Truth In Advertising?
I need to begin by saying I am not a religious person. This is not about religion. Nor is it about the bashing of religions. In December 2008, I wrote Injustice And Intolerance In The Name Of God. This came after hearing about a religious group in the UK protesting against a poet because they didn’t like his work. I did not claim that all Christian groups are like the two that I wrote about in that article. I just take it a little personally when someone (anyone) tries to stifle the voice of a poet or any writer just because they don’t happen to like the content which flows from the writer’s pen. There are many things I do not personally approve of or perhaps just don’t care for. I chose not to invest my time and energy in participating in those things.
The other day I received an e-mail from a friend which was a forward. I receive a lot of these as I am sure y’all do as well. This e-mail had the subject line of FW: A song some radio stations are banning, “Please Watch”. I read the e-mail which stated this song was banned by radio stations and President Obama because it is “politically incorrect”. There was a link to the YouTube post of the Diamond Rio song “Presidents Day”. The song is an apparent religious/political song. This is the reason for my opening statements. I did not forward this e-mail.
Now for more. I have also received in the past e-mails telling about people who are ill with cancers or children who are missing and asking that you go to a website and give money and then forward the posts along. These items don’t just come in e-mails from friends, but you get them on Facebook and Twitter as well. These do not come from unintelligent people. They come from very caring people who are sympathetic to the plights described within. The only problem is the messages are not vetted to be proven out.
Having been duped before by strangers tugging on my heartstrings, I prove out things before I follow through with any requests made by the sender of the e-mail or posting. I have also replied back with my findings. Having said all of this, you can guess where I am going.
Yes, upon seeing a heading that people are banning a song (poetry set to music), I got my feathers ruffled. After watching the video of the song, I set it aside. I have learned it is best to not write when I am ruffled. After a cooling off period, I got to work. I began Googling every way I could think of to find legitimate articles regarding this banning. (As a writer I love researching and as a researcher, I love writing about my finds.) I could find no information about this so-called banning. Only more links to the YouTube video.
There were many comments on the various links with thoughts and feelings about the song in general and the supposed banning of the song. One comment I read stated that the song was never meant for public airplay. Since it was recorded and performed at a live venue, this does not seem to be the case. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be released to radio stations and Diamond Rio wanted to save it for their fans on an album. I can only speculate on this matter.
Truth in advertising can mean many things in this day and age. When e-mails are sent or posts are made to blogs, Twitter and Facebook, there should be truth held within. I fault those who begin these shams. Some are attempting to fleece monies from unsuspecting sympathetic souls. Others are to gain notoriety. One thing that has resulted from this latest e-mail is gaining more viewings on YouTube.
My advise to all is to vet out the information you receive regarding such things before you forward the information along.

