DOWN WITH PANTS!

I was just watching I Love the 90's Part Deux on VH1 and they came upon the subject of Sinead O'Connor tearing up the Pope's picture on Saturday Night Live. I never was a big fan of Sinead O'Connor and ripping up the Pope's picture wasn't really my cup of tea. Not because I like the Pope or anything but mainly because it seemed like such a snotty, artsy-fartsy thing to do. However, I always liked that she had the guts to stand up and do it and put her career on the line for something she believed in and I think people took it way, way to seriously.

For example, the one thing that bothered me then and still bothers me to this day about that incident was when she was booed offstage by a crowd at a Bob Dylan tribute concert. These people were at a concert honoring the man who wrote "Masters of War", one of the greatest and most powerful protest songs of all time that basically wishes death on the higher powers. And yet they still booed Sinead O'Connor off of the stage for ripping up a photo of the Pope. Did these people ever even listen to a Dylan song? How could hippies fall so far? Had every single one of them completely lost their way?

It was then that I realized that the hippies of the 60's and 70's never were really revolutionary. Most of the people in that group were in it for the crowds. It was a trendy thing to do for young people. To scare the old folks by being more liberal was the in thing to do. Just because my parents stayed liberal and somewhat hippie (thankfully not all the way) doesn't mean that everybody did. Most just moved onto the next trend and gradually forgot all about the liberal principles that were supposedly at the forefront of that movement.

It was also then that I promised myself, at the age of 14 or 15, that I would never let my principles slide. I would always remain open to new ideas and to whatever someone else has to say regardless of if I agree with it or not. I feel that it's one of my greatest strengths. As a liberal I find it increasingly challenging to listen to conservatives but I will do my best to continue listening because if I stop I'll be no better than that crowd that booed Sinead O'Connor off of the stage at a Bob Dylan concert in 1992.