In todays essay we will be diving into the world of Land of Confusion. Detailing the two music videos. The original video from Genesis and then the cover from Disturbed in 2005. We will be examining how both videos are critques on their respected eras and the disturbing implications of that.

First piece of homework. Watch this video:

For those uninitiated Genesis was a 80s rock band led by singer Phil Collins. The song Land of Confusion no doubt a politically charged song. A engaging critique of the political climate of the time. A shot at the president, an attack on the politically biased media and a call to arms for the people to rise up. It is a piece of art.

The video I feel is a sad relic of the time in which it was produced. The music video is comedic in nature which I would argue is a hopeful statement that you don’t need to take this all too seriously. We’re just having fun. Things will get better. We just have some shitty world leaders at the moment. Well things haven’t gotten better. We are five presidents on from Reagan and all the criticism you could throw at that president are the same criticisms you can throw at any of them. The USA is currently bombing seven countries. The media is still fucked. I was watching a report that in one day MSNBC’s coverage of Russia was more than the coverage they did all year on Yemen. Which by the way Yemen is one of those seven countries the US is bombing. Think you might want to report on that. Oh and Russia. We are essentially in the second Cold War. Because the first one wasn’t terrifying enough. Reaganomics is still the manner in which we manage our finances. Reaganomics is the idea of the trickle down economy. Let’s look at how well that is working. The world’s richest 1% own 82% of the wealth.

The last lines of the second verse go:

I won’t be coming home tonight

My generation will put it right

We’re not just making promises

That we know, we’ll never keep.

This leads me to the best comment on their youtube video.

This leads us to 2005 where Disturbed released this:

Not much comedy left in politics. This is a much more pessimistic view of the state of the world. The world having ‘leaders’ but all those ‘leaders’ are united under this one symbol. This one symbol that looks very much like a dollar sign. This music video is a precursor to things like the 2008 mortgage crisis and the cluster fuck of free money being printed because of that. Using our ‘trickle down economics’ which was then given to the banks that fucked up, which in turn they gave to themselves bonuses because Reaganomics doesn’t work. A couple years after that was the 2011 occupy movement which woke up a lot of people to the levels of corruption going on in the banking world and by extension because of the way money is structured in politics; corruption in politics. My point being that the comedy and fun of the first video is replaced by anger. Rage at the system in which we are forced to live. It is a beautiful call to action. A call for a revolution. A restructuring of power. This isn’t isolated to Trump. This is systemic based on how money in politics works. You saw it a couple of years ago with Bernie Sanders. You need big money donors to even be nominated. Yes, I am talking about America but it exists to varying degrees in all countries. Especially because if you even think about a political system that isn’t capitalism. You will most likely be attacked by the US.

This all leads to the saddest comment on the Disturbed music video. A comment that is basically the TL;DR of this essay.

What to do next is unclear. Land of confusion indeed. Getting educated on topics is a good place to start. Sharing information. Watching this documentary on corporations and how they are psychopathic by nature is an illuminating watch. How we break down the current political system to something resembling fair is something I’m still struggling to work out. Here’s to the next generation. Hopefully they will work this shit out. Let’s wait for the video.

Peace and love my friends.

Sirius