The University of Oklahoma sports teams and students are actually called the “Sooners,” but I’ve made a slight alteration to reflect this situation. At any rate, I’ve found the following news only on right-wing websites, which of course would carry such stories (they’re opposed to campus activism because it’s “liberal,” while I oppose only those forms of activism that suppress free speech). But the report is on enough websites (here, here, here, and here, for instance) that I’ll provisionally accept it as true—bizarre as it is.
In short, we have another student complaint that’s even weirder than the Big Cuturally-Appropriated Food Revolt at Oberlin over “mis-cooked” General Tso’s chicken and other dishes.
What happened this time? The members of the Gender + Equality Center of the University of Oklahoma have protested the wildly popular Adele song “Hello,” claiming that the song instantiates sexual harassment and that “even great songs can normalize sexual harassment.” Below is one of the posters the student group put up around campus:
But when you look at the lyrics, you’ll see that this complaint is totally misguided, for the “harassement” is simply Adele singing that she tried to call her ex-lover “a thousand times” to apologize for her past behavior. If that’s “harassment”—and I doubt it strongly, as it’s an exaggeration, and basically normal human behavior—it’s certainly not sexual harassment.
You can listen to Adele’s song here, and the lyrics (from directlyrics) are below, with the “offensive” part in bold:
Hello, it’s me, I was wondering
If after all these years you’d like to meet to go over everything
They say that time’s supposed to heal, yeah
But I ain’t done much healingHello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feetThere’s such a difference between us
And a million milesHello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be homeHello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymoreHello, how are you?
It’s so typical of me to talk about myself, I’m sorry
I hope that you’re well
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?It’s no secret
That the both of us are running out of timeSo hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be homeHello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymoreOoh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Anymore…Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be homeHello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore.
Crikey! There are a million wrongs in this world (including genuine sexual harassment), but this isn’t one of them. What were these students thinking? What kind of mentality could distort the lyrics above into some approval and promotion of sexual harassment?
On a related note, Jon Haidt, a strong opponent of campus free-speech restrictions, is interviewed over at Minding the Campus. He says a lot of provocative things, but I’ll give just one excerpt from the interview:
JOHN LEO: Well, but there’s always a possibility of truth and accuracy. I mean, why is the professoriate so…
JONATHAN HAIDT: Spineless? Nowadays, a mob can coalesce out of nowhere. And so we’re more afraid of our students than we are of our peers. It is still possible for professors to say what they think over lunch; in private conversations they can talk. But the list of things we can say in the classroom is growing shorter and shorter.
JOHN LEO: This sounds like the Good Germans.
JONATHAN HAIDT: Yes. Exactly. It is. It’s really scary that values other than truth have become sacred. And what I keep trying to say – this comes right out of my book The Righteous Mind – is that you can’t have two sacred values. Because what do you do when they conflict? And in the academy now, if truth conflicts with social justice, truth gets thrown under the bus.
Finally, here’s a video of group of students interrupting a meeting of the University of Missouri’s governing board to support Melissa Click, a communications professor who tried to prevent a student reporter from covering student demonstrations. These students are, by and large, supporting Click’s violation of the First Amendment because it “protected” the students. (This, of course, doesn’t deny the possibility that these students may face very real racism on campus.)
I saw an interview with Adele and she stated that this song is actually about her. She is singing to her former self, before she was super famous. So I guess, according to the idiots, she is sexually harassing herself?
I was trying to figure out what was meant by that blethering on about “the other side.” Bur if she’s talking about her younger self being on the other side of experience, that makes something more like sense.
“There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles
Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore”
If she literally called a thousand times then she’s sitting on the moon (a million miles give or take) and her lover is laying in a bloody heap on the floor (tear you apart anymore)
Hyperbole = no, I really haven’t said that a million times, don’t be so literal.
According to their own logic, how the hell is storming in a public space screaming like banshees not a trigger warning behavior that should be sanctioned?
