Dear Editor,
Michael Jackson was truly an icon in the global music industry. Beyond his personal troubles he was the embodiment of phenomenal talent. Nonetheless, he was the sum total of all of his experiences. All the things he did and did not do defined him as a very special actor on the world stage. His genre of music described certain realities both at the individual and community levels. He saw the “figure and the ground,” the context and the content of those realities, and as an artist he was a cultural mediator keeping the international community in a relationship to the dynamics of the world in which we live. It is also the role of the artist to create distance between us and these realities providing the space to reflect on them and then act upon that reflection.
One such reality is world hunger. “We are the world” was the song that called attention to what was happening in the very poor regions of the world. As it now stands, the so-called Third World could implode because there are too many people and there is too little food. Millions of children go to bed hungry every night in many poor countries because of a serious scarcity of food, or because the price is prohibitive for parents to feed their children.
According to a United Nations estimate of the world population, by 2020 about 8 billion people will vie for space on the planet. About 80 per cent of that number would live in today’s underdeveloped world. Again, food would be a major source of contention.
Honestly, there can be no development if people are preoccupied with hunger because it would be difficult for them to focus on independent goals and future choices. Therefore, this song was a call to all to reflect upon our duty as our brother’s keeper, to identify with those who were in need and take decisive action to make the world a better place by stopping world hunger.
However, climate change is contributing to increased food prices and food scarcity and the need for better food security. This leads to a comment in his song about the environment – the ‘Earth Song.’ In this piece, the picture is clear; man is destroying the earth with his technologies. Yet, man must depend upon this same earth for his survival. The artist called for environmental stewardship and justice. These are important because the very technologies have made the world a shared global village and an event in the remotest part of the earth can have serious implications for the rest of it.
Finally, his song, ‘Man in the Mirror’ points the way to how to change local communities and consequently, the wider society. Although mirrors do not always tell the truth, the message of the song is clear. Change must begin at the individual level. The world can be victorious in its struggle against world hunger and climate change, but we have got to commit to a process of change that starts with us.
Yours faithfully,
Royston King
