Latest news with #TheSocialContract
Asahi Shimbun
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
VOX POPULI: An 18th-century Rousseau tune immortalized as a children's song
The song begins with the familiar lines: 'Musunde hiraite, te o utte, musunde' (Clasp your hands, open them, clap and clasp again). Nearly every Japanese person likely recalls singing this classic children's song, a nursery rhyme that playfully guides little hands to open and close, clap and move into different positions. The melody, surprisingly, is believed to have been composed by the 18th-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), best known for 'The Social Contract.' Over time, the tune has traveled the world, taking on new lyrics and meanings in various cultures. While watching the Chinese film 'Gone with the Boat,' now showing in Tokyo and other cities across Japan, I was struck to learn that the familiar children's song is sung in China as a lullaby. The film centers on a daughter and son as they grapple with the emotional weight of saying goodbye to their elderly mother, recently diagnosed with a brain disease. One especially poignant scene lingers in my memory: The daughter softly sings the lullaby by her mother's bedside. 'The boat is small/ The waves are high/ But I'll row gently/ Bobbing and drifting' The melody is the same, yet the Chinese lyrics are strikingly different. Curious why director Chen Xiaoyu, 30, chose to include this tune in his debut feature, I sent an inquiry—and received a prompt reply. 'A child in a cradle seems as if they are in a boat, and it is the waves that rock them.' Set in Jiangnan, the director's hometown and a region south of the Yangtze River renowned for its interwoven canals and waterways, the film gently evokes memories of a life surrounded by boats. Chen explained that the song, deeply rooted in local culture, serves as a vessel for recalling those quiet, water-bound rhythms of daily life. In his book 'Musunde Hiraite Ko' ('Thoughts on Musunde Hiraite'), Japanese musicologist and educator Bin Ebisawa, former president of the Kunitachi College of Music, traces the song's curious journey. According to his research, the melody is thought to have entered Japan during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) as a Christian hymn, and was even adapted at one point as a military song. Why has this tune, reshaped countless times, continued to resonate across generations? Its enduring appeal remains something of a mystery. Having traveled so far, it seems to carry with it a faint fragrance of nostalgia. And when I hum it softly, as one might a lullaby—ah, this version, too, is beautiful. For a moment, I am quietly moved by the subtle strangeness of its charm. —The Asahi Shimbun, June 16 * * * Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ex-GOP Lawmaker Regrets Being ‘Divisive Political Asshole,' Is Joining Democratic Party
Former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh announced Tuesday he is formally joining the Democratic Party because 'the stakes are simply too high to NOT become a Democrat.' 'Let's start with the obvious—a tyrant sits in the White House,' Walsh wrote in his Substack, 'The Social Contract.' 'The very thing our Founders feared most is here,' he said. 'Throw in the fact that one of our two major political parties is a real and direct threat to democracy and the rule of law.' Walsh, a former supporter of President Donald Trump who later ran against him, amassed a large following through his controversial statements online and on his radio show. In 2012, he declared American Muslims an imminent threat to national security and lashed out at Rev. Jesse Jackson, accusing him of trying to 'keep African Americans down on some plantation.' The former Republican has spent much of his recent past trying to distance himself from the bigotry he promoted in earlier years. Acknowledging his past public remarks on Tuesday, he said, 'that's no longer who I am.' 'I went to Congress on a mission to get our debt under control and to shake up the political establishment,' Walsh wrote. 'I was passionate about my cause—so passionate that I said and did things I regret, so passionate that I became, way more than I'm proud of, a divisive political asshole.' Walsh added that he has since 'gained a greater understanding of and appreciation for LGBTQ issues, structural racism, the need for empathetic immigration reform, the dangers of climate change, and the role the government must play to help care for the neediest and most vulnerable among us.' 'I'm still a conservative, but I'm not a conservative jerk,' he wrote. 'For the past seven years, I've been on a mission to help heal the divide in this country—the divide I helped to create.' Walsh's announcement comes as the Democratic Party's approval rating sinks to an all-time low. An NBC poll published earlier this year found that just 27% of registered voters say they have positive views of the party. A CNN/SRS poll found that Democrats' messaging on the economy performed worse than Republicans' over the past four months, with the GOP holding an eight-point lead on the issue. Walsh was already a vocal critic of the president. He said he made the switch to the Democratic Party because 'These are unprecedented, dangerous times in America.' 'Of course we've always fought about and debated policy—how best to pay for healthcare, whether taxes should be raised or cut, and how best to deal with immigration,' Walsh wrote. 'But we've never before fought about actually remaining a democracy or abiding by the Constitution and the rule of law.' He highlighted 'decency, tolerance, understanding, empathy' as traits he believes are 'vital' to politics, claiming the Democratic Party is the only party 'these days' that 'values and practices these traits.' 'Donald Trump is the worst of us, and, sadly, the rest of the Republican Party emulates his cruelty, dishonesty, and authoritarianism,' Walsh wrote. 'We're better than what we've seen every day these past four months. America is better than this. As a former Republican, I know that cruelty sells.' The Extremely Dumb Excuse That Republicans Are Using To Justify Trump's Corruption Republicans Big Mad At Elon Musk For Telling The Truth About 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Elon Musk Unloads On Republicans' 'Disgusting Abomination' Big Beautiful Bill
