Last night a friend visiting from Seattle said, “We don’t really listen to music anymore.” He’s right, the emphasis today is on portability, not audio quality, and that’s one reason we don’t listen like we once did. When you’re proud of your record collection and your stereo system, you take time to experience the music. And that act makes the music important.
Sadly, it is not just music that we no longer listen to. Thanks to the sound-bite nature of TV news, and the politically toxic environment fueled by right wing radio, we no longer pay much attention to current events.
That’s where video comes in. Digital media, video in particular, allows us to invest in the full story.
Because things haven’t been going President Obama’s way in Washington of late, I came to the flimsy conclusion that he was not properly defending his position and his ideas–ideas which happen to be shared by the millions of Americans who elected the man.
I’m wrong though, the President is forwarding his best ideas, often powerfully, but you have to go to YouTube to hear them. You have to dig a bit, and then sit back and take it in, which isn’t easy to do when Facebook and every other digistraction under the sun is looming a click away.
After investing some of my time to hear from the President in the videos above, I have to say I’m happiest with Obama when he’s in touch with his racial identity, and when he’s making politically incorrect statements and jokes. In other words, when he’s a real person not a packaged tool of the corporate paradigm, I like him.