complete lack of journalistic ethics, sometimes even gloating about this bias approach, either in the content of their articles or via social media.
The opinions shared in articles such as Why Music Can’t Be Beat as a Shaper of Identity or 9 LGBTQ-Affirming Country Musicians to Stan Instead of Shania Twain are not the work of isolated renegade writers. They’re full of sentiments that many, if not most music journalists hold, and employ when it comes to their decision on who to cover in music, and how. In fact if you choose to offer spirited dissent to this tribalization of music, you’re likely to be the one ostracized in the music journalism industry, risk running being labeled racist and/or homophobic, and ironically, find yourself in the same fate as those geeks looking for someone to sit with at the school Cafeteria table.
But it should be an imperative of all music professionals that the institution of music and its unique ability for generations to bring people together should not be infringed. That’s not to gloss over that in certain segments of society, music has always been an outlet or a catalyst for rage, or the speaking out against injustice. This was most certainly the founding principles behind punk music, certain elements of folk, as well as reggae, hip-hop, and even country music in the way it has spoken to the plight of the blue collar worker and the family farmer for decades.
But actively working to tribalize the institution of music as a whole down lines of race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or creed, shouldn’t be celebrated by the media, fans, and musical institutions. It should be resisted. Author Tim Sommer of “Why Music Can’t Be Beat as a Shaper of Identity” very well may be right. We may be at war, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. But music should not be a weapon in it. It should be the tool employed to help resolve it.
Right now music is incapable for being a catalyst for change, because for every tribe attempting to employ music to resolve some social injustice, there’s another using it to dog their efforts and assert their own ideologies. The result is even issues there is consensus behind going unresolved, while enemies of open and liberal Western societies gain advantage from the infighting as we saw with Russia’s deployment of tribalism and misinformation through social media during the last Presidential election in the United States, and in the Brexit debate in Britain.
Like Willie Nelson said, music has the unique ability to breed the understanding that we all “laugh, cry, feel, and love.” And as soon as we all get to understanding this, the sooner tribalism and it’s fracturing of purpose where we’re constantly fighting with each other can cease, and we can all start working to resolve the underlying issues plaguing society together.
Yes, “Kumbaya.”
DJ
March 21, 2019 @ 11:03 am
Good essay Trigger!
Politicians wanna be celebrities and celebrities wanna be political.
Tribal demands group think, be it religious, political or a club, or ethnicity, or music (or cause de jour) To sway from, or question, the group is to be ostracized.
Music is an “Individual” taste- our “society”(made up of groups) disrespect the Individual- and ostracizes the Individual, there-by alienating him. And music won’t cure that for any noted period of time.
The only way to change minds is to change hearts. The way to best change hearts is by example. The example to be set is that of respect of the Individual and his right to choose for himself. In a monkey see monkey do world the head monkeys (group leaders sided by their zealot constituients) will be emulated.
Change will not happen overnight. The best thing an Individual can do is lead by example. IF that is his choice. If not he is a part of the problem vs being part of the cure.
No problem is solved w/o knowing the root cause. Lack of respect is the root cause of “our group” (society in general). The lack of respecting of another leads to lack of self respect.
Self respect cannot be achieved without showing respect to others- monkeys see monkeys do.
Strive to leave your space a little better than you found it- determined by you, not a group, and you will have done your part, no matter what kind of music your tastes lead you to.
Aerrio
March 22, 2019 @ 8:53 pm
Ethnicity is a group? A group is a choice, not what you are born with or what you face in life. This is trash.
Corncaster
March 21, 2019 @ 11:34 am
This relentless urge to politicize everything is totalitarian, and I will never be part of it. It is also profoundly anti-musical.
Long live Willie.
Aerrio
March 22, 2019 @ 8:56 pm
Agriculture is totalitarian. Politics is a choice.
Conrad Fisher
March 21, 2019 @ 12:15 pm
WOW. This is such a good article Trigger. Thank you. Speaking of Willie Nelson, I’m really surprised at the backlash Willie has been receiving for supporting Beto. His facebook page has some pretty funny comments on it.
