Tag: respect

Love the music

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

I was watching a video of Dizzee Rascal recently, when he was preforming his song, ‘Bonkers’ in HMV in Glasgow. It seemed fun, and the crowd were bouncing around having a great time. I then looked down at the comments, not always the best thing to do on TikTok, especially if you don’t want your day ruined. There were a few comments saying things like ‘horrible Ned music’. Now in Scotland, a Ned is like a Chav, it’s a way to dismiss an entire section of society, and consider them as scum.

Which is horrible.

The people leaving these comments were self confessed Metalheads. And if they were picked up on their negative comments, the answer would be akin to ‘but they pick on me’. It seems to be just continuing the petty societal warfare that used to occur between different groups at High School. It’s this constant need to beat others down, to make themselves appear superior. Something that I have personally never understood.

Music has always been something that has helped mark key memories in my life, be it good or bad. What I love about music is that it can affect your mood, even encourage you forward when you are ready to give up. I try to listen to most types of music, or at least give it a listen. Some are maybe not exactly to my taste, but I would never dream of criticising someone who does like it. You never know what song will help you when you need it most.

For example, take Ren. He is a Welsh musician who utilises rap, and guitar to create his music. A lot of people I know would dismiss him and his music, without giving a listen. It is to their detriment. Ren writes a lot about mental health and being chronically ill. In one of his songs (Hi Ren) where he speaks about the constant between lightness and darkness not being a battle but a pendulum swinging back and forth. And it resonated with me. Nobody had ever put it in that way for me before. If you have really bad days, at some point things will switch the other way and be more positive. It’s a good, if sometimes difficult, way to think.

That is what is so great about music, for me, is that that you are able to see different perspectives, find different things that match your moods. I just can’t understand why people would invalidate complete genres of music, just because of the people who do listen to it.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

What is respect?
Respect is something that every person feels that they deserve. This is something which came into my mind after me and my dad had a ‘discussion’, where he raised his voice, but when I attempted of countering him by raising my own voice, I get accused of having no respect for him.

What is respect though, really? Respect is giving ‘kudos’ to those around you. It’s treating people well, it’s listening to their opinions, and accepting what they say, even if you have differing thoughts yourself. It’s not difficult, it is all about treating others the way that you want to be treated. It is a quality that is forever being claimed by various religions, especially Christianity. I remember as a child seeing that being kind and respectful, was being Christian. It isn’t, it is a part of human nature, which I don’t believe to be lumped as a religious action

Not that I am against religion or anything, but I don’t think that basic human behaviours should be tarred with some kind of cliquey movement be it religion or political. This is something that I believe strongly in, and it is a pet hate when I get told that certain mannerisms make me part of a certain group. But, that in itself is human nature. We find it easier to associate with anything, if we divide it into groups. So, its like behaving a certain way, immediately makes you become part of a social grouping, based on how people seem to stereotype each other.

Just like how because I was quiet at school, and liked to read, I was classed as a ‘geek’, and so many people I had this idea that I lived in a big house and listened to classical music all the time Where as my brother rebelled a bit more at school, and was called a Ned, mostly because I wore sports gear, without doing sports. And people would get that idea about him and hos friends, and automatically think that they were out to start bother, despite the fact that they weren’t.

Well, I happen to have gone on another rant about stereotypes. I swear that was not the purpose of this blog, but I have put a lot of time and thought in to it. *shrugs* It must be said though, I am rather good at this whole ‘going off on a tangent thing’.