And then those same people do the clicking instead of clapping thing…
No telling how freaked these kids would have gotten over The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” But then, in those days, the only thing that seemed to shake the Sooners’ student body out of its Reagan-era somnambulism was Barry Switzer’s wishbone offense.
Or how about the Proclaimers “A thousand miles.” Now that’s one dedicated stalker!
Ah now I see Bobsguitarshop thought of the same song first…and was more accurate about it too. Sigh.
That’s what happens after playing it at 0.375Hz.
Actually I heard an interview with Sting who was astonished to hear that song played at weddings etc; he intended it to be a dark, stalking song….
Yeah. Those same people probably thought “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” was a paean to pedagogy.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: stop exaggerating!
That is absolutely the dumbest joke I’ve ever seen. Ever.
Remember the Nat King Cole song “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home”? How about these lyrics:
“She says if I try to kiss her she’ll cry
I dry her tears all through the night”?
That seems a more likely example of sexual harassment but it was considered normal when it was written.
I would love for some sociologist to investigate how these matters start – how does someone find a particular thing to worry about? and compare it to a more “useful” social movement … I wonder if there are differences.
I don’t know, I think they might have a point. I think we need to also ban the Proclaimers 500 Miles as well:
“But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more”
It is totally irresponsible to normalize walking one thousand miles in two segments.
For that matter, I think John Lennon singing “I am the Walrus” is a disgusting example of a privileged white male culturally appropriating pinnipeds. Shame on you Beatles, you owe Phoca Rosmarus an apology!!
As far as the video is concerned, the support for Melissa Click is pure partisanship. If David Frum or someone like that were caught on camera trying to use force to intimidate a reporter out of doing his job, the very same people that regard Melissa Click being held accountable for her repugnant behavior as atragic miscarriage of justice would be calling for his head on a platter, as well they should be. Political affiliations shouldn’t stop accountability street from running both directions, not if you’re a reasonable adult anyway.
Not to mention the Proclaimers’ tune culturally appropriating of the accomplishments of racewalkers.
Ah, the Noble Sport.
Now we can all see why When a Man Loves a Woman should never have been included in the recent greatest soul music vote-in. Obviously ‘sleep out in the rain if she wants him to” should come with a health warning and advice not to attempt this at home.
Guess the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” would be up shit creek nowadays, too.
That song is a disgusting example of ableism too.
Indeed. What about para/quadriplegics/amputees/etc? Are they simply capable of less love because they can’t walk 1,000 miles? The gall.
And what about the deaf who can’t even hear it?
Oh dear, I think I’ve just come up with a reason why we have to ban music. Sorry.
cr
While I do think they could have picked a better target for their opprobrium, I don’t think they are completely wrong.
Two things:
Calling over and over and over in spite of clear indications the recipient is not interested is classic stalker behavior.
A stalker who calls, repeatedly, ignoring the clear signal that the recipient does not wish to be contacted, to “apologize” is also a common tactic by abusers.
So, these tactics have an *overlap* between stalkers and abusers and people who aren’t actually stalking. It’s not wrong to point out that calling a million times, even a figurative million times, is not appropriate behavior.
So I think they are right, to an extent, that many stalkerish behaviors are normalized in songs and film – notability in romantic comedies, where the suitor tries repeatedly and publicly, over and over, to win the romantic interest of his or her ardor, eventually being rewarded when they finally give in and a lasting, romantic relationship follows.
So, I think the group has a point, and picking an especially innocuous song and pointing out the behavior is a valid way of doing that. Not saying is a super strong point, but a point. But, on the other hand, I’m not a fan of the wilting flowers who want trigger free safe spaces on campus enforced by dictate, nor of the attempts in shutting down free speech on campuses.