Acca Dacca
March 24, 2019 @ 2:17 pm
The comments are funny but equally sad. It’s one thing for outsiders to assume everything associated with country music is ultra conservative in nature, but these people actively seemed to thing long-haired, pot smoking hippie Willie was a Republican based purely on the type of music he makes. These country music “fans” are stereotyping their OWN genre. I really don’t know what to make of that.
Jeff Blanks
October 6, 2019 @ 10:25 pm
It’s not just a country thing–it’s in rock, too (especially metal). There seems to be a sort of feedback-loop effect in the creation of “taste publics” (or any large social movement, for that matter) that creates a sort of groupthink.
Blackh4t
March 21, 2019 @ 12:21 pm
While I agree with your article, I don’t agree with Willie. Too often in my travels I’ve met people who don’t really listen to music with their heart. Some times its whole cultures (I found Malaysia culture [not including the Dayaks ] only listened to pop music to fit in) and often its that annoying guy at a campfire who keeps telling the girl with the guitar to play something they know so they can sing over it.
Either way, its the reason I feel like said geek at a cafeteria drowning my sorrows in Townes Van Zandt.
Kross
March 21, 2019 @ 12:39 pm
no such thing as objective journalism anymore. Music, or otherwise. this is a very insightful piece , I hope you didn’t step on the wrong toes with this one. Or maybe it will be the right toes.
KC
March 21, 2019 @ 12:44 pm
Great article. Well said, Trig!
Pedals Down
March 21, 2019 @ 1:07 pm
A well written piece, indeed. I found it a somewhat painstaking read due to the instances which demand articles such as this being penned, but a necessary piece nonetheless. As you mentioned, these ideologies are now pouring out beyond politics. I read an interesting article not too long ago which spoke on politics’ place in past; when politicians exited the political arena, they left it at the door and could sustain friendships with those across the political aisle with no malice towards those of opposing political views. In contrast with today, politics floods each and every sector of life and it’s effects have been crippling, creating divide and unrest across the board.
I also opened the link to 9 LGBTQ-Affirming Country Music Musicians to Stan and couldn’t make it past the segment on Sturgill. Kacey Musgraves’ plug had so many grammatical errors, I could hardly believe it was published. Then when I got to Sturgill and noticed the author referencing Sturgill’s latest album as “Stranger’s Guide to Earth”, it lost all credibility. I’m not opposed by any means to championing LGBTQ artists or those who support the LGBTQ community, but for the love of God, what ever happened to proofreading and doing your research?
On that note, thank you to you, Trigger, for being scrupulous and making a visible effort to avoid these journalistic errors. That article was a grammatical aberration..
Tex Hex
March 21, 2019 @ 1:15 pm
I blame today’s identity tribalism, in large part, on the erosion, decay, and wholesale dissolving of what we once knew as “journalism.” Yes, people are inherently biased, but at least at one point in time “journalists” (print and TV media) were held to high standards of truthful reporting and only professional, restrained commentary.
Now, in this day of the 24-hour new cycle, where print media publishers, broadcast networks, cable networks, and internet outlets all compete minute-by-minute 24/7 for clicks and viewership, only the most sensational content gets pushed to the forefront. People naturally gravitate to drama. Truth, logic, and reason go right out the window.
Simultaneously, general audiences, more than ever before, can choose what media outlet they like, according to their narrow worldview, and avoid the rest. As highly balkanized segments of a mass audience soak up biased diatribes from their favorite so-called “journalists” (these days, anybody with a internet connection or twitter can call themselves a “journalist”) each group bakes itself into its own “tribe” and an echo-chamber whirlwind of bullshit ensues. Each tribe references its preferred media outlet to justify itself, and each media outlet references its tribal audience to justify itself.
Western society is increasingly becoming a giant circle-jerk and clusterfuck of misinformation and posturing which, unfortunately as Trigger has pointed out, is bleeding into art and entertainment media. It’s not enough to enjoy art and music for its own sake. Now, for many people, it’s a tribal identity signifier above all else.
