The more I listen to singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson, the more I like him. I don’t mean just his music, which I like very much already. Twitter has opened the door for artists like Matt to share their personal thoughts as well as their music with fans and followers alike.
This past February 18th, Matt was up late (California time) and tweeting. Here are his series of tweets (unedited in all its Twitter shorthand glory):
I'm not sure how people turn off the world. lately, for me, it just feels like a faucet that's been left on.I love what Matt is saying here. I love how he’s saying it. The raw emotion. Just like his music, his words prove to be powerful as well.we get so much information. so many voices. screaming their opinion. being an actual expert on something has so little currency.
it’s so hard to get humans to focus on real problems. because no one feels empowered. why is it so hard to love ourselves?
we are capable of so much greatness. but we spend so much of our time squandering our energy on fear-based, useless hate.
90% of people know just enough about things like race and government. and the environment. to be paralyzed. and no one listens.
i mean… we have a presidential candidate who posted a photo of a fucking gun on his socials and wrote ‘america’
the only way to get your message heard through the din is blunt force trauma.
and we are so polarized and hopeless as a country, that NO ONE HEARS ANYONE.
garbage in / garbage out. this is just a fact. where is the nutrition coming from in this culture? we need voices of fucking kindness.
and empathy. on REAL issues. not just photos of fucking cats.
we have to see the bigoted, racist, sexist parts of ourselves. and be honest about them. in order to evolve past them. we have to LISTEN
to other people’s experiences. and shut our fucking mouths. (this coming from the king of privilege over here.. straight, white, and male.)
it is our job to be optimists. it is our job to be kind. it is our job to live our life without hurting ourselves or others.
it is our job to clear space for the voices of those without voices. it is our job to listen to those we don’t understand.
it is our job to treat these fundamental problems at their roots. not beat them over the head with a sledgehammer and think they will die.
most of the stuff we fear and guard against, as individuals, NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO US. what a colossal waste of energy.