I strongly disagree. Socially unacceptable behavior is certainly presented in fiction and art, but the vast vast majority of us correctly interpret this as vicarious entertainment – a chance to harmlessly daydream about breaking social rules (and get rewarded for it) that we would never actually break. Storytelling is an outlet for emotions and feelings we don’t get to express otherwise. Its normal. Its healthy, and in the vast majority of people, it doesn’t normalize the expression of those thoughts in real life. Adele’s song no more “normalizes” stalking than Django Unchained normalizes murdering white people or reading Romeo and Juliet normalizes duels over honor and suicide pacts. Occasionally someone goes off the deep end and “learns” the wrong thing from these fictions. We live in a country of 360 million people, there are bound to be behavioral outliers. But I don’t think these songs and stories make the other 99.9999% of us believe that socially unacceptable behaviors are really okay.
Agree 100%
cr
Some fiction even illustrates socially unacceptable behaviour as a warning, too. Think of any tragedy! Surely we don’t ban Oedipus the King because incest is wrong!?
“But when you look at the lyrics, you’ll see that this complaint is totally misguided”
you really expect those types to actually understand what they are complaining about?
If these folks think Adele is harassment, send them some Steel Panther. Their heads will explode.
Of course that’s mostly satire, but there is certainly enough non-satirical heavy metal and hard rock with similar themes that a few AC/DC or Motley Crue records could have heads popping all over campus.
Smell the Glove.
Speaking of heads ‘splodin, what would they make of Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got a Gun” — justice for incest survivors, or incitement to gun violence?
Old fashioned phone systems and practices are so evocative that even people Adele’s age who never experienced them still use them.
“I must’ve called a thousand times … But when I call you never seem to be home”
This completely makes sense in a 1950’s-1970’s world before caller id and voicemail and answering machines that “never seem to be home” indicates.
I called you and you never answered the phone. That’s because you weren’t home. If you were home, you would have answered the phone. You wouldn’t have known it was me. When I called and you weren’t home, there was no record of my call. Imagine a phone ringing in an empty kitchen. That’s sad, bleak. That’s not harassment.
If it had been updated: “I called your cell phone a thousand times … And every time you hung up on me.” Now that would be harassment.
It reminds me of the Maroon 5 song Payphone from 2012:
“I’m at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you”
Adam Levine, the singer, probably never used a payphone in his life. But the image of being at a payphone and running out out of change is too good.
But maybe the other person DID make it out of town so Adele was never going to get through to the right person even if someone answered one of those thousand calls – assuming that her ex didn’t arrange to keep his old number. But then that means he mustn’t have left town because he is still in the same dialling code area. This all sounds very suspicious to me.
Actually Jerry, I don’t think you need to qualify linking to conservative sites on these censorship issues.. plenty of conservatives actually are opposed to censorship.
Hmm. Not all censorship opposition is created equal. Straightforward free speech censorship opposition, or public-school-teachers-can-lead-their-students-in-prayer censorship opposition?
The difference here is that the right tends to want to say and do more than they are allowed, and the left wants people to say and do less than they are allowed.
The right, generally, doesn’t want to shut me up. They just want to talk over me. But at least I can still say what I want. I’m not aware of any major right wing organization trying to outlaw blasphemy (I’m sure there are some, but I mean on the same level that student unions outlaw their own blasphemy).
The right is okay with me badmouthing both Christianity and Islam. The authoritarian Left isn’t okay with me badmouthing Islam. I don’t know to what extent, but the right seems to understand that the right to badmouth other religions means people can badmouth their religion.
So in this respect, I find the right-wing more palatable. I’d rather other people get ‘special rights’ than have my basic rights taken away.
That’s my view of it, at any rate. Perhaps I’m not running into enough of free-speech silencing right-wingers.
You’re perhaps interpreting the fact that there are currently no laws prohibiting one from badmouthing xianity as the right being ok with it. But have you listened to Bill O’Reilly or Sarah Palin or Denis Prager (a Jew!) or Bryan Fischer or Todd Starnes or Mike Huckabee or or or? They are most emphatically not ok with xianity being bad-mouthed and they desperately want to enforce respect (or at least privilege) for it with legislation. The students you reference may not be ok with certain kinds of speech, but this is no different from those on the right. Those students likewise have no current legislation on their side.
And blasphemy? You’re aware that in countries that do have blasphemy laws, it’s the conservative factions that support it?
