Sunday, March 25, 2007

Group Two: Megan B. (19), Lily B. (33), Hayley R. (33), Meredith H. (27), Drew S. (27), Philip W. (34)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

BYOB by System of a Down

Why do they always send the poor?
My God is of Bible blood with pointed ears
Victorious, victorious steel
Can your spending kneel?
Marching forward hypocritic
And hypnotic computers
You depend on our protection
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth
La la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Kneeling roses
Disappearing into Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox
Stealing our intentions
Every city, gripped in oil
Crying freedom!
Handed to obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
la la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Blast off, it's party time
And we all live in a fascist nation
Blast off, it's party time
And where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Kneeling roses
Disappearing into Moses' dry mouth
Breaking into Fort Knox
Stealing our intentions
Every city, gripped in oil
Crying freedom!
Handed to a obsoletion
Still you feed us lies from the tablecloth
la la la la la la la la la la
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sunshine
Everybody is going to the party
Have a real good time
Dancing in the desert
Blowing up the sun
Where the fuck are you?
Where the fuck are you?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
They always send the poor!
They always send the poor!

Anonymous said...

Ladies and Gentlemen:
I’m not going to lie, this song scares me. I downloaded it so that I could get the mood of the song, and I think I might have nightmares. The mood of the song is very angry and disturbing in my opinion. Although the head banging music has never met my fancy, everyone has their different tastes and is entitled to their own opinions. This band is obviously not too happy with the current political situation. For starters, the song title is BYOB, which in college terms translates to bringing your own beer. This is not necessarily the case for this song. I believe that BYOB stands for bring your own bombs. This sets the mood of the song for me because, when we think of bombs the first thing that pops into mind is Iraq. The song starts out by asking “why do they always send the poor.” This is a question that first arose during the Vietnam War, which, like the current war, was very embellished by the media. This first line sets the tone for the song because the artist is already questioning some of our nation’s political decisions. By using “they,” the artist is leaving the subject open of the listener to imply who the artist is talking about. When I listen to this line I believe that this “they” is supposed to be our government/elected officials. The next line is also disturbing. It talks about a God from Bible blood with pointed ears. At a glance it could stand for a lot of things, but I think it is supposed to be talking about President Bush. The reason is, in political cartoons he is depicted to have pointed ears, and the fact that he is Christian could be why they say “of Bible blood. Not to name them all but his song is full of symbolism; the “tablecloth” could be lies, the “dancing in the desert” is fighting, “blowing up the sunshine” is what the A-bomb supposedly did, and when it talks about oil it could be referring to the whole conflict. The one that disturbed me the most, and I’m not going to lie I had to do some digging to try to understand it, is the line “Disappearing into Moses' dry mouth.” Correct me if I’m wrong but Moses was exiled in Iraq, and the desert is dry, so I interpreted it as talking about soldiers dying in Iraq. The artist used some great symbolism in the song that many my overlook the first time reading or listening to the song. I also believe that the song is very opinionated and expresses the views the artist/writer have towards this nation’s current situations. Sorry to write a little bit more than 150 words but that is how I interpreted the song/lyrics.
Have a good one
-Drew S-

Anonymous said...

Dear Group:

Okay so I was not a fan of this song AT ALL. It was very whiny, but whiny in a very aggressive way. The artist was clearly attacking the government. I mean I don’t really follow politics but I am fully aware of the huge controversy over the war that’s going on right now, but I hate when people attack the way the government runs things. Could they do any better?! I don’t think so! The whole “why do they always send the poor?” issue, no they don’t always send the poor, they send who volunteers. If the artist has a problem with them sending the poor, why doesn’t he take some poor person’s place? I’m sorry if this is not how you feel but songs like this just annoy me.

