I AM GOING TO SING A SONG BY....

by Mary Elizabeth Leach Raines

© M. E. Raines, 2015

Quickly: name an opera composer who is alive today!

Can’t think of one? Even if you have never listened to opera, chances are you know the names of at least a few of the great opera composers of the past, like Mozart, Wagner, Handel, and Verdi.

Sadly, they wouldn’t have a chance in today’s world.

On a recent broadcast of a television show called Dancing with the Stars, singer Chaka Khan was asked by an interviewer which song she had chosen for her dance. She said that she would be dancing to “Chicago by Frank Sinatra.”

Chicago was not by Frank Sinatra. He was only one of the people who sang and recorded it, and he did so decades after it was written by a composer whose name was Fred Fisher. Ever heard of Fred Fisher? No, of course not! Perhaps Kahn can be excused; as a performer herself, it is only natural that she would want to give credit to another performer.

Our society glamorizes performers and scorns composers so much, however, that in the USA, stating that a song is by a musician rather than by the actual  composer has become a habit in just a few years. It is a cruel one. Even on older TV shows like American Idol, (which should have known better, but probably was largely responsible for popularizing this travesty), singers routinely say that the music they will be singing is “by” an individual who had performed the music at an earlier time.

It is both sad and insulting that composers and lyricists are seldom mentioned and even more rarely given credit for their compositions; the only exceptions occur when the performer is also the composer. It takes incredible talent to compose an enduring piece of music. Mozart and Beethoven would go unrecognized in contemporary society, and Burt Bacharach or the astonishing team of Rodgers and Hammerstein would be complete unknowns.

The  performer is glorified. The person with the huger talent—that individual who composed the piece—is left out of the loop and forced to fade into anonymity. And the real loser? Music. Who will write brilliant music when it’s a sure bet that nobody will ever even know your name, much less give you credit?

THE NEW DARK AGES HAVE BEGUN

Superstition, hysteria and hype are plunging us into a new Dark Age, where misinformation abounds and fear has replaced judgment. Statements posted on YouTubes or random websites are being mistaken for facts. People are not digging for the truth. Anyone who calls himself an expert is given credibility. Gullibility and superstition have replaced true, hard science. People sway towards the loudest, most fear-mongering voice. Those who possess the factual truth are bashed, and shrill screams drown out reason.

1. Einstein, Mark Twain, Barbara Bush, etc., did not say most of the things attributed to them on internet memes.
2. Sorry people, but there is no evidence whatsoever for chemtrails. A YouTube is not evidence. No one has ever brought a single bit of solid evidence before the U.S. Congress. There are hundreds of thousands of airplanes in the air, however, from UPS, FedEx, United Airlines, Southwest, etc., that all leave water vapor trails. These contrails vary in texture and size depending on the altitude, temperature and humidity. The chemicals "discovered" on the ground have always been there. If chemtrails were real, not only would the droplets fall far, far away from the place where they are spotted in the sky; we would have to have a huge complex with enormous plants and storage facilities, employing thousands of workers, along with great fleets of airplanes. Check the flight patterns, which frequently crisscross and parallel one another, and check to see what airlines are flying overhead when you think chemtrails are being spread. You will be surprised. 
3. There are no huge worldwide conspiracies of them against us. A few powerful people may huddle now and again in board rooms, granted, but there is no great big bad they who have combined forces to take over the world. There are no James Bond mastermind villains. People who work forThe government, in the USA, consists of people we have voted into office. “They” are, for the most part, just as confused as we are.
4. Here's one that a lot of people will have to rethink. The church in historical times did not conspire to keep people in the dark deliberately so that they could have power. Trust me, they weren't that organized. Our own government isn't that organized! (See the following.)
5. Detoxing? If it's not from an addictive substance, it's probably worthless. A huge sham market has been created around the theme of detoxing: removing assorted toxins and unwanted byproducts from the body. The actual truth is that without hospitalization and specialized intensive care, there are almost no substances that will remove toxins from your body, despite what the labels say. Sorry. The best way to detox is to eat healthy foods that support your body's own detox system--the liver and kidneys--and to drink reasonable amounts of water. That's it. Nearly everything else purported to detox you, from soaking in Epsom salts to drinking special potions to going on detox diets, is bunk.
6. There is no worldwide or national conspiracy to depopulate the planet. If there was, we would have far fewer than the 7+ billion human beings with whom we currently share space! Reducing human population would actually be easy if “they” wanted this; all “they” would need to do would be to promote birth control and make it readily available. Sadly, this is not happening. Quite the contrary is happening. It’s too bad, because it would be a good idea.
7. There are no secret military bases on the dark side of the moon or on other planets.
8. The 9/11 conspiracy theories are absurd and paranoid. Our own government did NOT do it. Bin Laden and Al Queda were quite capable of hijacking airplanes and causing massive destruction and mayhem in a very cruel way. Because of the conspiracy theories, they have succeeded beyond their dreams in harming us. Who knows? Maybe they were even the ones responsible for starting the conspiracy theories. Internet speculations on YouTube and random websites that buildings couldn't collapse the way they did is not scientific evidence! Plenty of experts find what happened credible. After all, we had never before on planet Earth experienced large aircraft crashing into skyscrapers, nor what the effects would be. Denying the fact that one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon is a huge disrespect for the families of the passengers who lost their lives. Once again, there is plenty of credible evidence about what happened on 9/11. Accusing our own government of conspiring to bring down buildings by planting bombs in them is really, really sad, and plays right into the hands of the terrorists. 

There is a lot to be genuinely concerned with on this increasingly poisoned, polluted planet. Focus your attention on the genuine problems, research carefully, and do your best to find solutions. Meanwhile, you may want to stop believing everyone who puts on a suit, uses a white board, and has made a YouTube video. Look at the hard science in all of these cases.