Media Mindfulness

Excuse me while I cry for a moment. Some poor cad in London was hauled in by the police for singing along to The Clash’s London Calling, which begs the question: Had punk been invented today, would it be considered a terrorist movement? Can paranoia withstand the leitmotif of our era, “irony”? Speaking of irony, punk has became a trendy fashion devoid of its serious politics in which it decried war, fascism and racism. This story is a sorry, sad twist and insult to the late-great Joe Strummer who was a tireless advocate for peace and justice. But irony of ironies, wasn’t “London Calling” also used in a Jaguar commercial? Hmmmmmm….

Check the lyrics for yourself here.

Briton held as terror suspect over song - MSNBC.com:

LONDON - British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday.Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash’s 1979 anthem “London Calling,” which features the lyrics “Now war is declared — and battle come down” while other lines warn of a “meltdown expected.”

(Via MSNBC.)