‘Playing for Change’: How Music Will Heal the Ugliness of Politics

“All over our country people are hurting.” Bill Moyers started Friday’s Journal with these words. He went on to describe the pain and uncertainty many in this world are feeling right now. Questioning how it is politicians remain so out of touch from the reality of the every day and the issues with which most Americans are regularly dealing.

Most blogs, news organizations, pundits, columnists and comedians have been focused almost 24/7 on the election these past number of months and, on a personal level, I am no exception. My partner in life and crime told me the other day that she can’t wait until the election is over so she can get me back. I can’t wait until the election is over to get my life back. However, with all of my personal focus spent on politics, I have opted instead to blog about subjects such as the economy, torture, unethical pharmaceutical giants and jackasses like Bill O’Reilly making a fool of himself.

I don’t know that this decision was a conscious one I made for any particular reason at the time. But after watching Bill Moyers’ interview with music and film producer, Mark Johnson, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place for me. There was enough ugliness, enough crap being slung and enough guessing, opinionating and whining about politics from almost every other source available to fill a thousand Albert Hall’s without MediaSlackers.com being brought down too. While the other subjects written about here have not exactly been positive or friendly, at least they haven’t been about this campaign. Moyers couldn’t have put it better when he said,

“How foreign and fraudulent the politics of sleaze, the polarizing almost savage pursuit of power that strokes the paranoia in us in order to divide and conquer. When this election is over, no matter who wins, there will be much to repair, if we have the will for it.”

The interview with Jackson is well worth the time to watch it and available in full here. Now I’m really looking forward to seeing his documentary entitled, “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music;” because if anything can bring us back together, not just as a country but as a planet, music is the key.

Here is a clip from the film featuring musicians from all over the world singing, “Stand By Me.”