Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Boycott Destiny's Child

Ordinarily I could give a toss about R&B supergroup Destiny's Child. However, occasionally I am stuck at a post with limited TV options and I find myself watching something I wouldn't normally waste time on.

Here in Djibouti the local cable channel (from South Africa) plays a music video or two in between programs. The other day I watched a little bit of a Destiny's Child video. The video was called "Soldier".

Silly me, I thought the song might be a tribute to our men in uniform. What was I thinking? Of course it wasn't!

Instead the song is about how gang members get them all hot and bothered. I won't bother analyzing the song. It's typical hip-hop stuff, glamorizing a bunch of illiterate thugs with droopy pants and gold teeth, complete with a male "guest rapper" who proceeds to remind us all how tough and rich he is and how many women he has slept with. Yawn.

Personally, I don't care if Beyonce and crew want to immortalize these goons in song and video. (Hey, this is the woman who is purportedly engaged to Jay-Z, after all.) What I have a problem with is her equating these guys with soldiers. Real soldiers.

Gang-bangers are cowards and punks. How brave is it to kill someone by means of a "drive-by"?

If you, or anyone you care about, is serving in uniform, I urge you to think about this song before paying any money for a Destiny's Child CD, DVD or concert ticket.

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