"I am big.  It's the pictures that got small."
Norma Desmond

I don't hate it as much as I thought I would.  When I heard that a song called "Boycott Target" was in 2nd place on some rap & hip-hop charts somewhere, my first thought was some variation of the usual jaded ennui that makes the idea of returning to simple boredom sound adventurous.  If only we could return to boredom.  How exciting that would be!

But I don't hate it.  That doesn't mean it's not a GLARING RED FLAG that everybody will mistakenly use as a crutch for their crippled, damaged faith in the world, so that this misplaced hope might limp on a little further into the rotten caverns of cultural oblivion.  I hate to be so pessimistic, but, unfortunately, I can explain the reasons I don't believe in it.

I'd rather not.  I'd much rather write my opinion off as the kind of useless bitterness reserved for angry old people.  I could cop to that, and repent of it. 

That would be great.  I wish I could do it.  I would jump at the chance.

But, unfortunately, I can't.

Regardless, I am relieved to say that I don't hate the song.

Which doesn't mean I like it.  I appreciate that the guys are decked out in patriotic sportswear, and the guy in the Las Vegas shirt seems to say something about God at some point, which is nice, and may even be what he truly believes.  But that doesn't mean the song isn't a product of its time, in a bad way, and a clear and present indicator that Western culture is in its final throes.

Only a culture with NOTHING TO REPLACE IT WITH would have any room for such an obvious piece of opportunistic content on a music chart.  I'm sorry to be so harsh, but is that not what it is?  Content?  I hope these guys make a million dollars a second, apiece, and invest the money wisely, but, y'know...  Sketches of Spain it ain't.  The song is not a "Declaration of Independence" so much as it is a signpost.  A warning sign of the impending cliff toward which the entire Western world is careening without a care, gaze firmly affixed on the ridiculous thing in its pants.  But it isn't really... and I hate to use such a haughty term in the presence of a culture full of humble creators, but it isn't... art.

Is it?

It's content.  Cultural packing peanuts.  Styrofoam landfill content. 

Right?

I might even agree w/ the instantly-dated sentiment, to the point that I left my own country.  If you stop shopping at your local Chinese slave-goods outlet store because it doesn't share your values or interests, what do you do when such a statement applies to your entire culture?

A rhetorical question, albeit one with an unpleasant answer.

So,

How low have we fallen?

Let's ask the writers of the original "Boycott Target," released in 1989.

Was the boycott effective?  Or did they update it to include "The Power?"

Featuring members of Jimmy Fallon's house band, who released a fantastic album in 1999, before deciding to join The Power themselves, rather than fight it,

The updated version of "Fight The Power" was clearly released to capitalize on the manufactured rage during the "Summer of Love" 3 years ago.  It even contains a line about Breonna Taylor's "murder," which is frankly ridiculous.  There's no way her death could have possibly been an accident; it's not even possible.  To consider the possibility is to side with "The Power," and perpetuate the stranglehold the The Fictional Coalition of Racist White People has over the entire world.  Therefore, the death of Breonna Taylor has to be murder.  Murder.  Has to be.  Even if she was a sparkling dove of effervescent innocence, and had nothing to do with her boyfriend's illicit drug trade, pretending that her death is on par with the deaths of MLK or Malcolm X is ridiculous.

Even if The Roots and Public Enemy are talented, and even if Chuck D and Professor Griff (and probably The Roots as well) are smart, it's important to remember that when something is demonstrably ridiculous,

It's okay to dismiss it.

Even if the beat is dope.

So, what about the new chart-topping song that might actually strive to "fight the power?"

Is it reason to have hope?

I don't revel in this opinion, and nothing in my soul is pleased to admit it, but... I don't think so.  Rap & Hip-Hop fans have been chanting "Boycott Target" since the beginning.  But it's considered novel and unusual now, 30+ years after the fact.  Perhaps because it has actually become novel and  unusual. 

I'd like to give the new "Boycott Target" song the benefit of the doubt, and believe it's a continuation of this establishment-resistant mindset, but I no longer have any doubts upon which to bestow the benefits of faith.  My faith has learned only to believe in things that are believable.

And while I personally do believe that the guys who wrote the "Boycott Target" song are sincere, and while I'm legitimately glad that such a legitimate "Fight The Power" statement is popular on iTunes, the fact remains:

It's popular on iTunes.

Being popular on any of the centralized platforms is like finding a nice watch at the thrift store.

The difference between the 2 videos (and what's behind them) is obvious:

The old video depicts a street full of people carrying placards and pictures of MLK and Frederick Douglass and the like,

The new video shows some guys who have an air of stealing footage in the gay and/or children's aisle of a local Chinese slave-goods outlet store.  Well-meaning patriots and maybe even Christian guys, who then sell this footage to the thrift store, where people are glad to finally find something they don't hate (for a change).

It isn't the same.  And the change is not an improvement.

I'm not knocking 'em.  The vibe I instantly get from the "Boycott Target" guys is that if I were to meet them and hang out with them, we would get along instantly.  They seem like they'd be fun guys to hit the drive-thru with before rolling down the freeway talking about how we quit smoking weed to Fight The Power, because the power we're actually fighting is the power of this world, which wants us to smoke weed and watch porn while whining about our victimhood.  We'd take the obsolete crosshairs logo from early Public Enemy records off our backs, enjoy a quadruple-bypass burger from Carl's Jr., and have a few laughs before sharing a complicated handshake from the street and going on our way.

It sounds like fun.  

But it has gotten smaller, hasn't it.

If this is the age of diminishing returns, and everything is being reduced to its smallest, most-ignorable and disposable denominator,

How long until people at Chinese slave-goods outlet churches start asking the difficult questions?

Not,

Are you prepared to meet your Maker, 

But rather,

Are you prepared to meet your popcorn maker?

The Silver Lining:

Here's the silver lining.  "Fight The Power" has proven to be a waste of time on a grand scale.  It has been reduced to the children's aisle of a Chinese slave-goods store.  The general population in the content mill didn't want it; so it goes.  But if the fundamental particle of society is the individual, and everything has been reduced to the smallest-possible scale, that means:  Even if society is breaking down, there's still hope for the individual.  Which there always has been, and always will be.  No matter what happens to the swarm of militant social-engineering projects on the street.  No matter how stupid it gets:

On a personal level, from individual to individual, there is still hope.

There always has been, and there always will be.

Thanks for listening.

"Hipness is death to the individual, and only
the individual is truly hip."
Pablo Smog