Analysis of Bruce Springsteen's Song "Devils & Dust"
In times of war it is quite common for people to start questioning their values and their actions and be unsure of the path they are taking. This is common because to protect our values we often are told that we have to take actions that conflict with those values. One example would be how to protect our liberties we must sometimes restrain those liberties during treacherous times. However, the ultimate question is whether or not going against the very values we stand for is a hypocritical and wrongful action plan. Bruce Springsteen approaches this very issue in his song “Devils & Dust”, from the CD with the same title, and he subtly criticizes how the United States is betraying its values.
Springsteen wrote “Devils & Dust” during the Iraq War. He has been openly against the war and has been quoted saying to Rolling Stone, “As the saying goes, "The first casualty of war is truth." I felt that the Bush doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous foreign policy. I don't think it has made America safer.” The song itself could be interpreted as a soldier’s point of view about the war but overall it stands as a critique on our society betraying its own principles. The first couple of verses in the song already evoke the image of a soldier stuck in a war. “I got my finger on the trigger / But I don’t know who to trust” could be understood as a soldier’s experience in war but it could also have a deeper meaning. It could also signify that our society has to make these important choices that will end up affecting people’s lives but it is all too ambiguous, there just isn’t any certainty. We are left with the desperate feeling of not knowing what to do, not knowing wh...
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...ty and privacy are essential for it. Also, I am a dual citizen and in my other country, which is Brazil, we are still somewhat haunted by the shadow of a dictatorship that just ended in 1987. So I know people who have suffered the consequences of lack of liberty. Even so sometimes I am doubtful of my opinion, even though I try not to express it often and defend liberty as much as I can. Whenever I see some terrible act, whether terrorist or governments do it, I think if there would be a way to stop that with restrictions on certain liberties and more surveillance. However, if we do that, if we overreact, we destroy our values, destroy a part of ourselves and fill our soul with devils and dust.
Works Cited
Springsteen, Bruce. “Devils & Dust.” Devils & Dust. Columbia Records, 2005.
Springsteen, Bruce. “We’ve Been Misled.” Rolling Stone 22 Sep. 2005
The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial issues in American history. It is no secret that the American public was not in favor of this war, which is why the government’s decision to keep the US involved for over ten years created such a disconnect between America’s people and their government. In the third verse the Temptations sing, “People all over the world are shouting 'End the war.'” The Temptations bravely attack the government, addressing their continuation of a war no one wants. Although The Temptations avoid explicitly naming the war, or the government as the guilty party, it is evident that this is a criticism, or at least an acknowledgement of a predicament America found itself in.
...ot, it allows us to express ourselves freely and to share with others our uniqueness. It is this right and this freedom that allows us to be free in our daily speech and happenings. So, ask yourself, if this right was restricted would this be the "land of the free and the home of the brave?"
The first verse of the song begins by comparing the generals of the United States Army to a group of witches who have "evil minds that plot destruction" and act as a "sorcerer of Death's construction." The songwriters are saying that the generals and politicians meet with each other and think of new ways to cause destruction and chaos for nothing but their own amusement. The last part of the first verse says that they only have hatred for mankind and are trying to brainwash citizens of the United States to think that the war is a good cause so there will not be much protesting and opposition.
...vil rights and losing protection. Protection is more important but unnecessary spying should not be tolerated. “The sad truth is that most Americans have already lost the battle when it comes to keeping personal information absolutely private.”( Lee, M.Dilascio, Tracey M.4).
The most valuable aspects of individualism is the freedom to speak and to express are feelings that is what makes us human, as President Robert F. Kennedy stated in his Day of Affirmation Address that “…the first element of this individual liberty is the freedom of speech: the right to express and communicate ideas, to set oneself apart from the dumb beasts of field and forest…” My family came to the U.S. because of the promises of freedom. When we were in India we could not speak ill of the politics that were corrupt because if we did there would be chaos and riots. As we came to America we found that we did not have to look constantly behind are backs when we criticized the government until the Patriot Act was put into place but now we can not express are feelings due to the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act fails to secure American liberties but that the act exposes the weakness in the U.S. government. The act encourages government corruption, secrecy, fraud and discrimination and violates are constitution. The government uses the national security as a pretense for violating our constitutional rights; for example the freedom of speech and our privacy (Day).
Bruce Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949 to working class parents in New Jersey where he was born and raised. His father, Doug Springsteen, had difficulty maintaining a steady job and his mother, Adele, worked as a secretary. Springsteen attended Catholic school and had a religious upbringing. Bruce and his father had a troublesome relationship that influenced his songwriting greatly. Bruce had stated that if his relationship with his father had been better, then “I would have written happy songs—and I tried it in the early 90’s and it didn’t work… Anyway, I put on his work clothes and went to work.”(Bruce Springsteen Biography 1) Bruce Springsteen’s songs are homage to the working class, are influenced by current events, and are full of symbolism.
