The recent passing of the 2025 “Budget “Reconcilliation”” law is going to make the next handful of years significantly more difficult for the vast majority of Americans.
That goes at least double for a vibrantly diverse city like Fall River.
I am well aware that Fall River has been fighting for survival for decades. I also know that the only way through the coming fight is to push forward, and that none of us will be able to fight this fight by ourselves.
The road is going to be scary and painful in a lot of ways, but there are way more of us than there are of them. We have strength in numbers, and our numbers will continue to grow as more people realize what this congress, senate and president have signed. Already, the policies in the bill are wildly unpopular with voters. The policies will only grow more unpopular as the effects of them start to hit anyone not already a multi-millionaire.
I don’t think that anybody working to fight against this knows what all of the correct answers are to survive the oncoming years, but doing nothing at all and hoping it blows over is not an acceptable answer.
Locally, we need to remember the message behind the motto of Fall River.
I know that the motto is frequently laughed at and dunked on. I’m also well aware that I’m not the first person to write about the motto on the internet. But, when looked at in the proper historical context, the motto of Fall River is actually beautiful and perfect.
Going back to the 1843 fire that nearly wiped out Downtown Fall River, the motto was used as an attempt to express that a disaster was not going to stop the determination of the residents to let the city succeed.
“We’ll Try” isn’t a promise that we are going to go through the motions and make it look good while we half-ass a task.
It was, and still needs to be, a promise that we are going to do the best that we can to fight together, in the face of any- and everything that “they” want to throw our way.
This country, this state and this city are all worth fighting for, even knowing that the rich and powerful are doing everything they can to rig the game against the rest of us. But, like I said before, there are a lot more of us than there are of them.
Even today, while gathering signatures to help ensure my name gets on the ballot, I encountered a handful of residents who refused to sign my nomination papers because I didn’t vote for the same presidential candidate that they did. And while that’s certainly their right, and I didn’t press the issue with them, that goes against what I am hoping to bring to the school system here in the Scholarship City.
In a story I’m sure that I’ll be sharing at some point in the coming months, one of the greatest things I was looking forward to about moving here was the diversity of the city. I say it right on my homepage, and will tell it to anybody that will listen to me: The diversity of Fall River needs to be celebrated and protected.
We would not have made it as far as we already have without all of our different perspectives. We would not have made it this far if, in previous times of trouble, had we all just decided to look out for ourselves and let everybody else fall where they may.
Once again, this is a time when we need to stand together to support one another and do what is best for the common good of the community. Fall River has done it before, and I know that we have it in us to do it again.
Forty years ago today the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was formed. Their stated goal was to increase parental control over what ‘messages’ were contained in the albums and cassettes (I am an old) that children had access to. Songs that they felt had violent, sexual or drug related themes were eventually targeted to be labeled with the Parental Advisory Sticker that is still in use in America today.
The PMRC released a list of their “Filthy Fifteen” songs that they found to be the most objectionable songs. Of the list, I have three personal favorites that speak to how silly this entire exercise was from the beginning.
We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister (Violence) This selection deserves an award for how succinctly it proved the message that the song was trying to portray. Anyone who actually listened to the lyrics, (which you’d like to imagine would have been a minimum requirement for trying to get a song banned) would have been able to discern that it’s a fairly straightforward anthem standing about up to an authority that doesn’t deserve the power they have.
If I were the cynical type, I might suggest that was exactly why the PMRC wanted it banned.
When lead singer Dee Snider testified in court against the PMRC, he pointed out what should have been obvious, “There is absolutely no violence of any type either sung about or implied anywhere in the song.”
She Bop – Cyndi Lauper (Sexual content) I figured out later in life what this song was about. I was a kid when this song first got radio play and it was, for lack of a less obvious term, a bop.And, sure, if you know what she’s singing about, then these lyrics probably make perfect sense to you.
Hey, I’ve been thinking of a new sensation I’m picking up the good vibrations Oop, she bop, she bop
But that also speaks to how brilliant these nonsensical-sounding lyrics are. Under-10 year old me had no idea what was being referenced here. Which is exactly how it should have been. And that’s ignoring what someone does in private being their own business anyhow.
“Do you want kindergarteners learning about…” No. And that’s probably why my parents never told me what this song was about and that’s why I would never explain what this song is about in that level of detail to someone else’s kindergartener.
