A few weeks before the Superbowl, Kanye West released a single with legendary artist Paul McCartney. The national press got a chuckle over tweets made by some individuals who had no idea who Paul McCartney was.  The uninformed tweeters felt the exposure that Kanye West gave to McCartney might help the ‘newcomers’ career. During the Super bowl, when Katy Perry had Missy Elliot perform onstage, tweets by unknowing people talked about how the exposure by Perry would help bolster the ‘newcomers’ career. Soon after the Grammy Awards, Kanye West gave a televised impromptu rant about how he felt Beyoncé should have won for album of the year, which prompted some people to start a petition to have the winner of the award, Beck, give his Grammy to Beyoncé. Kanye felt that Beyoncé showed more artistry in her album than Beck.

Not surprisingly, Kanye West revealed in a recent interview he hadn’t heard Beck’s album at the time he made the comment about respecting artistry. It can probably be assumed Kanye West was unaware that Beck wrote, produced and played all the instruments in his album, while Beyoncé had an army of writers, producers and musicians that had a hand in her album. I have heard a number of entertainment people, some I will say should know better, who claim they had no idea who Beck was before he won.

On the one hand, it would be easy to dismiss the ranting of Kanye West or the lack of recognition of Missy Elliot and Paul McCartney by some due to a lack of knowledge of musical history. Beck, at best, is an alternative singer songwriter who isn’t played a lot on Top 40 radio. Missy Elliot hasn’t been on the mainstream music scene in years and Paul McCartney age and style of music isn’t something listened to by a younger audience. On the other hand, as quickly as many people dismissed the musical artist and sent out tweets in confusion or disgust, a Google search would have shown the rich history of each artist and could have educated the person as well as saved some embarrassment. 

In an odd way, Kanye West is a perfect example of a ‘too quick to react’ nature of the public today. Kanye West, you would think, would be someone who should be aware of people in the music industry. You would assume, as an artist, he would want to grow as an artist and would strive to experience music from many different genres. In the world of music, Beck isn’t an obscure artist. Beck made an impact on the music scene in 1993 with the release of the single Loser. Maybe in the star studded pop culture TMZ celebrity world Beck is an artist that is well below the radar, but I would think a fan of music would want to explore music on all levels, even with some artists that aren’t in their comfort zone. As an outsider, how I see what went down with Kanye West was his rant stemmed from only knowing music from his particular genre. Instead of taking time to check out Beck’s music, he assumed he had all the information he needed to say Beck wasn’t worthy of a Grammy.

With awards shows that are considered the highest pinnacle of awards shows such as the Grammys and Academy Awards, it can be confusing to many fans why some artist win awards and others don’t. There are so many lesser award shows (my words) and popularity contests masquerading as award shows that fans might gravitate to the result of those shows rather than long established award shows. The basic reaction of a fan favorite losing an award on a more establish show is to react as Kanye did, to dismiss the decision without looking at the circumstances as to why. I have seen in some conservative circles that they are upset Birdman won best picture over American Sniper. I’ve heard some rather elaborate conspiracy theories as to why the film failed to get best picture, from it being a movie about a recent war (which seems to ring hollow when they are reminded The Hurt Locker won Best Picture in 2010) to the Academy reacting to the bizarre antics of Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican convention. It didn’t occur to them that technically Birdman may be the better film by the Academy standards. It doesn’t lessen the impact of American Sniper if it didn’t win a Best Picture award. There is a rich history of actors and pictures who never won an Academy Award, yet have been major contributors to the motion picture industry.

To me, there is something bigger that is disturbing about the lack of knowledge about artists and the quick reaction to denigrate and dismiss those who may win awards over a popular choice. Many are so quick to throw in their limited opinion based on a narrow scope of knowledge. A lot of people are unwilling to do something as simple as doing an online search to learn about a subject. They use their narrow area of exposure as the de facto point to judge the subject, ignoring there is a wide world of possibilities. Of course some commentators found it silly that people who call themselves music fans, and to be clear the people were probably part of the Millennial generation, who had no idea who Paul McCarthy is, but we have to look at how society treats knowledge today to see the greater issue at hand.

Oklahoma lawmakers recently passed a bill that would cut funding to the AP History program because they feel the AP program doesn’t portray America in ‘a positive light.’ This stems from a revised guideline from the AP board in 2012. Some on the conservative side of the aisle felt the revisions cast the United States in a harsh light by giving emphasis to such topics as slavery and the treatment of Native Americans. They are concerned that American exceptionalism isn’t being promoted in the revised AP program.

American exceptionalism is a concept that has been around for a long time, but I’m not sure if a lot of people understand the impact of the concept. The phrase doesn’t just convey someone feeling proud about the accomplishments of America. It has grown in the eyes of some to convey that America was founded under divine principles and those who forged the Constitution were in a sense ordained to craft one of the greatest societies the world has ever known. Think of it like this; if you watch television shows of the 50s, such as quintessential shows like Ozzie and Harriet or Father Knows Best, you get a sanitized, idealized version of America during that time period. Everyone is happy, everyone is prosperous and everyone gets along. Just from a standpoint of watching those shows from a modern perspective, you begin to realize there are a lot of things missing from those shows. There are no minorities at all, unless they are housekeepers. Every father has a job, every mother stays at home. People drink a lot but there are no alcoholics. Everyone is of the same social class, so no one is struggling on a job. Of course, everyone is chaste in their affection for one another and there is no same sex anything.

If you were to take the time to research the era, you would find that America was an extremely different place during the 50s. Yes, there was opportunity for some but a good number of people lived lives of strife and discrimination. In the South black people lived under Jim Crow laws. Many minorities were treated as second class citizens. While it was conceivable a person with drive and determination could become upwardly mobile in America, people had to make sure to maintain the white Christian heritage if they wanted to insure moving up in the world. If you were Jewish, even Catholic in some circles, you could be as white as Ward Cleaver and still find obstacles that barred you from the American dream. When you look at the past then look at where we are today, you do have strong argument that America, despite past inconsistencies, has become a better society. It can also be argued that the struggles we have today can be overcome in time, by looking how far we have come from past societies. 

One of the problems I see with the interpretation some have about American exceptionalism is they want to scrub the bad parts of American history. They want to present America as a land that was perfect from the beginning instead of a society that had great ideals, even when its founding was not ideal. The struggle to get to where we are now, and the struggle to continue to improve, to me shows the exceptional DNA of America. Like those people whom we have made fun of on their lack of popular knowledge, there are people unwilling to dig deep and acknowledge our history was a struggle and we aren’t a perfect nation. When people point out the flaws of the American system, they are denounced as un-American. They want to hear what makes them feel good, what makes them feel special in a world that is rapidly changing. They would rather blindly cling to the familiar instead of examining why change is necessary. The result is you have a growing number of people unwilling to critically evaluate situations. They are quick to condemn, to ridicule and to chastise without examining the facts. They are unwilling to admit their position might be wrong, simply because they don’t look at the evidence objectively. When you believe your position is based on divine providence, it is difficult to admit the divine is wrong. That’s what makes people dig in their heels and makes them unable to explore and research the possibility of another answer.

Even though this started out about lack of musical knowledge with some people that is only the surface of a larger issue in our country. If we are to move forward and stop making personal, social and political choices that aren’t in our best interest, we have to take the time to question and examine the decisions we make. If we blindly follow the status quo based on a divine exceptionalism, we will be unable to grow and adapt in a rapidly changing world.