In February of this year, Philadelphia lost their only modern rock/alternative radio station, Y100. This station was switched from its alternative format to hip-hop, much to the fury of the former Y100 listeners. In fact, the fans and some of the DJs took Y100 underground at y100rocks.com, which can be heard through iTunes Radio or through their website.

This past week, WYSP switched their format from rock to talk, which leaves Philly with only one rock station, WMMR. According to what I’ve been hearing and reading, they say that many of the Infinity stations will be switching formats because Howard Stern is going to satellite radio. The main area affected by this decision is the New York City metropolitan area, where KROCK will be switching to a full talk format from their rock format on the day Howard Stern leaves, January 3rd. As a result, New York will be without a rock ‘n roll station of any kind.

These events raise many questions. Is traditional radio feeling the effects of the iPod and satellite radio stations on the music market? Is rock ‘n roll slowly transitioning out of pop culture, like what occurred with other styles of music? Or is this just media corporations trying to increase profits by swarming a hot genre of music to the abandonment of other, possibly less competitive genres?

Personally, I’ve listened less and less to radio ever since Y100 went off the air. My iPod quickly filled its place in my listening habits. Two of my good friends now subscribe to Sirius Radio. I know many others who listen to music via the internet. Can radio compete with this?

I don’t think rock is dead when you have great music being released by Audioslave, Foo Fighters, Green Day, and U2.

There has been a new theory coming from the White House recently that has me a little concerned. In short the theory is that if we don’t stop terrorism overseas (namely in Iraq) the terrorists will come over here and terrorize us here. President Bush said in his speech to the nation,

“It would also give great encouragement to radical Islamic extremists that are certainly present in many parts of the Middle East. Then a U.S. failure would eventually lead to terrorism coming to the United States.”

Am I the only one who thinks this is almost exactly the same as the domino theory first put forth by President Eisenhower in 1954?

For those of you who do not remember what the domino theory was here is a short recap. It was proposed in a speech by Eisenhower in April 7, 1954 in regards to Communist expansion into Indochina, specifically into China and Korea. The thought was that if the U.S. didn’t fight to contain every instance of Communist expansion over there, then the countries of that region would fall in quick succession as the newly Communist country spread Communism to another country and another. The height of this theory saw the U.S. locked in the bloody war in Vietnam to try and keep it from setting off this supposed string of dominos. After we pulled out of Vietnam and this didn’t happen people soon realized that the domino theory was nothing more than propaganda and scare tactic used to justify unnecessary military action.

Today the threat isn’t Communism it is terrorism, but the theory proposed by Bush is the same. If we don’t stop them in Iraq they will come over here and kill Americans! Well here is the problem I see in his logic. Iraq was not one of the 45 countries al Qaeda had operations in prior to our invasion. Yet now they are the main supporters of the insurgency in Iraq. So, in short, we actually opened the door to them in Iraq by invading. As a bonus they even get to do exactly what they want to do. They are killing American soldiers, just without having to travel far.

Another interesting point is that the way Bush is fighting the war on terror is as if he can turn the Domino Theory on the terrorists. That if we can create a Democracy in the Middle East the other countries in that region will look onto the new and improved Democratic Iraq and suddenly all the countries will decide to switch peacefully over to Democracies that have parades for America in their streets. For some reason I just don’t see this happening. Besides it isn’t just the countries that harbor terrorists but also the terrorists themselves. A Democracy won’t get rid of terrorists or protect our citizens. Just look at Israel or our own Ted Kaczynski or Timothy McVeigh.

I say don’t fall for the president’s scare tactics! Refute his illogical theories on fighting terror! The polls already show that the American people don’t believe in the other reasons Bush has given for his war. Don’t let him scare you into believing he is right either.

“I’d love to change the world,
But I don’t know what to do,
So I leave it up to you.”
– “I’d Love to Change the World” Ten Years After

Most of my life the lyrics above summed up what I thought about the world’s problems. I wanted to help and make a difference, but I always felt overwhelmed about how to go about it. This inevitably lead to me thinking that the politicians that I helped elect would do it for me. I left it up to them and trusted them to do what was right.

I now know that was a mistake.

You cannot simply vote once a year, engage in political conversations with like minded friends, and complain about the the current state of politics. These things will not create change nor better our society. All this will do is distract and frustrate you.

So how do you create change? By organizing with other people. When you team up with other people you bring your voice and talents to that organization. You allow it to see issues in a new light. At the same time the ideas and changes you believe in are examined by your peers. They will help to bolster or expand your thoughts so that they become stronger. This will increase the volume of your voice, and a louder voice is necessary in order to be heard in modern politics.

That is why I wanted to join The New Wisdom. I want to become more involved and more informed. I still don’t know entirely what to do, but I do know that I won’t leave it solely in the hands of the politicians anymore.