Music – Page 2 – Douglas Ernst Blog

Obama’s Michael Jackson Problem Highlighted at White Sox Game.

June 19, 2010June 19, 2010by Douglas Ernst2 Comments

I don’t want to go too hard on President Obama for not taking part in the wave at a White Sox game today. Being the

President is a stressful job. Take a look at a picture of almost any president on Inauguration Day and at the end of their time in office and it looks like they’ve went on a Crusade with Indiana Jones and didn’t choose wisely…

However, I will say this: the picture of him at the game, detached from the crowd, eerily plays into a meme that has been around about for a long time (it just took awhile for independents and Peggy Noonan to realize it). Personally, I’m not a huge fan of “the wave,” and I can understand how doing so would also subject him to some goofy picture juxtaposed against an oil-drenched animal corpse…but one can’t

zommjbo — Looks are deceiving. Just ask the poor girl who went out on a date with Michael Jackson in Thriller and found herself surrounded by dancing zombies. America's (short lived) love affair with Barack Obama is the same way.

escape the fact that the weirdness quotient is beginning to fill the void created by the disappearance of his popularity. Barack Obama is now an interesting mix of Milli Vanilli and Michael Jackson. I’ve covered the Milli Vanilli angle before, but I think the Jackson analogy needs to be explored a bit more:

First of all, everyone loved Michael Jackson at the height of his popularity. Everyone. And if you don’t think Thriller is a classic album you have problems. Like Barack Obama, people of all ages, races, and religions went gaga over his skills (until it turned into a bad romance). However, deep down I think everyone knew early on that Michael had some serious issues connecting with everyday people. President Obama has a very similar dynamic. A quick Google search will turn up countless articles on the subject, whether it’s conservative ire over the “bitter clingers” debacle, liberal filmmaker Spike Lee’s frustration at the robotic handling of the Gulf oil spill, The White House’s handling of the health care debate, the lack of a timely response to the attempted terrorist attack over Christmas, and so on and so forth.

Right now conservatives think he’s a Smooth Criminal. Liberals want to Scream over his handling of any number of public policy issues. The people of Louisiana and Florida are saying They Don’t Care About Us. And independent voters can’t quite put their finger on it, but they sense something’s amiss—just as the rest of us did when Michael Jackson started casting Macaulay Culkin in his music videos.

Barack Obama: it’s time to look at the Man In the Mirror, because right now you’re treating the United States as if it was Michael Jackon’s Never Never Land Ranch. And we all know how, financially, that turned out…

billiejean — MIchael Jackson said it right in Billie Jean: "Be careful what you do, because the lie becomes the truth." Sage advice for American voters and the President.

Conservatives Sleep As Kids Taken Over By Dance Beats to Die To?

June 5, 2010June 8, 2010by Douglas ErnstLeave a comment

I almost feel bad for the conservative movement’s Rip Van Winkles,

because they’re sound asleep at the wheel as liberals are trying to drive an entire generation off a cultural cliff into a moral relativist void. Those of us who are awake know the landing is a painful one…but we need help. Badly.

Bands like MGMT are molding the Kids’ minds. Perhaps one should simply watch the video for Time to Pretend to get a better idea as to what we’re up against. Pay close attention to the lyrics:

I’m feeling rough, I’m feeling raw, I’m in the prime of my life.
Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives.
I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin, and f**k with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.

This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun.
Yeah, it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do.
Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We’re fated to pretend
To pretend
We’re fated to pretend
To pretend

…We’ll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
We’re fated to pretend
To pretend

There are a number of ways to interpret this song, but I think the psychedelic video speaks for itself. Moral Relativism? Check. Drugs? Check. A denial of reality? Check. The visuals seem to indicate that choking on vomit in an untimely death is preferable (or at least a toss-up) to accepting responsibility that comes with adulthood. As MGMT sees it, most people are simply existing to shove money into a burning volcanic pit that renders the pursuit pointless (or that we should just cast off capitalism in general).

Anyone doubting the liberal, hippie-commune vibes could read the lyrics to their song KIDS (Currently closing in on 30 million views on Youtube):

Control yourself
Take only what you need from it
A family of trees wanted
To be haunted…

So I if have this straight, we should cast off all responsibility, do drugs, live amongst the trees as a minimalist, choke on our own puke, and die young (but don’t worry about it because life will begin anew)? Great.

kids — I look so cute with my pursed lips and furtive glances. Would it change your opinion of me if I turned your kid's brain into a psychedelic oatmeal mish-mash of wasted potential?

If conservatives aren’t going to fight for the minds of young people, they deserve to lose them to guys churning out catchy dance-music to get high and die to. It’s funny that people often mistakenly refer to MGMT as “management”, because bands like them our “managing” the development of young minds while “leaders” within the conservative movement piddle around, hoping someone else will be able to carry the load. And, while there are a lot of fine organizations (e.g., Heritage, Young America’s Foundation) attempting to cultivate the next generation of conservative leaders, by and large the movement is MIA.

There’s an electric feel that this is going to end badly if those with power and influence don’t wake up soon.

Perhaps I’m wrong (although I don’t think so). Some people say I’m a little warped because my mind was molded by a guy with an electric head, but I beg to differ.

This guy? The jury is still out…

Barack Obama: America’s Orko.

February 28, 2010February 28, 2010by Douglas Ernst2 Comments

I was watching President Obama try to link efforts to give the American people European-style government-run health care to the efforts of olympic athletes when I remembered how much like Orko from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe he is (I tweeted about it long ago, but this demands over 140 characters).

For those of you who remember Orko, he was the lovable magician whose solutions to everyone’s problems usually caused more trouble than they were worth. Sure, he was a good guy, but when he reached into a magic hat and pulled whatever came out to solve his world’s problems it seldom worked.

Likewise, whether it was the stimulus that didn’t stimulate, the belief that talking with Holocaust-denying mullah nuts would deter them from going nuclear, or the assertion that entitlement expansion is somehow “entitlement reform,” the liberalism espoused by President Barack “Orko” Obama isn’t the answer for the United States of America.

Liberals are like the repairman who says he’s going to fix your leaky kitchen faucet, but when he leaves you find your upstairs bathroom toilet overflowing. Suddenly, you have water damage to an entire wing of your house, and instead of shutting off the water, ditching the carpet, and fixing the ceiling, your liberal handyman suggests ~~upending one-sixth of the US economy~~ building you a brand new house (using your neighbor’s money).

Unlike liberals, I don’t liken those I disagree with to blood sucking vampires. I think the President’s plans are incredibly scary, but I also believe in his mind he’s doing what’s best for the country (even if sending Ashton Kutcher to deal with people who kill you with radioactive isotopes is a viable option). I could have likened Barack Obama to Skeletor, but I don’t usually like to do stuff like that. Like I said, I think of Barack Obama as an amiable, bumbling fool with public policy ideas that are downright frightening. Like Jimmy Carter.

The same kids who loved Orko as a kid, love Obama as an adult. The same kids who thought Jar Jar Binks was cool will probably vote for the next liberal cult of personality. And ALL of them think Jimmy Carter defines success. Isn’t that right, Mika Brzezinski?