I had read a few headlines in the last week or so about the fact that it had come to light that the US Government had used musical torture on people at Guantanamo Bay. One of the rumored tunes used was the Sesame Street theme song.
Yeah, I can see that being torture.
Well my first thought when reading the headlines was, "that's why I listen to country music, who could use that as torture?"
But today I spotted an article in the Washington Post that lists Rosanne Cash as one of those who has taken up the cause of finding out whose music was used.
Could the great Johnny Cash's daughter's music have been used as a form of torture? Well that's what Cash and other artists are hoping to find out.
Dozens of musicians endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the National Security Archive, a Washington-based independent research institute, seeking the declassification of all records related to the use of music in interrogation practices. The artists also launched a formal protest of the use of music in conjunction with torture.
"I think every musician should be involved," said Rosanne Cash in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It seems so obvious. Music should never be used as torture." The singer-songwriter (and daughter of Johnny Cash) said she reacted with "absolute disgust" when she heard of the practice. "It's beyond the pale. It's hard to even think about."
The government's response is that they've stopped using music as torture. But there does appear to be a reason behind using music in the past.
"Sound at a certain level creates sensory overload and breaks down subjectivity and can [bring about] a regression to infantile behavior," said Suzanne G. Cusick, a music professor at New York University who has studied, lectured about and written extensively on the use of music as torture in the current wars. "Its effectiveness depends on the constancy of the sound, not the qualities of the music."
Played at a certain volume, she said, "it simply prevents people from thinking."
Well that certainly explains teenagers - there is a direct correlation between their lack of thinking and the loudness of their music. Scary stuff.
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