THIS POST IS EXTREMELY OPINIONATED AND OUT OF CHARACTER FROM WHAT I NORMALLY WRITE. PLEASE KNOW THIS AND CONSIDER WHEN JUDGING MIXED IN THE MUSIC
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You know how there's that whole thing going on in Arizona where everyone is racist and every single person is attacking Mexicans just because they are brown? How there is this crazy governor, and that insane sheriff that all the white people love because they hate Mexicans too? Have you realized I'm being completely sarcastic?
Yes, there is a senate bill floating around, SB-1070, that is causing a massive hooplah. It has been pegged as racist, hateful, and unconstitutional. This bill has somehow made ALL Arizonans racist Joe Arpaio supporters who like to raid businesses for illegals. To be honest, I think that is a bigger issue than SB-1070 itself. Let's be honest, we all know that bill isn't going anywhere. Even if it did it wouldn't do anything. All the horrible parts in it that were there in the beginning are gone, all that's left is this empty shell of a proposal that was so lame to begin with that Arizonans have kind of forgotten about it.
I live in Arizona. Phoenix actually. I live in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood. If someone were to specifically ask me how illegal immigrants have directly affected me, I would be stumped. The majority of Arizonans that support SB-1070 would be too. You know who REALLY has NOT suffered ANY impact from illegal immigration? Arizonan Musicians. Arizonan Music Industry professionals. Promoters, managers, merch printers, sound techs, A&R reps, marketing execs, label owners, graphic designers, web developers, audio engineers, studio owners, photographers, writers and journalists, distributors, printers, keep the list going. You know what kind of people are most publicly against SB-1070? Arizonans involved in the music industry. You know who is now being boycotted? Arizonans involved in the music industry.
The Sound Strike is an organization that has decided it would be appropriate to teach Arizonans a lesson and not play any shows here. Yes, that is correct; a community has decided that the best way to act on an issue is to NOT join forces with the local like-minded folks and spread awareness. Umm... Good plan? They say the reason the Arizona music scene is being punished is because the state governement only cares about the bottom line: money. They say that as if the state government actually notices that money comes in from concerts. It's time to run some numbers.
Let's say that Kanye West (one of the artists participating in The Sound Strike) actually did decide to play in Arizona and risk funding a government deportation palooza. His highest grossing tour ever was his 2008 Glow In The Dark tour, which grossed $30.8 million and included 49 concerts. Take that and average out the gross income per each concert, and it's generous to assume that a single Kanye West concert would gross $614,000. Now take that gross income, and assume 6% gets handed over as taxes. $40,000 just got passed to the government. Multiply that by 15, as that would be about as much money as all those artists combined would make in Arizona within a year, and the government has saved up $600,000 from your concerts. NOW lets take that total of $600k and figure out what percentage goes to law enforcement; about $48,000. Now to the law enforcement who would actually be tracking down illegal immigrants, should this bill somehow come to life and pass? Not quite $1,500. Congrats Sound Strike. Throughout a whole year of your boycotting, losing money for yourself, putting our local professionals out of work, burning bridges between you and the Arizonans who had wanted to work with you, you prevented one officer from getting hired on. Or one truck from getting gas for a month. You may have prevented them from buying a three month supply of zip-tie handcuffs. Who knows, maybe you just cut funding for first aid kits in border patrol vehicles. Maybe you pissed off a cop so bad he actually wanted to ask a random hispanic person for their birth certificate, just to make you feel like you were fighting for something.
Let me put this simply. There is a community (hispanics) that are being targeted by a smaller community with more power (couple whackos in government). To counter this, a small community with power (The Sound Strike) is targeting a larger community (Arizonans). Again, ignore the irony.
All we want is our national community to help us fight SB-1070. Not whatever The Sound Strike is doing. Someone from somewhere other than Arizona form an organization that will actually do something to help keep families together, keep food on families tables, etc. I'm surprised that My Chemical Romance couldn't come up with a better publicity strategy than pretending to care about a poorly-planned humanitarian cause. Do a cover or something.
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THIS POST IS EXTREMELY OPINIONATED AND OUT OF CHARACTER FROM WHAT I NORMALLY WRITE. PLEASE KNOW THIS AND CONSIDER WHEN JUDGING MIXED IN THE MUSIC
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