Siren Song

Siren Song, by Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

We read this poem in English class awhile ago, which prompted me to write a poem about my relationship with music in response to it. It's unfinished, but I think that because of this unit we've had in Philosophy class, I'll have to go back and finish it up. I'm very surprised to see just how Platonic some of my writing on music was! I disagree with Plato wholeheartedly on the idea that art, as a whole, is bad, but I am finally starting to understand what he was saying. We become so entranced with aesthetics, that we forget how they relate to their own life. We drift away into a fantasy world where we don't have to play by the rules of our own life. Do we attach false meanings to art, in order to justify our irrational enjoyment of it? I don't know.

Anyways, I know Plato is no fan of poetry, but I think he would certainly appreciate the idea Atwood has here. :)

Reflection on The Debate

I am sincerely proud of myself and my team in the government debate, and I feel like I learned a lot in the process. I am not the best at thinking and speaking on my feet, but I think I am improving a lot.

The format for the debate was much more structured than those before, and I think that was helpful. And because of the large number of groups, we couldn't dwell on one point for too long, and were able to come up with more specific attacks and examples. I also think I did a much better job of preparing for the debate. It's very interesting to have to think critically about democracy, because we have all been brought up with it. It forced me to evaluate a lot of assumptions I have about this system of government.

I believe Emma was the person who said after time, each team started to really take on the government they'd been assigned to as their own. It's true in my case. After this debate, I have a firmer belief in the democratic system. If we want people to be responsible citizens in a society, we have to trust them with a responsibility!

The United States was criticized multiple times during the debate, since the country does not always live up to it's democratic ideals, and as of late, the government seems somewhat incapable of making serious decisions. The US Government does not always seem like the government my group described in the debate. There are no direct elections on the national level. Even the president is decided by the electoral college, so if you are living in a state which votes for a different candidate than you, your vote is no longer counted. You can vote for one of two parties(yes, there's more- but they never have a serious impact), and the party politics take it from there. Madison argued that the creation of factions like these is unfortunate but inevitable, and in a large, diverse country such as the US, the several opposing factions will cancel each other out, so that none is too powerful. I am not sure whether or not this is true. I see a lot of factions cancelling each other out on either side, but I feel as though it is only creating an unnecessary deadlock, and people become distracted from the most important issues by random topics which are less significant to the country as a whole. This creates space for some individuals and lobbying groups to hold a larger amount of power behind the scenes. The two-party system feeds into this, and I think it is very flawed in it's current state.

In spite of this, the United States is still a functioning, powerful country. And it is not the only example we have, or even the best example if we are talking about direct democracy. The great thing about democracy is that it can fit a wide variety of populations, because the people can create and influence it so that it represents them best.

Tolstoy on Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata"

A terrible thing is that sonata, especially the presto! And a terrible thing is music in general. What is it? Why does it do what it does? They say that music stirs the soul. Stupidity! A lie! It acts, it acts frightfully (I speak for myself), but not in an ennobling way. It acts neither in an ennobling nor a debasing way, but in an irritating way. How shall I say it? Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state which is not my own. Under the influence of music I really seem to feel what I do not feel, to understand what I do not understand, to have powers which I cannot have. Music seems to me to act like yawning or laughter; I have no desire to sleep, but I yawn when I see others yawn; with no reason to laugh, I laugh when I hear others laugh. And music transports me immediately into the condition of soul in which he who wrote the music found himself at that time. I become confounded with his soul, and with him I pass from one condition to another. But why that? I know nothing about it? But he who wrote Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ knew well why he found himself in a certain condition. That condition led him to certain actions, and for that reason to him had a meaning, but to me none, none whatever. And that is why music provokes an excitement which it does not bring to a conclusion. For instance, a military march is played; the soldier passes to the sound of this march, and the music is finished. A dance is played; I have finished dancing, and the music is finished. A mass is sung; I receive the sacrament, and again the music is finished. But any other music provokes an excitement, and this excitement is not accompanied by the thing that needs properly to be done, and that is why music is so dangerous, and sometimes acts so frightfully.

I saw this quote a few days ago. It is from a story by Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata (I have not read it). Interesting, Platonic perspective.

In a way, the narrator here is correct. If we ourselves create a piece of music, it is entirely our own, but what of music which is created by someone completely different than us? Often times, I find myself taking on the emotions expressed in a song, even though I have never experienced them myself in their purest form. I have never been in love, but I still listen to love songs. Art represents the possibility. As Aristotle would say, art represents the universal through particulars. All humans have the capability to experience an event and react to it. For a moment, art can make all these possibilities into reality. It awakens emotions in us that we do not know we have. It extends our own reality to include that of all human existence.