Response to Bloom

In his essay in Music and Culture, Mr. Bloom argues the point that young people today are so engrossed with their music that they are unable to truly experience passion and intellect in anything other than their rock and roll.

I would partially agree with Mr. Bloom. He makes the point that rock music “ruins the imagination of young people and makes it difficult for them to have a passionate relationship to the art and thought that are the substance of liberal education.” I would disagree with his statement that it is just rock music that does this. I would submit that an overindulgence of popular media, of which rock music is part, causes this atrocity to come about.

In our day and age there is very little that goes on in peace and quiet. When we are home, our stereos and televisions blare throughout our dwellings. When we drive in the car, we listen to the radio. When we go into a restaurant or a store, there is music playing or a television in the corner. There are very few places in life where we are not constantly being entertained. This overload of the senses, I believe, has a similar effect to what Mr. Bloom has mentioned in his essay. There is no time for thinking anymore. There is no time to contemplate art, literature, and faith. What this has led to is a generation disinterested in using their brains. We consume media in such large quantities that there is hardly any room left to have what Mr. Bloom calls “a passionate relationship to the art and thought that are the substance of liberal education.”

This overindulgence of popular media has left us ignorant of the great minds and artists of the past. I believe this is what Mr. Bloom is trying to say when he says that this generation finds that “they are deaf.” Now I understand that by saying “we” I am making a gross generalization of this generation. I am agreeing with Mr. Blooms points understanding that his essay was written during the Reagan administration and that many of the youth he was speaking of when he penned this essay are now well into their 30s and 40s. However, I believe that his critique of the youth in the 80s is even truer of us today.

I really enjoy rock music, but I find that the point of rock music has precisely the effect upon the mind and soul that Mr. Bloom describes. However, I believe this effect is not exclusively brought about by rock music. It is the product of many forms of mindless entertainment. A glaring example of this is the laxity and uncaring attitude I see in students today, including myself. There are many times when I would rather watch a movie or listen to music instead of building my mind through my homework. It was quoted to me once by a fellow student that “education is the only commodity with which consumers are satisfied to pay more and receive less.” I see this principle creeping into my thinking quite often. I also see it in many of those around me. If we are to not be a generation that is “deaf” to those that have come before, it would do us well to lessen our intake of popular media and increase our intake of things that cause us to exercise our minds and thus cause us to grow.