Also, the point I was trying to make to jay was that people like Jerry oppose censorship because they actually value free thinking, ideas, debate/dialectic. A right-winger who “opposes censorship” because she wants to proselytize to her 4th grade public school students is “doing it rong”.
Haidt’s “Good Germans”, assuming he means this with bleakest sarcasm, is exactly how I feel about this matter. I’m German myself and we are well-educated about the structures that led to the horrors. I suspect most people don’t see just how eerie the situation really is. It gets only worse when you consider the tenets of Critical Race Theory — a core element of that movement, with all its racist, race separatist, race essentialist (which leads to “cultural appropriation” if violated), nationalist trappings).
In effect we already are in a situation where personae non grata can be smeared and lied about (in extreme ways) and where social dynamics and bullying prevent correction and scepticism, making it even worse. The result is that most people don’t even try to speak up in fear to become a target next, and rationalize to themselves that it’s best ignored away. Good Germans, indeed.
It’s just a frickin song for ceiling cats sake. These people need to go and get a life.
BTW Q. Why did Adele cross the road?
A. So she could say hello from the other side
+1
I think Gamora summed it up:
“I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy.”
Well, maybe not the galaxy but Oklahoma is close by.
If there is a grievance to be levied against Adele’s lyrics then we need perspective. Virtually the whole canon of rock and roll music is offensive to someone, full stop.
And here I thought Sooners referred to settlers in Southern US. It means the sooner we can live as five year olds the better off we will be.
Sort of. There was an official date when the President allowed people to go into the OK territory and claim the land. Arriving early was illegal cheating and the President declared that any land claims from such people would not be honored and they would be sent back to their home states. However, that didn’t happen. Many people arrived early – “sooner” than the law allowed. Thus the nickname. A lot of the Sooners came from the south, which is why the term is linked to the south.
There is some small irony involved in a group that proudly declares themselves Sooners complaining about a song normalizing inappropriate behavior. Their nickname is a normalization of illegal and inappropriate behavior.
Parody currently impossible, reality has pulled out ahead.
Today I also saw this:
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/no-words-student-calls-for-lse-free-speech-society-to-be-banned/18000#.VrT64VKehb1
Yes, that’s right, they want to ban the free speech society, but they’re not anti-free speech.
That is both amusing and nightmarish.
The lyrics of that seem pretty innocuous to me. For some reason they remind me of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ – but that song definitely sounds obsessive. (Chrissie Hynds cover version here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lML2N4xB9GU )
Or Elvis’s ‘Always on my Mind’.
Now if those delicate flowers really want to be offended, almost anything by Rod Stewart would do. ‘Tonight’s the Night’ for example.
Or even better, Bob Seger’s ‘We’ve got Tonight’, which is absolutely an anthem to a one-night stand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BuITOx3Cs
And all those are ‘mainstream’, I wasn’t trying to think of anything that was regarded as shocking. What a depraved and immoral (no, sorry, ‘inappropriate’ which is much worse) bunch my generation were.
cr
If they want a song to offend them, it’s hard to beat The Beatles – Run For Your Life.
I’ll see your “Run for Your Life” and raise you “Delilah” by Tom Jones.
Tom even serenaded Queen Elizabeth with it at her 60th anniversary celebration a few years ago.
I guess the whole Elvis Costello catalog’s out then? Crikey, God forbid they should hear “White Knuckles.” And that’s nothing to the furor when he used the term “white nigger” in “Oliver’s Army.” (Completely oblivious to what the expression actually means.)
Hell, let’s throw out all artistic expression entirely. Along with our brains…
Are you saying Costello was “Completely oblivious to what the expression actually means,” or that the people criticizing him were?
The people criticizing him were. Sorry, could have been clearer. I haven’t caught Costello being lyrically oblivious yet.
True enough. But Elvis C sure made a big mistake using the N-word reference Ray Charles in front of Bonnie Bramlett during a drinking bout in Columbus OH back in ’79.
Yes, he sure did, and he (rightfully) paid for it. He covers it well in his autobiography.