Presidential Election Response

How can the election of Barack Obama be perceived as an act of protest? Against what? For whom?

Barack Obama’s victory can be perceived as an act of protest. Him winning the presidential election is a historic moment. He is the first African American president of the United States of America. He represents change and progress. One hundred years ago this would have never happened. African Americans barely had rights and they definitely weren’t holding any positions in power. This shows that the citizens of our country have the great ability to learn and change our ways. Having an African American president is a great step towards better racial equality. It shows that we can look past the color of one’s skin and judge them by their character. This protest is against all those who said it wasn’t possible, who ever judged a person by the color of their skin or their ethnic background and looked down at that person because of it. This act of protest though is not done by just African Americans or minorities; it done by our whole country. Blacks, whites, Asians, Indians, and everyone else who took part in this election made a statement of protest. As a nation we voted and we voted in favor of Barack Obama. The democracy has spoken, and now the rest of the world will see the protest and look to the United States to take back the leadership and prove that we are more than racist, self-centered pigs. We have made a protest against racism, against discrimination, for equality, for change, and as Barack Obama would say, for a new hope.

How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty

Lyrics:

Hello
Hello
Hello

Waking up at the start of the end of the world,
But it's feeling just like every other morning before,
Now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it's gone,
The cars are moving like a half a mile an hour
And I started staring at the passengers who're waving goodbye
Can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?

I believe the world is burning to the ground
Oh well I guess we're gonna find out
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Well I believe it all is coming to an end
Oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come

I think it turned ten o'clock but I don't really know
And I can't remember caring for an hour or so
Started crying and I couldn't stop myself
I started running but there's no where to run to
I sat down on the street took a look at myself
Said where you going man you know the world is headed for hell
Say your goodbyes if you've got someone you can say goodbye to

I believe the world is burning to the ground
Oh well I guess we're gonna find out
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end
Oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come

It's gone, gone, baby, it's all gone
There is no one on the corner and there's no one at home
It was cool cool, it was just all cool
Now it's over for me and it's over for you
Well it's gone, gone, baby, it's all gone
There is no one on the corner and there's no one at home
Well it was cool cool, it was just all cool
Now it's over for me and it's over for you

I believe the world is burning to the ground
Oh well I guess we're gonna find out
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end
Oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come
Let's see how far we've come

Watch Video

Message:
When I watch this video I think of the proverb, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It contains many of the important events, both good and bad, to the world in the past century. These events in a way all symbolize the advancement in technology, social equality and humanity in general. All of this was done for progress but it seems like on the way to achieving progress we forgot what was really important and ended up destroying anything in our path that prevented us from achieving that goal. In a way it is like the artists are saying that liberal policies are destroying our society, and even though good things have come out of them, they can’t justify what all was lost. It’s like mankind is slowly killing ourselves and the world we live in and now we just need to see if it’s too late to fix.

The Pretender - Foo Fighters

Lyrics:

Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began

Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones come marching in... again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole... defense

Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

In time our soul untold
I'm just another soul for sale... oh, well
The page is out of print
We are not permanent
We're temporary, temporary
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

I'm the voice inside your head
You refuse to hear
I'm the face that you have to face
Mirrored in your stare
I'm what's left, I'm what's right
I'm the enemy
I'm the hand that will take you down
Bring you to your knees

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

Watch Video

Message:
This video is telling people to be themselves and not pretend to be something they are not in order to conform to the mass society. The singer may be viewed as kind of deviant and stereotyped as something he is not just because of how he looks but he isn't going to change who he is just to make other people happy because that would be surrendering himself. The swat team in the video represents unity and conformity. They are all the same and they do what they are told. They try and other people to conform because that is easier than being different. The red water that rushes out of the broken background is like blood and purification. It is cleansing the world of the pretenders. The pretenders are washed away because they cannot stand up for themselves which just leaves the people who are real and true to whom they really are.

I'm Like A Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off – Fall Out Boy

Lyrics:

Last year's wishes
Are this year's apologies
Every last time I come home
I take my last chance
To burn a bridge or two
I only keep myself this sick in the head
Cause I know how the words get you {off}

We're the new face of failure
Prettier and younger but not any better off
Bullet proof loneliness
At best, at best

Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you

If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you

Collect the bad habits
That you couldn't bare to keep
Out of the woods but I love
A tree I used to lay beneath
Kissed teeth stained red
From a sour bottle baby girl
With eyes the size of baby worlds

We're the new face of failure
Prettier and younger but not any better off
Bullet proof loneliness
At best, at best

Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you

The best way
To make it through
With hearts and wrists intact
Is to realize
Two out of three ain't bad
Ain't bad

Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
(Honeymoon)
Setting in a honeymoon
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I wake up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I wake up next to you
(Honeymoon)

Message:

The theme of this video is love with and underlying message telling youth to take notice of world events. In the chorus the phrase, "Settin gin a honeymoon," is repeated several times. Most of us think of a honeymoon as the trip people take after they get married but it can also mean any period of blissful harmony, so the artist is trying to say that being with this girl is bliss. The video tells a sad story of lovers in Africa through the ups and downs of their relationship. Even though all of these terrible things happen and the couple endures many hardships on thing remains, love prevails. The background plot is the war in Uganda, Africa. Every year thousand of young men are abducted from their homes and force to fight in the war. Many of them never return. The artists and producers could have used any love story and setting for this video, but by choosing this one, the artists want us to take notice of world events like this and try to help the cause.

Watch Video

What I've Done - Linkin Park

Lyrics:

In this farewell
There’s no blood
There’s no Alibi
‘Cause I’ve Drawn Regret
From the truth
Of a Thousand Lies

[Pre-Chorus:]
So let Mercy Come
And Wash Away
What I’ve Done

[Chorus:]
I'll face myself
To Cross out what I’ve Become
Erase Myself
And let Go of What I’ve done

Put to rest
What you Thought of Me
While I clean this Slate
With the Hands of Uncertainty

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

For What I’ve Done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I’m Forgiving What I’ve Done!!!

[Chorus]

What I’ve Done
Forgiving What I’ve Done

Watch Video

Message:
I really like Linkin Park’s video for their hit song, What I’ve Done. All of the comparisons are very interesting. In this video first the United State’s society and values are being compared to those less fortunate around the world. Then Natural wonders are compared to human creations and there are also images showing how we are destroying our world. I think the message here is that we take advantage of what we have and view things and disposable. Without really realizing it we are causing disasters and destroying our home and we can only blame ourselves, as the song says, “There’s no alibi.”

If Everyone Cared - Nickelback

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...

[Chorus]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

Watch Video

In Nickelback’s video for song, If Everyone Cared, the message being sent is that we all need to help out and do what we can to make our world a better place. Now it always seems like everyone has something to complain about but if instead of complaining, if those people took action they could actually fix those problems. History has proven that just one person can have a huge impact on the world, so if everyone pitched in a little a big difference could come about. In the music video for this song there are many examples of one person makings a change in society. The world is constantly changing and we have the power to influence how it changes. So we need to be thankful for what we have and help out when we can, because even just one selfless act could save a life.