I smell a rat.
Recent decisions by radio stations to pull the well-known song Baby It’s Cold Outside off the air seems like a bad joke. A joke so bad that it appears to have done more good than bad for the #MeToo movement.
What it has also done is stoke anger, resentment, frustration and it’s confused the issue of women’s rights.
Reaction on social media was swift.
With listeners showing their frustration over what really should be a non-issue, this became something on everyone’s news station and social media feed.
Immediately the discussion turned to hip hop with frustrated folks pointing out that pulling those songs should also be pulled if the classic one is.
Let’s face it, every genre has its sexist and questionable lyrics; just look at the song Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. That’s a song that should be pulled and deleted from the annals of music’s history.
The only version of that song that is any kind of decent is “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Word Crimes. Not only does it take a great sounding tune and make it greater, it teaches a valuable lesson about grammar. It’s a win-win!
Let’s take away the matter of music genres and look at the question of sensitivity. Society is in a place where it’s starting to question the status quo.
This is not necessarily a bad thing when one thinks about it: from women’s rights regarding pay, to men’s behaviour against women, to systemic issues of racism and overrepresentation of minorities in prisons, to movie stereotypes (I mean, they’re always killing the black guy, what is that?) society through social media action is really starting to look at things that are an imbalance for certain citizens.
In our quest to find balance, however, there is a chance that we can go too far and be too ‘woke’. For those not versed in the slang, it was coined by black activists and it has since become main stream. It speaks of being aware, in one sense, ‘seeing the light’.
Social change is a good thing, especially if there’s a group within a society that may be undermined because of certain social structures. However, being so woke that you prioritize the wrong issue over a more serious one only harms what you’re trying to protect.
We’re trying to be so woke that we’re neglecting even worse imagery and songs put out there in the pop music scene. What removing Baby It’s Cold Outside has unfortunately done is empowered the haters. Individuals who argue that men are in a dangerous time will now be able to point to this ridiculous change in radio stations and cry foul.
It’s become a way to justify those concerns. And that is why I smell a rat. Those who influenced the radio stations must have known the backlash that would come from pulling a classic.
Maybe that’s a conspiracy theory but we live in a time when ultra left- and right-wing groups will stop at nothing to further their agenda. We live in a time when it’s been verified there was Russian meddling in U.S. elections. We live in a time when it’s been verified that the very same people who are inciting anger among ultra left wing folks are at the same time inciting anger among the right wing folks. They could care less about what a person believes and more about creating chaos.
There’s a rat in there somewhere because the reaction that came from this decision is one that sparks passionate emotions, deters from the real issue, and incites anger among its readers. Based on that criteria, one can see there’s maybe a little more to this issue than meets the eye, and none of it is to be helpful.
Let’s be woke people, but let’s not confuse the issue with an inane decision like the one we’ve just witnessed.
jeff.heyden-kaye@ponokanews.com
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