Luke Tokunaga September Blog Post

Luke Tokunaga

9/28/2016

COMM 160

September Blog Post

            “Once you have a particular group of people you want to change or shape with a given idea, then you’re in a better position to make a specific request of them in your writing or speaking” (Warren, 34). With that being said, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed I saw The Black Eyed Peas song, “Where is the love” pop up. As I clicked on it, it did not look to be the same music video as the original one that was produced in 2003. The video was black and white, and the beat was slower. As I kept listening and looking at the visuals provided, I could understand what their goal was.

            From what has been going on the past year or so in this world, we are becoming more distant from people. There are many problems going on that have affected more families and loved ones than almost ever before. With racism being one of the main concepts, The Black Eyed Peas sent a message. The message they sent through their lyrics and visuals were so touching and sad. Their goal is to help get the point across that what is happening in this world needs to be stopped. Some lyrics from the song state, “But if you only got love for your own race. Then you’re gonna leave space for others to discriminate. And to discriminate only generates hate.” With that being said in the song, they’re targeting not just a certain group of people but everyone in this world. The book stating that your ideas will be more powerful if you’re writing to a group that will understand, I think everyone listening to this will understand the message they are trying to send.

            This is important because they talk about real life situations that are happening everyday and if we don’t do anything to stop it, it can get become a worry. When the music artist ASAP Rocky says, “Said he can’t breathe with his hands in the air. Layin’ on the ground died from a choke.” That is a situation that actually happened in the past year, and it was very tragic. The importance of communication in this video is the lyrics being said to help stop the issues that are happening. The lyrics are so powerful and very persuasive.

            Lyrics can be so powerful to the audience listening. The Black Eyed Peas are trying to sing a song about problems that are happening around the world, trying to connect to the world that we need to wake up and realize what is happening. And with what we learned in class being, “Communication and Power,” I thought this is a great example of that.

Source

Warren, John T., and Deanna Fassett L. Communication: A Critical/cultural Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print.