Bill from Wisconsin
March 21, 2019 @ 3:05 pm
10/10
Lance
March 21, 2019 @ 4:07 pm
So sick of identity politics & even hearing about it and all that goes with it.
I will avoid political music at all costs these days as a result.
Tired of these elitist grandstanding opinions and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Lefty Throckmorton
March 21, 2019 @ 5:14 pm
Like it or not, Lance, an artist has the right to comment on something in society; this is not grandstanding, but what artists are supposed to do. Also, if you’re tired of that, then you also should be tired of country & western artists singing the patriotic drivel they were singing to support the Iraq and Afghainistan wars.
Lance
March 21, 2019 @ 5:23 pm
Nowhere did I say they didn’t have the right..I just wont be listening or buying. If they really feel the need, so be it. As far as the patriotic songs…i guess I’m just lucky and listening to singers who aren’t singing those songs.
HayesCarll2323
March 21, 2019 @ 10:15 pm
Lefty…you actually did something so comical…think about it…what did you just do?
Lefty Throckmorton
May 11, 2019 @ 3:20 pm
I didn’t do a damn thing that was ‘comical’, sir, aside from stating my point of view. People say they’re tired of hearing the progressive or LGBT ‘agenda’; well, I’m tired of hearing from country artists the warmongering neocon Keyboard Kommando chickenhawk ‘agenda’, especially from ‘artists’ that should know better and have studied history (or I’ve presumed they’ve studied history) of all the crappy wars fought in their name since Vietnam that have done nothing for them or for the United States other than cause it to have a lack of prestige and also cause it to stagnate. (as well as provide it with terrorists to attack its people.) These people may think that they’re hot shit for singing this crap, but they’re wrong-they’re on the wrong side of history, and all that they’re doing is getting/giving country a bad reputation as a tool of American neocon dominionism (i.e., what many foreigners call imperialism.) Is that what you and Trigger want country to be considered as?
Also, this article forgets that music was used in the past to call attention to social injustice and other ills since Billie Holiday sang Strange Fruit and Woody Guthrie sang his songs, to say nothing of the songs sung about and during the Vietnam War, all of the protest music done in the 1980’s (this album of protest songs from that decade in particular.)
I understand what Trigger is doing and feeling, but to say what you said, especially considering the patriotic pro-war drivel sung by country artists in the last two decades, is the height of hypocrisy and then some.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
March 21, 2019 @ 6:31 pm
Awesome work. I wish just as many people read this as your FGL and Maren Morris rants.
HayesCarl2323
March 21, 2019 @ 10:12 pm
So good, Trig! I couldn’t help but think of Ryan Bingham’s disaster of an album as I read this. And you better believe; as talented as Brandi Carlile is, she is a media darling for a whole other reason. Brandy Clark will never be loved by the media until she has a social justice song, sung at the Grammys, with a rainbow flag draped around her. I support gay marriage, but I have never seen a period when art is so contrived, lame, and frankly uninspiring.
For instance, Ryan Bingham, on his new album, had some thoughts I agree with, but the way the were presented reminded me of the overzealous ideologue in my intro to government class, who would angrily recite the bumper stickers that he saw on the back of a Subaru on his way to class. It was neither clever, or fresh.
Greg Green
April 17, 2019 @ 4:50 am
As someone said, there’s a big difference between informing and lecturing.
Kevin Smith
March 22, 2019 @ 4:18 am
Yep, this think piece Trig wrote sums up the situation pretty well. The irony isn’t lost on me that a few of the tribalist’s couldn’t resist commenting here and attempting to force their political views, despite the article! And several folks here prefaced their comments with tribal identifiers! Wow!!! Exhibit A, on display. Yeah, we are doomed as a civilization. I’ll be in the bunker if anyone cares!
Bill Waldron
March 22, 2019 @ 6:19 am
Bravo, Kyle. Bravo.
Lugnut
March 22, 2019 @ 6:35 am
That $10,000 ad buy be Russia on Facebook simply changed the course of history. \sarc
Cackalack
March 22, 2019 @ 7:09 am
Excellent article Trig.
