VEGANGELICA

I checked out Contravene, sleepy jack, since I'd never heard of them. I am interested by what I learned and heard.

I didn't realize that anarcho punk is also known as "peace punk" and is "more for political change rather than anarchy that wants no government and total chaos throughout the land." Anarcho Punk. Also, Contravene's sound is definitely strong, and I like that. However, I'd like to hear more of their lyrics to decide whether I feel the band are going overboard in their pessimistic views and are incorrectly interpretating the causes of phenomena such as overpopulation.

Consider their song, "The Gift of Life." They make it sound as if overpopulation were due to people in power wanting more drones to work in factories etc. Yet the reality is that most population growth is due to people being in poverty in developing nations and relying on children for a future source of income for the family and security in old age. Poor governance and a history of being exploited by those in power, including industrialized nations, have led to the existence of numerous poor people with no social security, little health care, and few job prospects, so they have many children (many of whom may die due to diseases) in the hope that some of the children will survive to ensure the family is not completely impoverished.

I don't view these parents who are in poverty as being "manipulative" or players in a "perverted game of deception": they are simply trying to survive in horrible conditions of destitution, and it makes sense to have a lot of kids when few will survive to adulthood and children are the only type of security a couple can obtain in an economic system that provides few opportunities.

So, I feel the Contravene song is not a valid representation of the reality of population growth at all, although I feel the song *sounds* good:



Lyrics to "The Gift Of Life" by Contravene:
Contravene - The Gift Of Life? Lyrics

Currently over 6 billion people inhabit the planet earth
and with every hour, more than 10,000 people will be born
A gift that should be so precious is instead a perverted game of deception & control
Manipulative parents hellbent on success they could not achieve
Greedy corporations to bring them to their knees
A system based on murder to teach them how to kill
A false prophet to suppress their thoughts to teach them to deny free will
Text books filled with lies to distort their perceptions of reality
Television to rot their brains and fill them with banality
Consumer society to teach that money is success
Date rape ****ing culture to teach them the roles of sex
Daddy beats on mommy, thats the way it is
when he gets tired of that, he beats his ****ing kids
The gift of life, a precious act indeed, when a child is but a barcoded number in a system based on greed
They need bodies to fill the prison cells
They need bodies to fill the factories
They need bodies to fight in their ****ing wars
They need bodies to satisfy their greed
In their eyes a child represents a profit, not a life
A potential customer, a consumer to be used and thrown aside
We live in a world where people would rather close their eyes than ever admit that we're anything but civilized
A cycle of oppression based on rules that they define
Hatred, greed, destruction: will we ever see it die?
Is it really our nature to accept being blindly led?
And if that is our future, then the human race is dead.
There is no basis of life in our current state of living.
Currently over 6 billion people inhabit the planet earth
and with every hour, more than 10,000 people will be born
A gift that should be so precious is instead a perverted game of deception & control
Manipulative parents hellbent on success they could not achieve
Greedy corporations to bring them to their knees
A system based on murder to teach them how to kill
A false prophet to suppress their thoughts to teach them to deny free will
Text books filled with lies to distort their perceptions of reality
Television to rot their brains and fill them with banality
Consumer society to teach that money is success
Date rape ****ing culture to teach them the roles of sex
Daddy beats on mommy, thats the way it is
when he gets tired of that, he beats his ****ing kids
The gift of life, a precious act indeed, when a child is but a barcoded number in a system based on greed
They need bodies to fill the prison cells
They need bodies to fill the factories
They need bodies to fight in their ****ing wars
They need bodies to satisfy their greed
In their eyes a child represents a profit, not a life
A potential customer, a consumer to be used and thrown aside
We live in a world where people would rather close their eyes than ever admit that we're anything but civilized
A cycle of oppression based on rules that they define
Hatred, greed, destruction: will we ever see it die?
Is it really our nature to accept being blindly led?
And if that is our future, then the human race is dead.
There is no basis of life in our current state of living.

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sleepy jack

"In their eyes a child represents a profit, not a life."

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VEGANGELICA

Children represent all sorts of things to parents, sleepy, so this statement is false, I feel. Children in developing countries can both be seen as a profit *and* a life to the parents.

This isn't just true about kids in the developing world: most kids in the developed world are viewed by parents as future sources of security in addition to being appreciated as lives. I feel many people have children for the sake of the parents. Parents are not having children for the sake of the *children* since the children don't yet exist! At best, parents have children to express and amplify the experience of love they have as a couple, which is in a way a greedy thing to do even if it is well intentioned.

I feel the song is being too hard on people who have lots of children (those in the developing world); the song *ought* to be attacking those of us in the developed world who have even *one* child (such as myself), since that one child consumes the same amount of resources as approximately 10 children in Africa. What truly IS greedy is the desire of some developed countries' governments to increase the fertility rate so that there will be more children to pay social security for the large number of retiring old people. So, if that is the meaning of the song, then I agree. However, these babies in the developed world are not the ones who are part of the "overpopulation" problem alluded to in the song (in the first two lines), although they are part of the worldwide *consumption* problem.

My problem with the song is that it sounds like it is ranting without a clear target for the rant. Are they attacking overpopulation (primarily occurring the the developing world) or over-consumption (primarily occurring in the developed world)? Little poor children in Africa or India aren't consuming much, and their parents probably suffer from lack of education, illiteracy, etc....hardly fair targets of such heavy criticism. They are in need of help not blame.

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