Thanks! Have a great day!
Erin McCoy

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,

I happen to like this song. I think the lyrics are very powerful and the music is very demanding. System of a Down is certainly not your typical mainstream band, but I think their music is just as credible. I think the lyrics “Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why don’t the send they poor?” are very meaningful. The singer repeats these lines over and over for emphasis. They are simple questions that we all wonder about everyday. There are constant news reports about daily death counts across the world. War seems to be just killing people instead of solving their problems. This song demands that you ask yourself “where you are.” I think this is an important question because so many American citizens seem to be uninformed about the reality of war. We need to decide where we stand on the multiple issues with Iraq and other nations so we can stop “sending the poor” to die needlessly for reasons we can barely understand. Perhaps the title, “Bring Your Own Bombs”, is suggesting an “everyman for himself” approach to war.

Meredith H. (27)

Haley said...

I downloaded the song to get a better feel for it. The point is put across in an angry mood that doesn't really allow for any other opinions. However, the song has a very good point and the use of repitition is well used. I like how System of a Down used a lot of symbolism to and experience to describe the war and what people are going through and how they feel. They also use sarcasm when saying that everyone is going to the party and dancing in the desert while blowing up the sun. I think that this band, like most people in America is unhappy with the current situation and want a change brought about. I personally do not like people who ciritcize the government because it is obviously a very huge responisbility and we need to show respect to our leader. I also don't really understand the "why do they always send the poor?" because most of our armed forces are made up of volunteers. This song is not one I would listen to more than a few times. I do feel that they put the point across aggressively and that some people probably love it, but me...i just don't.

Erin M. said...

Who posted as me? Erin McCoy did not submit comment #3.
-Erin

Anonymous said...

When I read this assignment, the first thing that I did before reading the lyrics was download BYOB to get a feel for the song and see how they presented the lyrics. When I listened to this song it seemed that the parts that were actually meaningful were very hard to understand, and the only part that I heard very clearly was when they were singing about partying. It is for this reason that I was shocked when I read the lyrics and began to truly understand what exactly they were saying in the song. It seemed to me that they wrote this song to vent their frustration with the decisions that were being made within our government regarding war. It seemed that they were most frustrated with the fact that all of these upper ranking elected officials were making decisions that were affecting the lower classes due to the fact that these are the people that are actually fighting and giving their lives on the front lines. I think that the overall message that they were trying to get across was that if these people are making these decisions then they should have to go out and fight or take some sort of responsibility for the decisions that they have made.
Philip wyllie

Anonymous said...

After reading all of the comments that were made on BYOB it was apparent that our group is split down the middle on their opinion of the song. I felt that the points that everyone made were well thought out and made good cense. Having said this I feel that it is pointless to argue whether the war is write or wrong because we are already involved and there is nothing that we can do about now. Instead of debating as to whether what we are doing in Iraq is write or wrong what we should be doing is making sure that our soldiers know that they have our full support and give them the tools that they need to finish what we started and make it home safe. Philip Wyllie

Anonymous said...

Dear Group:

After reading all of the posts I got a feel for where we all stand on this issue. I completely understand why people are against the war, wars are not fun, too many undeserving people die. Regarding what Meredith said in her post about the artist “suggesting and ‘everyman for himself’ approach to war” if that is really what the artist is trying to say than I hate the song even more than I had previously thought. That is the worst idea ever, when involved in a war everybody needs to stand united, thinking about everybody else not just themselves. Having said that I really liked the point Philip made about it being pointless to argue about whether the war was right or wrong when what we need to be doing is showing our troops our utmost support and appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice they are making to defend our country.

-Megan B
(Oh and Erin, sorry that was me that posted as you, I thought what you were saying in class was that we could post as you to stay anonymous, sorry, I’m an idiot.)

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,

This song has certainly evoked strong emotions from its listeners. I wonder if a different song, maybe from a different genre of music, would cause us to approach it differently. Regardless, one’s opinion of something wouldn’t change because the topic is presently differently. I agree with everyone that arguing for or against the war is superfluous because we are already fully engaged in it. We need to be prepared for the next step, which I guess is winning or losing. I constantly feel like I have to remind myself what it is we are even trying to win or lose. I wonder if I will still be feeling this way years from now. It doesn’t seem unlikely since we’ve been involved with Iraq and the Middle East for a long time already.