Bob Dylan’s “Blowing’ in the wind” was considered to be a civil rights national anthem, a more folky spin on Sam Cooke’s “ A change is gonna come” The asking of open ended questions made the song catchy and relatable to the era’s racially charged demeanors. According to the 1976 issue of Christianity Today magazine “Early in his career Dylan wrote many finger-pointing songs about man's inhumanity to man. He sang out against racial prejudice, hatred, and war. Freedom and sin are major themes in a number of Dylan's songs. "With God on Our Side" (1963) is a satirical justification of war. In "Masters of War" (1963) he lashes out at the war profiteers who make money from young men's lives. Bob Dylan was ultimately considered to be an unauthenticated front man for the civil war, Dylan touched on humanitarian aspects such as racism, poverty, corruption and the war. “Me, I don’t want to write for people anymore – you know, be a spokesman. From now on, I want to write from inside me …I’m not part of no movement… I just can’t make it with any organization”(Dylan, 1964)
We have trigger warning and censorship on University campuses. We have people being critiqued for every perceived slight by the hordes of people who hide behind a username on social media. We live in age of outrage, where the idea of freedom seems to be continuously superseded with a need to protect the feelings of others rather than the right to an opinion; we live in age of fear, where the threat of terrorism seems to be omnipresent, always lurking in the shadows – but we live in the West, and regardless of the minor blemishes that stain us at the moment, and vitriol that fills the news we read, the idea of freedom is alive and well in the majority of the populace. The average man still has a belief in the democratic system. The average man still believes in the value of individual rights.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” In America’s society today, some are willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in order to gain protection and security over some potential threat. Especially after the events of September 11th and several attempted bombings in U.S. cities. This sacrifice of individual freedoms such as the freedom of speech, expression, the right to information, to new technologies, and so forth, for additional protection is more of a loss than a gain. Citizens of the United States deserve equal liberty and safety overall, as someone should not have to give up one value in order to gain another. This concept of individual right goes beyond the simple idea of “individual comfort.” Personal liberties cannot be surrendered and are not to be compromised since these liberties are intangible. Individuals should not have their personal liberties exchanged for national security because individuals are guaranteed protection to these rights.
These rights are in place to protect us. It doesn’t make any sense to say that we need to remove some protection to become more secure. It also doesn’t make any sense to imply that there is no possible situation in which we can have both civil liberty and security. We need to be brave, to stand up to those who would harm us and say I am not afraid, to tell those who dislike our way of life that we will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way, tell them that this is the greatest country in the world because of our freedoms and that we will do whatever is necessary to keep it that way. After that we can deal with the terrorists.
Since the founding of the United States, our outlook on the way it treats its citizens has not changed very tremendously. Apart from the abolishment of slavery, and various other corrupt practices which were fixed, well for the most part. The concept of birthrights and unalienable rights is not very farfetched, yet our government continuously attempts to impede these rights in an attempt that should not be tested. The right to privacy is a very serious concern and could be taken more heavily especially if it involves the safety of an individual or that of a nation, is no big difference, but the government should not go to the point of impeding our rights or freedoms to acquire these measures.
There are a number of reasons why this freedom needs to be protected. The number one and most important is to keep the individuality of the American people from becoming controlled by the Government.
The privacy of the individual is the most important right. Without privacy, the democratic system that we know would not exist. Privacy is one of the fundamental values on which our country was founded. There are exceptions to privacy rights that are created by the need for defense and security.
As stated earlier privacy provides citizens with freedom of expression and assurance in their nation. Therefore, “[ Monitoring citizens without their knowledge] is a major threat to democracies all around the world.” ( William Binney…) This is a logical opinion because without freedom of expression and privacy because every dictatorship in history has implemented some form of surveillance upon its citizens as a method of control. Therefore, If a democratic society like the united states were to follow actions like extreme methods of surveillance there is no telling how far it will go. An extreme example of this would be Stalin, he began by monitoring citizens in russia without their knowledge and because he was not stopped he expanded his method of monitoring through children. Stalin began encouraging children to monitor people around them and report actions not accepted so that the person in question may be punished. While the United States will hopefully never act as extreme as Stalin and copy his methods of control, the threat to a democratic society very real if this behavior
Government Surveillance today has changed from what it used to be. Technology has expanded through the past several decades and the government’s monitoring abilities have also expanded tremendously. Since the September 11, 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks, government surveillance has become more a part of everyday life. Government surveillance is said to help in efforts of capturing terrorists and stopping terrorist attacks before they even happen. But how much of our civil liberties are we giving up in order to maybe help capture some terrorists. The rapidly advancing technology of today and a more globalizing culture has made privacy and civil liberties come more into the forefront of our views. After about nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the government surveillance system put into place to keep the United States safe, is so massive that its effectiveness is becoming questionable.