Interesting ponderings, Lama -
I've also felt that "Sex Kills" doesn't "add up" in a literal sense, so I've
always taken Joni in this song to be cynical, facetious and ironic. I think
that she does not mean literally that all these various entities should be
*required* to be accountable for all the world's ills. Rather, she is
parodying the tendency to always find a scapecoat to blame, rather than
doing the hard work of seeking and searching for the real reasons and causes
behind the ills and injustices of our existence. Quickly finding and
exposing the "scapegoat" can make the masses feel that "justice" has been
achieved, but it is really only an illusion. Think of certain entities that
promote the simplistic concept that "sex kills," and "sex sells everything."
It's a reductive chant (the first rule of Propaganda 101) that serves the
purpose of giving sex a bad name, portraying it as evil. It would be a bleat
of those who would rather use something like AIDS as a scare-mongering
example to further their own unrelated ulterior motives, rather than to
address the real facts of the issue. Her going from the "gas leaks and the
oil spills" to "sex kills everything" is not logical if you take it
literally. But if you take it in an absurd context, the larger point of how
ridiculously the substitution of scapegoating for justice has become in our
world it becomes clear, i.e., "sex caused the oil spills, too." Yeah, right.
By the way, L.A. is NOT very polluted, at least not for the past several
years ;-) Five years ago, our pollution levels were at the same level as in
1957, when there was much less industry and several million less people
living here. We've got it under control. Interestingly, L.A. has always
had smog since the prehistoric days from all the desert dust, natural
wildfires and the inversion layer that occurs here. I think the name
ancient Chumash Indian name "Malibu" also translates to something like
"valley of smog,", too.
Kakki
NP: Paz and crowd singing "Borderline" last Sunday
