KARAOKE AND POP CULTURE IN GENERAL

        Let’s talk about karaoke and its popularity in our society.  It’s a cultural icon that is designed to be entertaining and to connect socially.  In much the same way we, as consumers, will buy the read the newest issue of People to see what our stars are doing (and wearing), or read our friend’s feeds on Facebook, both are meant to enlighten and maybe assist in making sense of the world we inhabit.   When we begin to bias our perceptions based on cultural icons, however, is when we do a disservice to ourselves and others.

            I love karaoke.  I love that I can get up and sing a song without worrying about how good I sound.  I love it when my friends do the same, and I wildly applaud them regardless of how good (or bad) it actually is.  I like to think of karaoke as an equalizer in terms of ability or the need to perform.  If there are stereotypical aspects of it (possibly the “ringer” with the golden voice, or the picture of Japanese businessmen doing their rendition of “Free Bird”), it’s not meant to harm.  Karaoke knows what it’s meant to do—to connect people together in a non-threatening, unbiased way.  A lot of pop culture is also designed like this as well—we buy products that are wildly popular (Air Jordans), we watch hugely successful television programs (Breaking Bad), we talk about issues (the demise of DOMA, Obamacare) that are relevant to the time in which we live.  In all of these examples, we want to be included in the conversation surrounding us, for that is essentially our nature: we are social animals.  Pop culture has the capacity to connect us in ways that other social way may not.  The problem is when you attempt to stereotype others based on false misperceptions in when you get yourself into trouble.

            I again read the other day that people on welfare should have to be drug tested before they get their government checks, because, “ ‘I’m paying for this! I support people who just lazy and don’t want to get a job!’ ” This diatribe was published on my Facebook feed and was “liked” by numerous people.  The message did not contain any factual information, and did not verify itself by one reputable news source.  Yet, there it was, in all its fictional glory, and that’s where the problem lies; when did we cease understanding that many facets of pop culture are inaccurate?  When we use facets pop culture to stereotype groups of individuals is when we negate people to caricatures.  The poor in our society are not lazy and the majority work at menial jobs that pay only minimum wage.  It is wrong to present a fictional representation of who you think different groups in society are, just as it is wrong to think that gays and lesbians are godless sinners or that Muslims are all terrorists.  We need to understand the importance of pop culture in our lives, but also recognize that a great deal is of it is make-believe; I don’t think that buying my son a pair of Air Jordans is going to make him a basketball star, as I don’t believe that my gay friend is going to hell.  It’s just that simple.

            So long live karaoke, and have fun with the simplicity of it being able to break down social barriers among vastly different groups of people.  It is pop-culture fun at its finest, but it is not reality.  Let’s remember that all people are unique and let’s applaud their distinctiveness instead of putting them into a box someone’s told you they should be in.