The video for Rage Against the Machine’s 1999 “Sleep Now in the Fire” addresses people’s indifference to rising global inequality in the context of celebrity culture. Specifically, human’s ability to overlook or downplay the suffering of others so long as we ourselves are relatively comfortable. As in the format of the gameshow, we are capable of doing this even when we know the facts of what is going in around us.
For you, how do you understand this message? Do you agree with it? Why or why not?
Alternate Assignment:
Follow the first step of the assignment and type up a 100-word response to the prompt above. Next, instead of posting this to social media, analyze the comments posted to the Youtube video. Type up a 200-word analysis of how have others responded to the video and its message and why do you think they have responded this way? This must be e-mailed to me before class on Wednesday.