We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Elegy For a Fragmented World

by Scott Lawlor

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD  or more

     

1.
2.
3.
4.

about

My heart grows heavier every day as I hear about more and more tragic events happening, not only in our own country but around the world, Innocent lives lost to different extremists (no matter what the religion is), police brutality, and officers killed in the middle of what people claim are peaceful rallies. Perhaps the rallies start out peaceful but if a life or 20 are lost during such a congregation of individuals, it then becomes an event that is no longer peaceful, no matter how many individuals did not want it to go down that way.

Whoever kills an officer of the law should be served justice in the swiftest most appropriate means possible and if it is determined by a jury of 12, if it ever gets to court that it should be the death penalty, then so be it.

To the police men and women who abuse their power and privilege of serving our great nation, you aren't innocent either but this is nothing new. It only seems so because we have social media, citizen reporters by virtue of cellular technology and an irresponsible media who are very good at playing one side against the other in a never-ending political agenda of divide and conquer which leave the citizens vulnerable to being more and more manipulated because they continually lose trust in authority, after all, remember Rodney King? The media just played the clip of the police officers beating him over and over until it was indelibly etched in the minds of the people that the cops were the bad guys in that situation.

You didn't see much about what happened beforehand and it's the same with these other cases where police brutality is involved.

are there bad cops? Absolutely and they should be tried and reprimanded for brutality that occurs when it does and if someone dies as a result of such brutality, that policeman should also be subject to the same swift justice that I spoke of previously.

every life matters, I'll say it again for clarity, Every Life Matters. Not black lives, not LGBT lives, not disabled lives, not Indian, not Asian, but all lives matter and the recent black lives matter movement has resulted in a further fragmentation of a society that was already broken by division driven agendas for a long time.

If you are suspected of a crime and told to lay on the ground and you don't and it appears to the officer who suspects you of a criminal activity that you're going for a gun, he's acting on his training to respond to that situation, common sense and logic tell me that.

It is not necessary for that same officer who may genuinely be in fear of his life to shoot a suspect multiple times which may result in death of the suspect in question, something else common sense should tell anyone.

Sure, an officer can say that he didn't intend that the suspect die as a result of whatever police brutality was applied but as it has been said by many, "intentions are not good enough". If I told the IRS that I intended to pay my taxes but the check got lost in the mail, would I be let off? Certainly not and neither should a police officer be given a slap on the wrist and/or administrative leave with or without pay when a suspect meets his or her demise under the charge of that officer. a death is a death no matter what the intention and if the loss of life is as serious of an issue as some claim in this country, what of the penalties for that loss? Where is the personal responsibility on both sides of the debate?

I have good and dear friends who are minorities, hell, I'm a minority myself, and I have no reason to not believe these people when they tell me that there are racially motivated incidents that occur to people with such minority statuses by the very people who have sworn to protect them.

The day after the shooting of police which resulted in 5 officers losing their lives in Dallas Texas, certain media outlets were silent about the event but those same individuals would be all over the internet with outrage if it was another person killed by a cop. This further reaffirms the sad reality that not all lives matter, only those that fulfill a need to further a specific political anti-cop agenda within certain parts of our society.

We live in a hyper reactive hair-trigger society now where there seems to be almost no justification needed for someone to be killed, no matter which side of the law you're on. But if you're a public servant and you have probable cause for arresting someone suspected of a crime, what is your reaction supposed to be when the suspect resists arrest and when you're constantly emendated with rhetoric that says that all cops are bad, all minorities are unjustly sought out to be perpetrators of criminal activity and that only certain lives matter, wouldn't that put you on ultra-high alert and naturally elevate your reactive reflexes?

When you're a cop and you tell someone to lay on the ground, how are you delivering that directive? If it's by way of getting in the face of the suspect and screaming confrontationally, consider how that will lead the suspect to respond for a moment.

Confrontation breeds conflict and more confrontation, resulting in an endless circle of violence against each other that has almost no hope of being broken.

Part of the blame for all the violence, disregard for human life and our fractured society lays at the feet of the entertainment industry (particularly Hollywood), all aspects from television and movies to music and video games. Consider the television shows that they make for children these days. How much violence occurs in one episode of some of the more popular shows? Hollywood's flimsy excuse for pedaling such inappropriate media to children is that it sells and therefore there is a demand for the content.

Look at how many people feel the need to be continuously bombarded by text messaging, email, Facebook twitter, and the like.

Look at all the road rage around you, people cutting other people off just to gain 10 seconds of time to get where they're going. Multiply that out and you have overwhelming traffic jams which stress people out more and more every day.

We have learned to devalue life from the messages of planned parenthood who makes millions a year on abortions. Hollywood makes billions a year making movies that glorify and celebrate violence but do the gun control crowds say "follow the money" to those two organizations like they do with the NRA whenever there is a mass shooting?
Most people don't demonize those two organizations for their cultural role in the rise of perceived meaninglessness of the lives of their fellow man. Look in the phone book and see if there are as many organizations that offer adoption services, rather than abortions for young women who are pregnant. And for the record, I believe abortion is a personal choice and the government should have absolutely no say at all in that nor should they fund organizations that perform such procedures. That should be a choice between the individual and her physician, a comment which is sure to draw criticism from some.

But present all the alternatives to someone in that situation, not just the easiest and the one that will make the most money for an organization who has a monetary interest in the woman making the choice that will best serve the financial needs of said organization. If it's okay to kill innocent life then all bets are off on people who piss us off, believe differently than we do, harm someone we love, etc.

This, then is my response to a fragmented world, one where people have little trust in authority, one where authority has done little to earn that trust, and one where life itself has value only as a political tool to advance a certain agenda among entrenched corporations and the politicians who allow themselves to be bought and sold by those organizations.


Track 1 Performed live June 26, 2016-on stillstream.fm
track 2 performed live June 25, 2016 on stillstream.fm
track 3 performed live July 8, 2016 on stillstream.fm
track 4 performed live July 6, 2016 on stillstream.fm

Review by Wings of an Angel
I will immediately put forward that this is one of the best albums of the year, period. it's an AMAZING soothing record with the strongest piano work I heard in ambient as of late. The strings and pads are so lush I could swear it's an orchestra playing live. AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING ALBUM. Can't praise it enough.
wingsofanangel.bandcamp.com

credits

released August 7, 2016

Photo courtesy of Divinity Library - Vanderbilt University
diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54344
Titles for tracks 1, 2 and 4 were taken from Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World by Bill Plotkin.
www.animas.org/books/nature-and-the-human-soul/

license

tags

about

Scott Lawlor Albuquerque, New Mexico

I am an ambient artist who composes in many sub-genres such as dark and light ambient, solo piano, cosmic drone, avant-garde and noise music both as a solo artist and as a collaborating partner. My music is created with intentionality, creating a sonic space for the unfolding of personal stories as well as exploration of spiritual and cultural themes which profoundly influence our society. ... more

contact / help

Contact Scott Lawlor

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Scott Lawlor recommends:

If you like Scott Lawlor, you may also like: