Listening Journal: January 4, 2012

I  think the song "Clampdown" by the Clash is about a government training their citizens, mainly the Jewish ones, to do what they want them to do. The song says "We will train our blue-eyed men." The stereotypical Jewish person has blond hair and blue eyes. The song also says after the line "To be young believes." It seems as if the government is training the citizens at a young age to believe in what the government wants them to believe in. The song starts off and you can't hear the lyrics well, which could be the untrained children and how they aren't paying attention to the government. Then when the songs gets to the chorus it is easy to hear the lyrics, and that could be when the government is training or has trained the citizens to listen to them. The song relates to propaganda because in one line it says "They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!" The government has been advertising that people are making more money than other people so they will work harder. The song also relates to deception because it talks about "train[ing] our blue-eyed men to be young believes." The government is training the children to believe in what they are saying before they can even form their own opinions.