Brian Hageman- Last Exploration

Part One: First off, I like how this essay is from a neutral standpoint. I think it gives the essay more credibility because there is little bias, and more facts. The opening paragraph dresses the problem immediately. Wendell Berry says "The problem of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmland, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied." I really like how he starts the essay out like this. I completely agree with him, too. There is no denying that we use the land like it is entirely renewable, which is not true. People know these problems exist but they choose to ignore these problems. If these problems are not directly effecting them in their current lives, they do not think they have to do anything about it because it benefitting them right now, but that's not right. Along with Berry, I wish that some people would realize that the world keeps spinning after they are gone. It's downright selfish to exterminate the land mindlessly for their benefit. Charlie brought up the point that these large corporations only care about what benefits them, and if they are bringing in revenue, they are happy no matter what. The goal of a business is to make as much money as possible, but this does not mean they have to destroy everything in their path to riches. To make as much money as possible should be taken as making as much money as possible without being entirely self-consumed and ignorant to what is around them. There is nothing wrong with being large and successful, but if your destroying local businesses and local economies in the process, that it wrong.

Part Two: I would like to talk about hip-hop music and the bad "rap" it receives. Before I got started, I want to to clear up the difference between rap music and hip-hop music. What is on the radio today is rap music. Drugs, sex, and money is rap, a more mainstream sub-genre that branched off of hip-hop. I am not talking about rap, I am talking about hip-hop. I have nothing against anyone that listens to Lil Wayne and Young Thug, but that's rap, not hip-hop. In my opinion, real music is music that portrays a message of positivity or reality, or joins a group of people together that relate to the music, and that can be any genre. There are plenty of genres out there that do this, and I respect any artist that encourages something good or raises awareness. It seems like most people think hip-hop is a genre of music that portrays no positivity, and glorifies illegal activity. I can't blame them, though, everything they hear on the radio does glorify these things. Songs that are made from the heart instead of the billboard top charts are usually the best ones. One of my favorites is a song called Mom Praying by Beanie Sigel and Scarface. This is a song about giving thanks to those who raised them. Both artists continually thank their mom and grandmother for all they did to raise them into men. I like this song because it is genuine. They really mean what they are saying, it's from the heart. I really wish that songs like these could be played on the radio instead of songs that glorify all the wrong things. As KRS-ONE said "We gotta think about the children we're bringing up, when hip and hop means intelligence springing up, we singing what? Sickness, hatred, ignorance and poverty or health, love, awareness and wealth, follow me."