Buffalo Boy's Blog

New Relevance for This Song

Driving into student teaching this morning the song by the Cure called Killing An Arab came on my IPod. Thinking about the meaning of the song and what is was in reference to, it kind of takes on a whole new meaning given the ugliness of McCain/Palin supporters and their racist overtones/comments in my earlier posted videos of the angry mobs at the rallys.

The Cure did not write the song specifically about Killing An Arab, the song was written in reference to a book by a great French writer Albert Camus called The Stranger. The book was about a man (Meursault) who killed an Arab on a beach and feeling no remorse or sympathy about his actions. He feels he could shoot this guy or just as easily walk away. Its a great read and after hearing the outright disgusting and racist comments from several McCain supporters is it really that big of a stretch to think that someone couldn't attempt something like that? The only difference is Obama is not an Arab, he is not Muslim or Islamic, he is an American and a Christian.

The Cure have changed the lyrics apparently on recent tours to Kissing an Arab or Killing Another because they don't want the wrong message to be put out to fans.

Either way, its a great tune and promotes a great piece of literature from one of the great writers of the 20th century:

 

Category: Literature | Music

Posted by Buffalo Boy on October 15, 2008 @ 18:51 | Permalink | Comments (4)