piggies

i can't remember whether i wrote about the song 'piggies' from the white album.

i'm gonna write about it now even if this is repetition; i'm always asking my students to revisit topics they've already written about, and i'm still interested in this topic.

the song is, i think, about the prying ways of the press, the fact that they are always stirring up trouble; they report things that seem too trivial. some things are important for us to know, some things are fascinating like a train-wreck. maybe i've heard this, maybe not: there are two kinds of news. 1 news that is true... 2 news that will sell.

in the song, there are two kinds of pigs. all the pigs play in the dirt. but one kind of pig is always 'clean'. one kind of pig is always 'stirring up the dirt.' and when the go to dinner, the are 'clutching forks and knives to eat the bacon.' you could say the press is cannabalistic in that they feed on the traumas of other people. they take people's livelihood's by spreading gossip (whether true, false, partly true or sensationalized).

i've not directly been a victim of the press. but better reporting of facts about educational issues would be nice.

according to www.wikipedia.com, the song is about the injustice of privilege. blah blah blah...

i don't think this is accurate, because a complaint about rich people is not that they stir up the dirt. they might make more of a mess and not care.

anyway, also according to wikipedia, there were several murders inspired by this song. people mistook it as a call to kill cops. ouch, i guess people actually used forks and knives to attack these cops.

one line says: 'in their eyes there's something lacking, what they need's a damn good whacking.'

you could say that 'in their eyes' means 'from their opinion'... which would indicate the stance of many in the press - they always have the opinion that something is lacking.

they could be saying that something is lacking from their eyes: compassion, intelligence, i don't know.