Paul Simon was expressing his frustration with the music industry when he wrote The Sound of Silence. He used passages fro The Book of Daniel in the song. A powerful message for Trump to exploit.
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools, " said I, "You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells, of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
A great lyric, but not a call to mindless protesting, vandalism and looting, clearly. The most insightful lines to me are "people talking without speaking" and "people hearing without listening". These speak to the failure of people to effectively communicate.
These protests, as executed, are failing to communicate anything of substance or advance a constructive dialogue. Even more importantly, the protesters, both innocent and rogue, are failing to listen to facts that should inform their protest. Details like: a) Floyd resisted arrest (and those with in his in car didn't, and were treated entirely differently), b) the toxicology report shows Floyd had fentonyl in his system and traces of amphetamine (he was high), c) he was a long time cocaine abuser (long term cocaine use is linked to heart failure and heart disease) d) he refused to be put in the back of the squad car (claiming he was claustrophobic) and that led to him being restrained outside of the car, e) the official autopsy prepared by the Country Medical Examiner found that he died of heart failure arising from the struggle of the arrest, not asphyxiation or strangling (yes, an expert hired by the family disagrees), and f) an ambulance was called once Floyd showed signs of cardiac arrest, but was delayed.
None of these facts mean that the cops involved are blameless and should not receive punishment. They do speak, however, to whether protests should be organized with the message that the entire system of policing is corrupt and evil, and that the actions of those arrested have nothing to do with what can go wrong in interactions with the police.
