radio
The radio makes me frustrated.
On one end, we hear uninspired, inauthentic "popular music" that tries to imprint on our brains with catchiness and hearts with false messages about life and love (this is not a feat, Chainsmokers- merely an algorithm).
On the other end, classic and country radio clings to outdated beats and tones heralding the long gone "good ol' days". Stuck in the past, there is no newness to inspire or experimentation to witness (I concede we have to appreciate and study past work grasp out current state- I take issue with stubborn grasping that ignores the didactic value the classics provide).
Very rarely do innovative, deep pieces of beautiful music appear over the "waves" to move our hearts or minds. It has inspired and changed culture.
Maybe this is asking too much of the radio, but for decades radio has been (and in other countries, still is) a joining of culture and common folk around shared values and beauty.
More than all that, radio makes me sad.
I believe radio in America is another sign of our polarized times. Without those shared values, without an artist producing who young and old, man and woman appreciate, we lose another mode of connection as a people in a world of increasingly few bridges...
counterpoint // slaves to the algorithm