By Tommy De Seno
I grew up in Asbury Park, the same place Bruce Springsteen has sung about, has sung in, a place not far from where he lives now.
We’ve met a few times. Bruce and I. Not in any way anyone would remember. Just a fan running into The Boss at Asbury’s bars. I have a picture of us meeting at The Jefferson in Asbury in the early 80′s. I was a teenager working the boardwalk and racing Asbury’s “Circuit” in the 70′s. One of the kids “huddled on the beach in the mist,” if you will.
Before I address his metamorphosis from lyricist into political pundit, which I won’t begrudge him if that’s what he wants for himself, I’ll tell why his songs were so important and meaningful to small-town folks like me.
His lyrics poignantly made known that small-town life can be lonely. And hard. If you are without prospects and uninspired, small towns can be a struggle. You find yourself the only soul on a street or a mile stretch of cold boardwalk. Everywhere else on TV seems cosmopolitan and exciting. Your local economy is always receding. Media ignores your town, so you feel unconnected to the world, wondering if anyone knows you’re here.
Bruce told our story. He sang about us. Despite the commercial success of Born to Run, that song is an outlier. His discography isn’t about some Hollywood pipedream of getting out. He recognized the struggle to get through next week, then the week after, until you are buried right where you were born. Far more people have to find happiness doing that than chasing dreams.
Love of his songs never required a political position. Bruce was a safe haven from that contest. He was universal and unifying. Unfortunately, over the last decade, Bruce traded his universality for political partisanship.
I understand the draw to it. It’s a bug that comes with fame, particularly actors and singers. That lot is encouraged to speak of politics, even though they may not know any better than a laborer talking at a lunch counter. The advantage celebrities have over the rest of us is a microphone and a media that will recite what they say. But punditry is a talent like acting or singing. Not everyone is good at it.
Just look at his Jeep commercial “The Middle” that played during the Super Bowl. His intent was to unify and bring political sides together. So, did he wake up the day after wondering why it didn’t work? Why on the Internet are the sides he was trying to unify are now fighting over “The Middle?” Who rejects a call for unity?
I’ll give you the answer. Pay attention Bruce, because I am good at this.
When the White House changes parties, there is a right and wrong way to call for unity. The wrong way to seek unity is to insist that the other side first admit that they were the problem; that they were why we hadn’t unified in the first place.
In “The Middle,” Bruce started out well, then he framed the fight between “freedom and fear” and “darkness and light.” I’m guessing he thought his side is freedom and light and the other side is fear and darkness? Would anyone agree to that before “unifying” with that message? Did he admit to fear and darkness when the other party won in 2016? All I recall on that inauguration day was “never” this guy, protests and threats. Not unity. Each side thinks, as Bruce does, that they are the middle and the other side extreme.
Let me tell you the right way to seek unity.
There is no middle, nor should there be. The “middle” is utopian pablum. American politics is a tug of war that no one should ever win. Sometimes one side pulls hard and we go too far left or right, then the other side pulls harder and we go back. It’s that struggle that keeps America from extremes, not some mythical “middle.” May America’s tug of war never end.
I don’t expect Bruce to give up his issues for a “middle” or “unity” (He didn’t in 2016), nor should he expect it of others now. I’d rather recognize that there are competing interests than create a world where one side’s issues are canceled.
Unity is living with differences, not destroying them. You can’t have diversity without differences, can you?
Now, I’m not one of those who will throw away his music. Avoiding art for politics is as ridiculous as an artist alienating his fans for politics. Art is more important than politics.
Tommy De Seno is a lawyer, writer and editor of The Polite Political Page on Facebook.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Here’s how to submit an op-ed or Letter to the Editor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.
"middle" - Google News
February 11, 2021 at 09:32PM
https://ift.tt/3qaJNsE
Springsteen speaks to us but he’s wrong about ‘The Middle’ | Opinion - NJ.com
"middle" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MY042F
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment