System of a Down pretty much always goes hard. Right now, I am listening to their "Prison Song". The lyrics are essentially an indictment of the prison industrial complex. Righteous and powerful. In listening to this, I am reminded that the prison industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Billions upon billions upon billions of dollars - taxpayer money - is spent on the criminal justice system every year. Mostly to do nothing more than lock people up in an environment that promotes and enhances negative behavior patterns and recidivism. This is bad for society as a whole. Instead of spending billions of dollars on promoting and carrying out outdated, illogical and nonsensical "tough on crime" policies, how about spending this money on crime prevention measures, policies and actions that truly benefit society? Something to think about while rocking out to the song...
- Rob Will