Steve Earle’s “John Walker Blues” is a sharp contrast to
songs such as Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue”, a fact
apparent within moments of beginning each song. But the differences between the
two really cut to the heart of the American sentiment following the attacks on
9/11, and hearkens back to topics discussed in a number of our class sessions.
“Courtesy” is an upbeat, optimistic, patriotic song about American resurgence
that many people hoped would come after the attacks, a fact that made it a very
popular song. “John Walker Blues”, on the other hand, is more of a folk song
about an American-born, intelligent young man who graduated high school ahead
of his peers, and went to Yemen to study Arabic instead of immediately
enrolling in college. Upon returning home, he found out his parents had split
up and decided to go back to Yemen. He wasn’t seen again until he was arrested
as an American “enemy” and “traitor”. As Steve Earle said in the interview
before he played the song on TV, John Walker Lindh was never proven guilty of a
crime such as treason, yet he continues to serve a prison sentence fit for a
crime of that magnitude. When Steve Earle first came out with that song, he was
met with harsh criticism. Many people were up in arms. It was misconstrued as a
song sympathetic al Qaeda at best, and at worst Steve Earle was considered “on
the side” of John Walker Lindh (by former President George H.W. Bush. That
shows just how volatile Manichean thinking can be. When a country becomes so
entrenched in the “us vs. them” mentality, folk singers become enemies and men
go to jail for unproven crimes, and others still are picked up off the streets
of countries around the world, handcuffed and blindfolded in secret CIA planes
and flown to places like Egypt to be tortured for information. That practice is
called extraordinary rendition, and continues today. The (mostly) men taken to
places like Egypt do not have to be proven guilty, and oftentimes no evidence
is found against them. But it gets worse. Legislation recently has been passed
through Congress that would allow people in the U.S. to be subject to similar
detention, by military personnel and TSA agents without evidence and for an
indefinite amount of time. Steve Earle’s song first highlighted the problem of the
“with us or against us” mentality, but it continues today.
I think the reason that so many people were up in arms against this song was because it does such a good job portraying John's story, and does cause the listener to feel sympathy for him. As people find themselves sympathizing with "the enemy" they feel social dissonance between their new identity of patriotism and their existing values of empathy and love. Knowing that it was and is socially unacceptable in America to be supportive of the perceived "enemy" they turned their empathy into anger and increased patriotism. They become angry with themselves, and more importantly angry with Steve Earle for making them feel that dissonance.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can see Tim's reasoning, I think I'm more inclined to believe that people were/are against the song because they see it as supportive of John Walker Lindh. Personally, I felt no sympathy for the man after listening to the song. I am not going to feel bad for a terrorist. Mike mentioned that he went to jail for an unproven crime, would you really capture a terrorist and let him walk free? To me, saying that he didn't deserve his punishment is like saying that attempted murder shouldn't be a crime.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other posts mentioned the religious base of terrorist organizations. I struggle to see the legitimacy of that point of view, as I have yet to come across a single Muslim whether in person or via some form of media who sees such an interpretation of the Koran as acceptable. Walker Lindh even said himself that the action he took was against Islam in an interview with CNN (http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/walker/profile.html). If believers of Islam are willing to denounce terrorist actions and label their foundation as a misinterpretation of their holy text, then why do we so often struggle to do the same? I think the issue with the song was that the lack of condemnation was/is seen as acceptance of Walker Lindh's actions, which in turn may have felt like a slap in the face to patriotism.
In my opinion there is no way one can compare both of these songs. The origins of each are completely different and each song is sung in a different way. This is the case for most songs so I will attempt to give an educated comparison of “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and “John Walker Blues.”
ReplyDeleteToby’s song was inspired by two events the death of his father in March 2001 and the attack of 9/11. He is very opinionated and driven to install pride back into American after 9/11. The song sings about American toughness, fortitude and drive when faced with adversity. Toby Keith uses his own experiences of adversity to relate to America and give us a tool to get through our nation’s tragedy. He speaks of the country as a whole and only connects his story but doesn’t highlight it in the song.
Steve Earle on the other hand tells the sad story of one man and how he coped with his tragedy. Whether or not his actions had anything to do with terrorism is beyond me, however I can say that his overall story is emotional especially when sung by Steve. John’s story is one of emotional courage and lack of stability. Something almost completely opposite of Toby Keith.
I would definitely have to agree with Jeff's comment. One of the reasons, in my opinion, that Steve Earle's song was seen in such a controversial manner was because Earle does not explicitly condemn John Walker Lindh's "alleged" actions within the song. As I stated in an earlier blog comment, Earle does not simply excuse these "alleged" actions either. Since Earle did not take a direct stance on the situation within the song itself, it becomes easy for listeners to automatically assume that Earle is showing support and sympathy for John Walker Lindh. In the heat of the moment, especially after 9/11, it becomes easy for a listener to wonder... why would someone even write a song about John Walker Lindh?
ReplyDelete