Meredith H (27)

Anonymous said...

After reading the few comments that were posted I do not feel any different about my opinion that no matter whether you agree with the war or not that we need to support the people that are already over there. Although I did not like the song I do agree with Meredith H when she said that she wondered if the song was by a different artist and was in a different genre whether it would have evoked the same emotions that BYOB did. Overall I felt that this song was a perfect song for this assignment due to the fact that it does cause people to feel strongly in one way or another. – Philip Wyllie

Anonymous said...

Dear Group,

I looked at the other groups’ songs and I think it’s so amazing that for so many years songs have been written in response to war. It seems like we have always been troubled by war and are never going to stop being occupied by it. It consumes are newspapers, classrooms, and popular culture in every aspect. There is no ignoring it. Perhaps that is why it is so easy to get bored of hearing about war with the Middle East.
I found this political cartoon from google-ing images (http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/v/M/iraq_chickenhawk.gif). I think it ties into the fact that we want to send our troops over immediately but we are too afraid to volunteer ourselves. I believe this picture reflects System of a Down’s lyric about not sending Presidents to fight wars, but rather, “the poor.” This cartoon shows a man who wants to fight the war, but not actually fight in it. I guess it is criticizing most supporters as unwilling to really provide the help that is needed.

-Meredith H. (27)

Anonymous said...

I dont think that linked posted, but here it is:

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/v/M/iraq_chickenhawk.gif

-Meredith H (27)

Anonymous said...

Dear Group:

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about this song. While I still am not a fan of the song or the message it sends out I do respect those of you that support what it is saying. I am pleased that we are all in agreement that we need to support our troops regardless of our opinion because they are making the ultimate sacrifice for every one of us, and we should feel nothing but gratitude towards them. http://www.ccmep.org/2002_articles/meyer-504x438-cartoon.gif. This cartoon I think portrays the “why do they always send the poor” because they say “we just need 200,000 kids.” The fact that they refer to the people that go to war as kids makes it seem like they are sending the wrong people and they should be volunteering themselves, which is exactly what the artist says in the song.

Thanks,
-Megan B

Anonymous said...

Hey group-

My first and second posts are not posted because I thought I pushed the publish button but it did not go through. I'm using a different computer for this post, and not my laptop. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts. Each one of us have a different view of this song. I do not like the song very much; however, I respect the way the band feels about this subjuect.
I found this cartoon that reminded me of this song.
http://alaskafreepress.com/files/images/soldiers_iraq_study.gif
This cartoon relates to the song because of the lyrics. "Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?" The soldier is wondering if the president even cares about who is fighting the war, and what is going on in the war.
Have a great day!
Lily B.

Anonymous said...

Dear group,
This is my second letter, because I forgot to do it on time. Our group has mixed emotions about the song. But I believe that the purpose of the assignment is not to figure out if we like the song or not, but to analyze its meaning. We all agree that the song is not happy with the current situation over seas, and that the whole point of the song is asking why do we have these so called poor man's wars. But the fact of the matter is right now there is nothing we can do to stop the war but we can help it. I agree with a post made earlier saying that the best thing of us to do is give our troops the support they need.

Anonymous said...

Dear group:
That was my post that is labeled at 12:34, I just forgot to put my name on it. I think we can all agree we are entitled to our own opinion on the song. But it is the words that bothered me and no matter what has been said this opinion has not changed. I just don’t agree with bashing the way this country operates, especially when people talk bad about something that people are out their dying over. I agree with Philip on the fact that we do not need lead those troops into thinking that we are not supporting them. I also agree with Meredith in the fact that war has been written about in song for many of years. It is just an artistic way for someone to share their opinions. I found some cartoons that were anti-war cartoons, there are a bunch of them on one page and I think that a lot of them relate directly with this song, I would recommend checking them out.
Thanks
Drew S.

Anonymous said...

here is the the web site i did not include it in the post, sorry. http://www.ccmep.org/2002_articles/080102_Cartoons.htm
Drew S