It’s called self-authentication. If you’re mature enough to get the reference, then you are mature enough to get the reference. And if you aren’t, well it’s got a nice beat and you can dance to it.
Dress You Up – Madonna (Sexual content?!?)
Okay, I cheated here. This isn’t the artwork for the single itself, but instead it’s the cover of the full studio album it came from, “Like a Virgin.”
THE PMRC ATTEMPTED TO BAN A SONG FROM THE “LIKE A VIRGIN” ALBUM FOR HAVING EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT AND DIDN’T EVEN PICK THE SONG “LIKE A VIRGIN.”
It was right there. You, presumably, had the album on your phonograph. You were sooooooo close to possibly making a valid argument that MAYBE a song shouldn’t get regular radio rotation. Then you got hung up on these lyrics instead:
You’ve got style, that’s what all the girls say Satin sheets and luxuries so fine All your suits are custom made in London But I’ve got something that you’ll really like
Why, I’ve got the vapors. Where is my paper fan and clutching pearls?
Somehow, these arguments were more convincing than Dee Snider was in front of the US Senate. I just wanted to post this picture.
And thus. the Recording Industry Association of America was convinced to put warning labels on recordings that contained “explicit content.”
Hilariously, the first album to get the advisory sticker was rap group 2 Live Crew’s July 1990 “Banned in the U.S.A.” My personal favorite early ‘victim’ of the Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics sticker was George Carlin’s comedy album from November of the same year, “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.”
You can see that the threat of censorship was being taken exactly as seriously as it deserved.
In the liner notes, Carlin was his typical forthright self:
This recording contains no backmasking or subliminal suggestions. All messages from the Devil are recorded clearly and audibly in straightforward Standard American English.
Like many people who grew up during the early stages of the Parental Advisory stickers, I have to admit, these stickers had a huge impact on what albums I shouldn’t be buying with my allowance.
The ones that weren’t good enough to get the sticker, of course.
Music is art. Music has always been art. The best music is something that makes you feel. Maybe it’s attached to a memory. Maybe it makes you think of things you haven’t thought of before. Maybe it exposes you to a viewpoint you haven’t had an opportunity to consider before.
The Parental Advisory stickers, whether that was what the PMRC wanted or not, was a giant black and white advertisement, drawing eyes to the product. As a youngling at the time, our thought process was “They don’t want us to hear it. Let’s find out why.”
Carlin’s “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” was the first ever album (Fine, cassette. I’m an old.) that I ever bought for myself, with my money, on my own. I can still remember feeling nervous trying to buy it from the record store and wondering if I was going to get in trouble. Was the clerk going to call the cops? Worse… my parents?
The person behind the counter did not care in the least. Looking back, of course she didn’t. She just wanted her shift to be done. But to me, it felt like I was doing something forbidden. But forbidden in a good way. Like Homer, finishing the donut that gave his soul to the Devil Flanders.
And who was I rebelling against anyway? My parents? I’d already heard most of the words Carlin used. (Said a lot of them too. Not around my parents, sure. I still can’t use those words around my parents too often. But that’s really a ‘me’ problem.)
It wasn’t until the ride back to my friend’s house, that I heard something on the tape that kinda made sense to me. Something Carlin said spoke to teenage me. Something that I still sincerely believe to this day:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. They’re only words! It’s the context that counts. It’s the user. It’s the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent.
There are things that my parents didn’t want me listening to as a kid. Toys that they didn’t want me using. Shows they wouldn’t let me watch. Which is how it should be. They were my parents, that’s what they signed up for.
It wasn’t the government’s job to tell me what is and isn’t appropriate for me to see or hear. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly okay with being told what POTENTIALLY objectionable things might be on movies, TV shows, social media platforms, the radio or anywhere else. Maybe I’m looking for a 90 minute movie that’s jam-packed with violence.
(Side note; out of all of the PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen,” only “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was singled out for it’s violent nature alone. It’s always been odd to me that we focus way more on sex and language than violence.)
But the decision on what does and doesn’t belong in the public sphere shouldn’t be made by four Washington Wives, nor any amount of Washington anybody. This isn’t something that should be handed down from anyone in Boston either. The only people I want making these decisions for my children are my wife and me, in consultation with my children.
Anyhow, this long, rambling post has really been about books the whole time.
