Double Negatives make me want to gouge out my left eye with a spoon, and I am rather fond of my left eye. Not only do they sound annoying, but the stupidity that entails creating a double negative and believing it is even more aggravating. When we were kids, it was okay to say things like, "I don't not not not not not not not not not not not like you," in order to procure a response from our crush. However, its usage in the everyday nowadays justifies the eye-gouging that will commence shortly.
Take for example, Rob Thomas' "I Don't Wanna Be Lonely No More." Anyone who cares enough about music and its meaning should take note that the former Matchbox 20 frontman is saying that he actually wants to be lonely more. Then, adding insult to injury, he sings, "I don't wanna be angry no more," which means that he, in fact, wants to be angry more.
Songwriting these days has taken a turn for the worse, and I don't mean taking a left instead of a right; I mean turning-into-oncoming-traffic-and-being-squashed-by-a-16-wheeler kind of bad. Let me elaborate: in one of India.Arie's songs, she says that if "republican people could get along with democratic people, we'd be a better people all around." Not many people other than english aficionados, like myself, will catch the error in that, but actually Republicans are democratic people. "Democratic" does not describe a person who is a Democrat, but rather describes people who live in a democracy. Thus, that songwriting error demonstrates the stupidity that brainwashes us, the masses, through radio waves daily.
Songs in general today represent the bottom of a bottomless-pit. Some songs exist as a petty object in greater songs' shadows. John Legend has a song about continuously cheating on his girlfriend and then begging for forgiveness only to do it again. What kind of society must we live in today to tolerate this kind of crap? He says, "I said I loved you the last time, but this IS the last time," indicating that the last time he cheated on her he said that, but this time it really is the last time. He also said, in the same song, "I can change, oh, I can change for you, just don't go." Friends gave us the benefit of the doubt: "once a cheater, always a cheater." Thank you, Rachel. Without my previous Pop Culture guidance, I probably would have believed that a person who cheated on me actually loved me. Poppycock.
Overall, I would have to say that society's standards of english and propriety have dropped significantly. It's a sad day when hearing my fellow teenagers talk makes me want to lose my left eye, which as I said before, is quite precious to me. Also, when I have to listen to Psuedo-Rockers whine about how they haven't been lonely or angry enough, and when I have to listen to stereotypical Black Empowerment octavely spewing nosense, I get a little perplexed.
I don't wanna be perplexed no more, if only the democratic people would get along with the republican people and if I could stop cheating, we'd be a better people all around.
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1 comment:
I enjoy how you tackled a broad topic that affects everyone for your personal essay. I have to say that I encounter / use double negatives on a day to day basis, and some times they do get annoying. Your personally essay took on more of a Kingsolver rant type of thing, but what you said is definitely true. You essay reminds me of how aggravating it is when you hear people ask if someone got a hair cut when it’s obvious that they did. I just want to tell them “no I didn’t, the hair is just falling out of my head in a nice way.”
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