Michelle
March 22, 2019 @ 10:18 am
I always hated it when people tried to tell me what kind of music to listen to (because, you know, their tastes were so much more refined). But now it’s not even about the music anymore. Sorry, anything that waves the banner of the cause du jour will not be on my playlist.
Chris
March 22, 2019 @ 12:35 pm
A thoughtful article, Trigger. Thank you.
I do think it’s worth saying that politics in music isn’t necessarily a problem. I’m fairly left of centre, but I’ll happily sing along to The Fightin’ Side of Me because it’s a great song by a great artist. Country music is heart on the sleeve stuff and it’s only natural for singers and songwriters to put what they’re feeling into music.
I think the problem is more with the media. As people have said, there’s been a dramatic drop in standards when it comes to writing on popular culture as well as an internet-driven tend towards “clickbait” sensationalism.
Country music is a family and a music that, at its best, welcomes all of us and I think we need to see that while we might disagree politically, the love of music brings us together.
Trigger
March 22, 2019 @ 12:45 pm
Right now, in my opinion, the biggest existential threat to country music is not the infiltration of pop or any other such thing. It’s the media covering it, who if country music does not conform to their will, they will work to destroy it, and in fact already are working in that direction.
Whiskey_Pete
March 22, 2019 @ 1:51 pm
I feel as though you are not seeing the actual problem but rather a symptom of it.
Traditional country music is dying because the change in demographics. Pop has a universal appeal to people of all backgrounds. Rap/Hip-hop also has broader appeal to people searching for music. Coupled with this popular ideology of demonizing Anglo culture/history in our public education and in our media we have a very negative atmosphere of introducing young people to country music; A historically Anglo/white genre of music. In addition, the belief that people should not integrate into American culture is dead. So country music, a distinctive type of music genre primarily from America is not going to be on the radar for a lot of incoming individuals from other parts of the world.
I’ve said it before, It’s no secret that all the people coming here from all over the world are not turning their radios stations to the local country FM station or digging through old vinyl records of Waylon Jennings or Hank Williams. They turn to pop and hip-hop. Those two genres are at the forefront in popularity. So what’s Nashville going to do to keep the stream of revenue coming? Broaden the appeal of the country music. Make it sound like hip-hop, pop, and rock. Attract everyone as much as you can. Viola, you have a once beautiful music genre that has now been bastardize. We’ve got poppy Taylor Swifts and hick-hop dominating the country music charts and robbing the air waves and media coverage.
Gina
March 22, 2019 @ 12:42 pm
I can’t wait until this obsession with identity politics is over, if it ever is. It’s killing our art and our society. I went to see a non pc comedian the other night and I felt like I was watching an underground show, like people who went to see Lenny Bruce must have felt in the 60s. Good article, Trig.
Whiskey_Pete
March 22, 2019 @ 12:59 pm
“Like it or not, Lance, an artist has the right to comment on something in society; this is not grandstanding, but what artists are supposed to do. Also, if you’re tired of that, then you also should be tired of country & western artists singing the patriotic drivel they were singing to support the Iraq and Afghainistan wars.”
Well because the political tension is so high lately that it has become pretty unbearable.
Yes, the support the Iraq and Afghanistan war brouhaha was over the top in country music at that time. There was this false equivalency that if you didn’t support the war then you didn’t support the troops.
BIG TEXAS MIKE
March 22, 2019 @ 5:50 pm
“We may be at war, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. But music should not be a weapon in it. It should be the tool employed to help resolve it.”
I’M WITH YOU TRIG. THERE IS SOME MAJOR CULTURE JAMMING FOR THE NEW OBSOLETE HUMAN TAKEOVER WHERE HUMANS ARE PHASED OUT FOR A SYNTHETIC “CULTURE.” I THINK IT’S WHAT THEY CALL A MALTHUSIAN SOFT CHECK. ANYWAYS, BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER UNDER A SOUND ETHOS IS WHAT I’M ALL ABOUT. CHECK IT OUT:
https://www.gofundme.com/bg8p8-saving-country-music
Ah SUKI. . .