The Path from Rebel to Hypocrite

Besides making compelling music, one of the main characteristics of most rock and rap stars when they begin their careers has always been their rebellious persona.  They are raging against something – the system, the man, the rich, the capitalists, the phonies, the government, the record companies, the police, the military.  

With their youthful exuberance and anger, they implicitly portray themselves as heroes and champions of the persecuted, the downtrodden, the forgotten, the losers, the poor, the incarcerated.  This is why teens and younger people idolize them.  They are expressing the dismay and the resentment that we all feel when we realize how broken and unjust the world is and how our parents and society have gone along with the whole thing.

 

Then, before you know it, these erstwhile rebels that we have placed on the pedestal of our idealistic imagination have an entourage of bodyguards, managers, CPAs and lawyers who are investing their millions, finding ways to avoid taxes, shielding them from any negative publicity, jetting them from party to party and creating connections with all the other glitterati and power-brokers of the world.

 

So much for rebellion.

 

A similar path is followed by young movie and TV stars, whose indignation at social inequities, ocean pollution, climate change and wildlife extinction knows no bounds, but who after a few years of success find themselves flying their private jets into Venice to attend the Jeff Bezos wedding.

 

The path from rebel to hypocrite is well trod.  We human beings are easily seduced by wealth, power and fame.  Our principles and convictions are easy prey for the rapacious riches of this world.  And our ability to rationalize and to self-delude is prodigious.  

 

None of us wants to be a hypocrite, but quite frankly if someone has a modicum of success and/or luck in this world it is highly likely that some measure of hypocrisy will ensue.  It is damned hard to stay true to one’s convictions when the world offers up its delights.  We quickly succumb to the allure of fancy houses, cars, clothes and vacations, and being feted by important people who know even more important people.  

 

The former rebels assuage their consciences by attending philanthropic galas and making donations.  They speak out forcefully on issues.  They become spokespeople for important causes and generously bring their fame to fundraisers or photo ops.   

 

But it is all mostly a façade.  The passion is performative. The fire is gone.  The embers remaining provide just enough light to illuminate the hypocrisy of it all.  It is the human condition writ large for all to see.

 

Dancing and Singing in the Rain

Who has not been enchanted by Gene Kelly splashing through puddles in his exuberant song and dance in the pouring rain?  It is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time.

Dancing and singing are powerful expressions of human emotion.  Everyone loves to see a talented dancer or listen to a beautiful song.  But as our society becomes ever more addicted to social media and streaming services – TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, etc. – the amount of time that we ourselves spend singing or dancing has become very tiny indeed.

 

What has changed?  From all reports, earlier societies had traditional dances and songfests with everyone participating.  Singing and dancing were important cultural touchpoints and reflected the joy and sometimes the sorrow of the human spirit in communal form.

 

Nowadays, teenagers and young adults will sing and dance only at concerts or weddings, and by the time they get just a bit older only the loss of inhibition due to significant alcohol will inspire them to get out on the dance floor or sing, and only at the occasional wedding.

 

And the men are the worst.  A lot of men absolutely refuse to dance, even at weddings.  And they would never be tempted to break into song on any occasion.  The sole exceptions to this are times of pure drunken revelry, which are not generally very healthy cultural events.  

 

What is going on here? Has self-consciousness become the plague of our times or have we just become lazy and unwilling to let go?  Perhaps part of the problem is that we no longer gather in groups and create our own entertainment.  We go to restaurants, or to a party or social gathering, but there is almost never a chance to sing or dance at these events.  

 

It is also difficult to have people sing together because the music scene changes so rapidly and there is not a common songbook that everyone knows by heart.  And dancing has primarily become random movement, entangled swaying or fairly explicit grinding rather than the learned patterns that one sees in folk dances, ballroom dancing or line dancing.

 

I will insert a disclaimer here that I am mainly talking about white, American culture.  I suspect that Hispanic and African-American groups, and perhaps other countries, have a bit less reluctance to sing or dance, but I am also fearful that they too are slowly being infected with the virus of social media and streaming voyeurism.  

 

There are still a few enclaves of avid dancers – Texas line dancers, International folk dancers, square dancers – to name a few.  But sadly, these dancers are a small minority and generally qualify as hobbyists.  

 

The same is true for singing.  There are choirs and choruses and rock bands and a cappella groups, but again, a small minority of people participate.

 

There is something very primal, cathartic and powerful in singing and dancing, especially as part of a group or community.  One experiences the triumph of a shared humanity over the individual ego or performance.  It is a shame that we are rapidly losing the opportunity to experience this shared exuberance as a break from our individual striving and often lonely existence.