On Listening to the Radio (and a Priest)

As our music collections grow continually larger like the national deficit under a Republican President, the difficulty of picking what song or artist you want to listen to becomes nearly unsurmountable. Choosing a song fitting to your mood when you have 93 cds and 3,000 mp3’s worth of music to choose from is indeed a great challenge. Existential angst abounds: Eminem or Eric Clapton, the Beatles or Beethoven. This kind of radical free will is indeed too much to handle.

Recently faced with an indiscriminate mood and an overstuffed cd wallet, I escaped this dreaded choice of musical options and turned on the radio. Despite the fact that there is a greater chance of hearing a song that I detest on the radio than one I enjoy, I decided to surrender my musical choice to the mass media conglomerate that owns the station I am listening to. Why should I decide what I want to listen to when someone will take that burden from me? Radio programming directors, pick away.

There is somewhat of a resemblance that I can’t avoid seeing between listening to the radio and seeking the advice of a priest. You are faced with a dilemma, so you see a priest for advice. He tells you to do this or that and you listen. But after you are done listening you ultimately have to make a choice whether or not you follow that man's advice. No one can make that ethical choice and evaluation for you. Your action may or may not turn out to be the best decision in the end, but you and only you must take responsibility for that choice. You, not the giver of advice, owns your choice and action. No man (priests are just men, remember-some better than others mind you) or book (the bible is still just words on paper the last time I checked) can be your excuse to hid behind. There are no excuses - you choose - you are responsible. So if you support a war, it is you supporting the war-not someone who told you that it was right. If you are anti-choice, then it is you, not anyone else making that stance.

In the end, no matter whose advice we seek it is still in the end just that-advice. So, if you don't like what is playing on the radio, just remember that you turned it on.