Active Minds (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063591065475) are a punk band from Scarborough who've been around since since 1986. They're no strangers to this blog having featured twice previously.
One thing that stands out about them for me is their carefully thought out lyrics. Their new album, Things that Cannot Be Unseen, bears ample testament to this. Just one example being closing track, Shamima, in which they tackle a divisive subject and put forward a compelling case about how maybe we shouldn't be too harshly judged by the mistakes we made when we were still a child. Agree or disagree with them, they tackle a thorny topic eruditely.
(The song is an album highlight and I was going to feature it here but the free version of the Youtube movie maker I use won't let me convert songs over 5 minutes long. Happily there's plenty more great songs on the album so I've chosen another and I'll settle for playing Shamima on this week's show).
The album's available on vinyl and digital download here : https://activeminds1.bandcamp.com/album/things-that-cannot-be-unseen
This song is summed up by the band thus;
The early days of the internet were hailed by many, who talked about the democratisation of news; that we'd no longer just be able to hear the words of governments or corporations – everyone would have an outlet to be able to share their thoughts to the world.
These days, the reality is more of a dystopian nightmare, rather than the utopia many had imagined. In this new online world, it has become difficult to even be able to differentiate facts from lies. When everybody has access to everything anybody says, and it can all look equally legitimate, how are you supposed to know the motivation of those who are behind the stories that are spread? It has created a platform for psychopaths and fanatics which is far more effective and wide-reaching than any which has ever existed before.
A great many people now rely on social media as their primary source of news about the world. This is an environment in which deliberate disinformation is rife, and hate speech is normalised. Self-appointed sleuths, who are primarily interested in maximising an income stream for themselves, can undermine criminal investigations and make fictitious online accusations about people which some struggle to ever throw off. And for those with an extremist rage against innocent sections of the population, the internet provides access to a network of like-minded lunatics to make themselves feel both vindicated and supported.
The live-streaming of the Christchurch Mosque shootings in March 2019 was a grim wake-up call for the world as to where all this can lead. A right-wing fanatical maniac murdered 51 people while his social media followers cheered him on. Many of those who had watched the live-stream had recorded it and then tried to upload it elsewhere on social media – there were well over a million upload attempts made on Facebook alone.
Violent extremists look to post even the most gruesome of content because they realise that there are people in the world who are looking for something to believe in, and yet who are completely desensitised to violence – often due to the games they've played since infancy. It is a potent and appalling combination.
These days, the reality is more of a dystopian nightmare, rather than the utopia many had imagined. In this new online world, it has become difficult to even be able to differentiate facts from lies. When everybody has access to everything anybody says, and it can all look equally legitimate, how are you supposed to know the motivation of those who are behind the stories that are spread? It has created a platform for psychopaths and fanatics which is far more effective and wide-reaching than any which has ever existed before.
A great many people now rely on social media as their primary source of news about the world. This is an environment in which deliberate disinformation is rife, and hate speech is normalised. Self-appointed sleuths, who are primarily interested in maximising an income stream for themselves, can undermine criminal investigations and make fictitious online accusations about people which some struggle to ever throw off. And for those with an extremist rage against innocent sections of the population, the internet provides access to a network of like-minded lunatics to make themselves feel both vindicated and supported.
The live-streaming of the Christchurch Mosque shootings in March 2019 was a grim wake-up call for the world as to where all this can lead. A right-wing fanatical maniac murdered 51 people while his social media followers cheered him on. Many of those who had watched the live-stream had recorded it and then tried to upload it elsewhere on social media – there were well over a million upload attempts made on Facebook alone.
Violent extremists look to post even the most gruesome of content because they realise that there are people in the world who are looking for something to believe in, and yet who are completely desensitised to violence – often due to the games they've played since infancy. It is a potent and appalling combination.
Not only great lyrics but also a nod musically to Stiff Little Fingers, this is Terrorvision...
So, now maniacs can live-stream their atrocities,
And upload essays of their twisted philosophies
Straight to your homes or to your phones with such consummate ease –
Thanks to the miracle of modern technologies.
The most sickening future acts will all be televised –
Twisted minds playing out their fantasies before our eyes.
Pandora’s box is not just opened – it’s been pulverised.
Is this what global tech-giants once visualised?
To facilitate the sharing of everyone’s thoughts may seem a great idea,
But there are those who’ll want to use it to spread vile hatred and fear.
They screen the close-up details of the latest crazed attack.
The genie’s out of the bottle – can it ever be put back?
Is this what we think freedom of expression means –
That ISIS can broadcast war crimes to computer screens?
And is the horror of the image still all that it seems
When decontextualised and reformatted into memes?
And so this desensitised online culture that’s been building up for years
Leads to mass murder sprees accompanied by the sound of online cheers,
Where all the victims look like targets that you are supposed to slay
To get extra bonus points in all the games you’ve learned to play.
The horrors that appear on the screen
Are things that cannot be unseen.
The cruelty, the terror, and the screams
May always haunt you in your dreams.
And upload essays of their twisted philosophies
Straight to your homes or to your phones with such consummate ease –
Thanks to the miracle of modern technologies.
The most sickening future acts will all be televised –
Twisted minds playing out their fantasies before our eyes.
Pandora’s box is not just opened – it’s been pulverised.
Is this what global tech-giants once visualised?
To facilitate the sharing of everyone’s thoughts may seem a great idea,
But there are those who’ll want to use it to spread vile hatred and fear.
They screen the close-up details of the latest crazed attack.
The genie’s out of the bottle – can it ever be put back?
Is this what we think freedom of expression means –
That ISIS can broadcast war crimes to computer screens?
And is the horror of the image still all that it seems
When decontextualised and reformatted into memes?
And so this desensitised online culture that’s been building up for years
Leads to mass murder sprees accompanied by the sound of online cheers,
Where all the victims look like targets that you are supposed to slay
To get extra bonus points in all the games you’ve learned to play.
The horrors that appear on the screen
Are things that cannot be unseen.
The cruelty, the terror, and the screams
May always haunt you in your dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment