Bob pointed out that this post was incorrectly labeled NJC the first go round so I'm sending it again without that tag. Mark Kakki wrote: > 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. and I replied: I never thought she was necessarily pointing a finger at any one institution or group of people in this song. To me it's just a series of observations of things that are royally fucked up in modern life. The first verse does address justice and questions whether there is such a thing anymore but I don't think she's trying to draw some direct line of causality from that to gas leaks and oil spills. Nor do I think she's saying that AIDS is the result of greed and lust. She's merely observing that in the world today there is corruption and greed and it can and does pervert justice, that gas leaks pollute the air, oil spills muck up our oceans and that Madison Avenue shoves sex in our faces to sell products but fails to mention that you'd better play safe if you value your life. (I must admit however, that the blanket statement 'sex kills' has always bothered me. So after rereading your post, Kakki, I must admit that there may be something in what you say.) She continues, talking about health care and how the cure can sometimes kill you while the price keeps getting more & more ridiculously astronomical. Pettiness clogs the courts with lawsuits and road rage makes people driving the freeways into psychos. Rapists stalk women any place at any time & kids in schoolrooms mow down their classmates with guns. Not one specific thing. Many, many things that Joni sees as terribly wrong with modern life. As she sees it, 'the balance is undone' and of course that balance between positive & negative is one of her ongoing, pervasive themes. She also seems to have a pretty healthy respect for those 'Indian chiefs with their old beliefs.' Of course, there are many good things in our day to day lives and Sex Kills is not representative of those. 'Taming the Tiger' gave us quite a few of those but so many seem to dismiss that record. I count it as one of her best but that's another subject entirely. Mark in Seattle
