Rage Against the Automated Teller Machine

In their 1999 song “Sleep Now in the Fire,” Rage Against the Machine tackles issues of greed and financial inequalities within the United States.  The opening line states “The world is my expense…the cost of my desire…Jesus blessed me with its future and I protect it with fire,” which blatantly sheds light on the growing corruption within America.  When America began to grow in power it was expected to guide its people on a moral path (i.e. the American Dream).  However, the corruption within the country led to all its power laying in the hands of the few and the greedy.  American greed has led to large gaps in income and high levels of poverty for most of the population.  The music video for the song utilizes vivid imagery representing this greed and displays the ignorance and lack of care U.S. citizens have for the growing gap in wealth.


The video is not only filmed directly in front of the American Stock Exchange in New York City, but it is also cut with satirical scenes of the television show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” which is appropriately called “Who Wants to Be Filthy F***ing Rich?”  Participants on the game show are asked questions regarding the financial ratios in America, such as, “The richest 10% in America own: A. 80% of the wealth or B. Connecticut?” Unfortunately, most participants fail to answer the questions correctly, representing the lack of knowledge that people have about the distribution of wealth in the United States, which has gotten considerably worse since the release of the song in 1999.  In 2015, 1% of the population held 38% of the wealth for the entire country, pushing more and more individuals into poverty and making it impossible to save money and move forward for most citizens. 


The gap in wealth also has huge implications for health and quality of life.  According to Wilkinson & Pickett, “Population health tends to be better in societies where income is more equally distributed,” and “…many other social problems, including mental illness, violence…obesity, drug abuse, and poor educational performance…are also more common in more unequal societies” (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009).  This means that numerous U.S. citizens (more than not) are facing poor health, education, and violence without having the resources to access proper health care and facilities in an attempt to better their situation.  Instead of fixing the tragic state of our wealth distribution, the rich continue to procure money at an astounding rate, while the middle class is being phased out and the lower-class citizens grow in number.  If something is not done soon most of the population will be facing poverty in the future.

“So raise your fists and march around, just don’t take what you need.  I’ll jail and bury those committed and smother the rest in greed” (Sleep Now in the Fire by Rage Against the Machine).




References

Sleep Now in the Fire by Rage Against the Machine. (2010, February 26). Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI

Wilkinson, R. G., & Pickett, K. E. (2009). Income inequality and social dysfunction. Annual Review of Sociology,35, 493-511. Retrieved August 19, 2018.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Your Education Affecting Your Social Life?

Image
Author: Emilia Triola             Equal access to education is a basic human right. Every human being on earth should be provided the same opportunity and access to education. However this is not the case as there is marked inequality in access to education worldwide. Lack of access to education can impact the life of an individual in several ways.             Globally there are education gaps in both developed and developing countries. In the United States of America, the education gap is growing larger with a disparity in education levels between the rich and the poor (Kelly, 2005). Less and less of the poor are represented as each stage of education furthers due to affordability being a barrier. In Africa gaps in education are continually reducing as more and more people are having access to education and the notion of only educating the boy child is dying away. However the disparity in those who are educated and have access to education is still wide. We can see
Read more

Are You Sick, or are You Just Poor? A Peer Into the Interconnectedness of Health and Poverty

Image
Author: Rachel Downey Upon arriving in Athens on July 6th, one of the program coordinators, Tom, took myself and my fellow classmates on a short tour of the immediate area of the city, called Plaka. On our way through town, a frantic, greasy-haired woman scurried past us on the street, with her breasts hanging free and a young child to her nipple. She was distressed, and even began speaking to passerby in Greek, but we couldn’t understand. I didn’t think too much of it, because the #FreeTheNipple movement has made it’s impact in the states, but I also realize that we are in a different culture on the other side of the world. Shortly after this encounter, Tom informs us of what is going on. These women panhandle, at these children’s expense, exploited for their innocence by their own mothers and handed off to beggars on the street. This experience got me thinking about the lengths people will go, simply in order to live a comfortable life. In 2014, 14.8% of the U.S. population wa
Read more

Psychology of Inequality: Explaining Irrational Thoughts and Behaviors

Author: Lily Davis Income inequality is the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner within a population. In the United States, the gap between the rich and the rest of the population has been continuously growing for the past several decades. For example, in 1979 the top 10% of the U.S. population made a weekly wage of $1,479, while the bottom 10% made a weekly wage of $414. As of 2016, the top 10% of the US population had experienced a steady increase in weekly wages, making an average of around $2,000 per week. Despite this steady increase in the top 10% of the US population, the bottom 10% of the population remained fairly stable and even slightly decreased, making an average weekly income of $397 in 2016 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). Not only does there remain a gap between the highest earners of the U.S. population and the lowest earners, but the gap is continuing to grow. The way our population thinks about inequality has a much larger impact on the i
Read more