Just saw this on another forum and came to post here.
What can I say but... HUZZAH for nostalgia tours! But wait! This can't just be a money-grab, could it? Nah!
This is posted on Roger's website...
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HUMANS need the protection of THE RULE OF LAW. The trick would be for US to agree upon what THE LAW should be NOW, (something WE have been working on for a few hundred years), but also to agree that as WE develop OUR understanding of both OURSELVES and OUR surroundings, WE will have insights and may need to modify THE LAWS that govern US. THE LAW should not be written in STONE. Please take note all followers of MOSES and other dead prophets.
Which leads me neatly to my next point.
In my view.
RELIGION provides A WALL between US and the reality of OUR lives.
Also,
There is a WALL between:
RICH and POOR,
NORTH and SOUTH
THE OLD and NEW WORLDS and THE THIRD WORLD
It is A WALL of FEAR and GREED
There is enough of everything in THE WORLD for us all to have enough to eat, to be warm and dry and to have a colour TV and a car. WE are taught to FEAR that if WE share what WE have with THEM, WE won’t have anything left for US.
WE also FEAR that THEY may try to take what WE have away from US, so WE spend WAY more than THEY would need to feed, house, clothe, and EDUCATE THEMSELVES, on weapons to prevent THEM from taking what WE have away from US.
There is another WALL between US and the reality of OUR lives.
This WALL is called the THE MEDIA. This WALL is a tool that is used to divert US from inconvenient truths.
Perhaps I should stop now, before I alienate anybody.
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Why am I doing the Wall again now?
I recently came across this quote of mine from 22 years ago:
” What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?”
I believe this is still a supremely relevant question and the jury is out. There is a lot of commercial clutter on the net, and a lot of propaganda, but I have a sense that just beneath the surface understanding is gaining ground. We just have to keep blogging, keep twittering, keep communicating, keep sharing ideas.
30 Years ago when I wrote The Wall I was a frightened young man. Well not that young, I was 36 years old.
It took me a long time to get over my fears. Anyway, in the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with it’s concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns.: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever! All these issues and ‘isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.
This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.
In some quarters, among the chattering classes, there exists a cynical view that human beings as a collective are incapable of developing more ‘humane’ ie, kinder, more generous, more cooperative, more empathetic relationships with one another.
I disagree.
In my view it is too early in our story to leap to such a conclusion, we are after all a very young species.
I believe we have at least a chance to aspire to something better than the dog eat dog ritual slaughter that is our current response to our institutionalized fear of each other.
I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to express my, albeit guarded, optimism, and encourage others to do the same. To quote the great man, ” You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
- Roger Waters, 2010
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Topic: Roger Waters to tour on The Wall this year (Read 48577 times)
