I'm a Psychology Professor at UCLA. I write books; I also write songs for the band Crying 4 Kafka (C4K). After my last post (Demons Come Dance) I received a large number of e-mails asking for an explanation of the C4K song Human Rights Brutalized. Below is a brief explanation, followed by a link to the band website where you can hear the song.
Dictators are obviously the worst offenders here. Self-appointed saints who hypnotize the masses with mind numbing propaganda, and then routinely brutalize human rights. The chorus of this song reflects this condition: "Canonized, hypnotized, human rights brutalized."
Though dictators are a convenient foil, it is also true, I believe, that wealthy nations have a moral obligation to eliminate suffering. The first verse embodies this idea:
HERE'S A PRINCIPLE TO DEFEND
ALL SUFFERING HAS TO END
NATIONS NOW HORDING WEALTH
TURN ATTENTION TO OUR HEALTH
AIDS, STARVATION MISERY VAST
SOON BECOMES THING OF THE PAST
DREAM THE DREAM WE CAN'T IGNORE
BANGING HARD ON EVERY DOOR
Similarly, we must also recognize the futility of framing human rights abuses as a uniquely foreign phenomenon; America's hands are sufficiently dirtied as well. Slavery was a blight on humanity; our pact with the devil. The last verse memorializes this:
AMERICA DID NOT ESCAPE
A LEGACY OF MURDER AND RAPE
GILDED WORDS COINCIDE
INSTITUTIONAL HOMICIDE
FAUST HAD A TRICK
MADE THE DEVIL HEART-SICK
DIDN'T WORK, IT NEVER COULD
DEVIL'S FRIEND, FIREWOOD
THAT DEVIL'S FRIEND IS FIREWOOD
Click to hear the song Human Rights Brutalized by Crying 4 Kafka.
Paul Abramson is a professor of psychology at UCLA and an authority on sex. He is also a lead singer for the rock band Crying 4Kafka.
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