As ever, trying to be perfectly fair
Kasia September 26th, 2007
I really think that when I go to meet the Lord at the end of my life, He is going to look at me, shake his head, and say “I think you took the fairness thing too far.” Hopefully that doesn’t disqualify me for Purgatory, as I know I’m not going straight to Heaven…
Anyway. There’s a lot of uproar (cf. Adoro te Devote, The Curt Jester, Kathy Shaidle)about Joni Mitchell’s new album, Shine, which is being aggressively marketed by Starbucks, and the title track of which explicitly names the Catholic Church in a negative light (along with a lot of other things). Here are the full lyrics of the song.
I’m torn about this. On the one hand, I think the slap at the Church reflects poorly on Ms. Mitchell, and on Starbucks for marketing it. I think it’s offensive and obnoxious, and makes Joni Mitchell look like a twit. On the other hand, free speech being what it is, Ms. Mitchell has every right to make herself look like a twit, and Starbucks has every right to help her along that road.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think she meant “prisons” literally. I think she means that religion is the opiate of the masses, the “prison” is religion, yadda yadda. Yawn. Excuse me, Joni, but you’re not saying anything ‘edgy’ or avant-garde there. Karl Marx said that a hundred and fifty years ago, and plenty of other people have been saying it since. They’re all wrong, as are you, but please don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re saying something new. You aren’t.
Then again, maybe she DOES mean “prisons” literally, and the Church has decided to minister to the hungry, the naked, and the imprisoned by becoming a prison subcontractor for the Syrian government. Whaddaya think?
…yeah, I thought it was a pretty stupid suggestion too.
Anyway. I know some folks are boycotting Starbucks for this, and if you choose to do so I certainly encourage you. That’s part of free speech too: you say something people don’t like, and there may be consequences for it. Free speech doesn’t mean “I can say whatever I want and you have no right to be offended by it.”
However, since I’ve probably purchased a total of half a dozen Starbucks beverages in the past ten years, me boycotting them is unlikely to draw much attention. I may send them an e-mail, but again, since I’m not a regular customer (and am not about to lie and say that I am just to try to get their attention better), I doubt they’ll much care what I say.
Thoughts?
I stopped buying Starbucks coffee at Barnes & Noble because it was bad coffee. So I’m wondering if I should boycott B&N… might save me a few bucks!
It reminds me of a Communication paper I wrote way back when, starting with the line, “Karl Marx said religion was the opiate of the masses, but that was before the invention of television.” I think it also applies to entertainment of all kinds. Mitchell is just jumping on the anti-religion bandwagon that has been travelling around for the last 10 years at least. Her song will appeal to people who are suspicious of religion in general or the Catholic Church in particular, much the same way that some singers find their second career in appealing to the conservative. I don’t think this particular song will have lasting impact, though. Hate gets dated faster than you can say “Sister Charlotte”.
It seems silly to boycott Starbucks simply because they’re promoting Joni Mitchell’s album. Now, boycotting them because they match employee contributions to Planned Parenthood makes sense, since you could argue that the latter contributes to the death of unborn children.
Joni, Joni, Joni…. *tsk* *tsk* *tsk* I used to like her - but then, I grew up.
I’m just whizzing by the blogs on my blogroll to let ya’ll know that I’ve moved URLs - if you’re interested in keeping up with me, which I’m not presuming you are - but do hope you are! Here’s the link: Alexa