Allan Bloom wrote that to young people music is “their passion; nothing else excites them as it does; they cannot take seriously anything alien to music”. I do not agree with what he says. All across the world you can find people who have an immense passion for music, but you also find many other things that people are passionate about. Some people have a passion for art, whether it is drawing, painting, or anything else, it is what they are into and what they love. I love music but I would not necessarily say I have a passion for it. Yes I like to have music playing most of the time but if I can not be listening to music that is fine with me. There are other things that I am passionate about and put all of my efforts into, in a very broad sense I am passionate about my future. What I mean by that is I work very hard to accomplish my goals, which are often related to school or work, so that I can create a better life for myself. It all depends on the person as to what they are passionate about and they can be passionate about more than one thing.
Bloom also states that when a person is so involved with music it can interrupt their education. I would not blame the music for their lack of education. I would blame the person who let music so consume their life that they let their education go. Music does not control anything; it is there for people to listen to and to help people express themselves and their emotions. I believe that to some people music can help them stay focused and relaxed, which can have benefits in their school work. I find that when I am having a tough time staying concentrated on one activity that if I play some music in the background it can distract my wandering thoughts and keep me on track with the task at hand. This can be different for everyone though, some may find that music distracts them. If that is the case then these people should learn when and where it is a good or bad time to listen to music. No matter how the music makes a person feel I do not think it should ever be the reason for someone’s education to decline.
On top of Bloom thinking that music can ruin a young person’s education, he also thinks that not since philosophers (such as Plato, Rosseau, and Aristotle) has music had a more significant meaning. I think that there are songs written with so much thought put into them and with so much meaning behind them. When a songwriter sings down to write a song of course they have an idea of what they want the song to mean and what they want people to understand in their song. Not everyone will get the same thing out of a song but I think it is unfair of him to say that the music young people are listening to has no meaning.
Everyone will have different ideas on what they are passionate about and what they think about music and how it effects our youth. There really is no right answer. Music effects everyone differently and it is forever changing.
Hi Keisha, I like your idea on how life needs balance. Yes if we are consumed with one thing that destroys our balance it will definitely interact with our life style and the social norm we live in. When we hear music it depends the way we interpret its meaning, if we give it a positively valued face it lends positivity and the reverse will happen if we lends it negative meaning. Of course we shouldn’t forget that there are music that are ferocious by themselves, if you listen to them it will make you even angrier. It also depends on someone’s personality, if I am into aggressive; violent I like to hear violent music that triggers my satisfaction. From Mr. Bloom idea we can come up some true, but he showed a lot of polarized views- all in all rock and roll music. Bloom also appreciates his generation, but we have seen every generation has some different genre of music that is different from the previous generation. It is therefore understandable that why Mr. Bloom take offense to this music, but that doesn't make the music fundamentally bad. Mr. Bloom may not cope- up with the dynamics of the generation he is blaming. In today’s generation life in its high speed, the same is true the music that is produced. You may not hear so many youngsters listening country music.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same question and agree with you completely. Bloom says that young people can't taking anything seriously which is not true at all. Myself, being young, I know music isn't my whole life. Yes, I love music but I do have other things that come before it. I have different passions and they are more than one that are other than music.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that maybe some people let music get in the way but thats their choice. Its not the musics fault. Seems to me like Bloom states his opinions that are very strong and are not completely true.
I really liked your third paragraph. I didn't really think of that. Writing a song may seem easy but when actually doing it, it is so hard. I know for a fact that I would not be able to write a song. They all have so much meaning and depth to them and have a lot of meaning. SO with him saying music young people listen to has no meaning is not true at all. I think he needs to think over and put himself in "young peoples" shoes and see if it comes out to what he states. I am sure he will be very surprised with the outcome.