Today’s Society in a Song

People have been writing songs about how they view the world for generations. For generations these songs have shaped how we view society, or at least have influenced others to influence society and those around them. The band The Black Eyed Peas are no different in the songs that they produce. Most of their songs make people analyze themselves and their surroundings, such as who really is running the country, the person they sit next to on the bus to school everyday, even the man who delivers their mail six days a week. Their song “Where is the Love?” is a powerful ballad that makes people realize that we are far from a perfect country.

In the beginning of the song, it asks the question that most everyone has contemplated at least once in their lives and that is: what is wrong with the world? What is wrong with the world is that too much emphasis is being put on money and not enough on humanity. We are more worried about fighting people then feeding them. The Black Eyed Peas also answer this question in some of their lyrics:

“Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin'

In the USA, the big CIA

The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK (Elephunk).”

What they mean by these words is that The United States government is more worried about the terrorist organizations in other nations, then in the gangs and hate

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organizations that we have right here in the United Sates. People that commit hate crimes are not given a strong enough punishment to serve for the crime that they commit. Some people believe that the government is spending too much money on countries over seas, and not enough on the starving children that we have right here in our own country.

In the next line, they talk about discrimination and how it just produces, more hate and that people need to let go of their anger and to find the love. We have so much discrimination in the world that most races in the world do not get along. An example of these is when Hurricane Katrina hit. All people saw on the news was black people looting the stores and being rescued off the rooftops. People never saw any white people being rescued but we know that they were there.

In the chorus, they say:

“People killin', people dyin'

Children hurt and you hear them cryin'

Can you practice what you preach

And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us