Sing It Like You Care

I don't often go off-topic (click here for the latest Downing Street Memo news!), but I was surprised to read the other day that Bob Dylan has signed a deal for an exlusive CD release via Starbucks. Dylan, one of the heros of the 60's anti-war movement, signing up with a global franchise that is forcing countless local, family-owned cafes out of business. Sellout?

Last night I watched the first half of a recent movie featuring Dylan, "Masked And Anonymous". It has Dylan's fingerprints all over it and the whole strange plot (so far) is built around his character. There are lots of philosophical lines hinting at where Dylan is coming from these days.

For instance, one character says something like: "There are only two classes of people in the world - the bosses and the workers." The general feel is a tired cynicism with all sides of politics: you can't trust anybody and even those with good intentions end up becoming corrupted. The woeful state of supposed "opposition" parties in the US, UK and Australia confirms this sad prognosis.

Cynicism has its place is such a world, and if that's what Dylan wants to articulate, maybe an exclusive deal with Starbucks is the perfect way of doing it. Hopefully he planning to do something worthwhile with all the profits...

But somehow you have to get beyond cynicism if you want to make this world a better place, with or without you in it. Coming to work today after yesterday's floods, I listened to Neil Young's recent album "Willowvale". Still strange, still laced with cynicism, but somehow a lot more relevant to today's world:

And we'll be watching you
No matter what you do
And you can play your part
By watching others too...

And here's another great line from the same album:

...this must too be told
Some folks are getting rich
By turning bullshit into gold.

The one things that characterized the 60's - before all the dope and commercialism took over - was idealism. Dylan, Young and others from the 60's helped wreak massive changes that transformed societies around the world. Wherever they may be at these days, they once helped stop the Vietnam War and even brought down a president (remember Young's line: "Even Richard Nixon has got soul"?). Big respect, man!

One can only imagine how they might feel today, seeing the world in the grip of another criminal US president, whose administration is a hundred times worse than Watergate. But that's no reason not to keep pursuing the truth, saying it like it is, and pushing and pushing - in whatever small ways we can - for a better tomorrow.

So my message today is what? Stay idealistic. If you believe that you can change the world, you are well on your way to doing so.