Sound Of Silence By Paul Simon: 100 People Who Shaped The World

"The nail that sticks up will be hammered down". The Sound of Silence written in 1964 and is a lyric poem that expresses Paul Simon’s views on society during the 60’s. Paul Simon is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor, has won 12 grammys and was picked as one of the “100 People Who Shaped the World” by Time magazine. He grew up under a jewish household in new york during the late 40’s, in queens Simon was described as an outsider because of his jewish heritage and his parents being immigrants to America. Paul Simon conveys a meaningful yet dark poem by cleverly employing many poetic devices and the use of reflective elements. These devices illustrate an overarching social issue of ignorance and intolerance that has plagued humanity
It hasn’t been until late last year when the Disturbed cover of the song was released that I really came to appreciate the message Simon is trying to tell his audience, and that the message is somewhat ______ in nature. The songs, invited reading is about society conforming to the ideas and beliefs of the neon god or television, I strongly believe that this even has grounds for an argument in this day and age with the growing number of Youtubers and Celebrities voicing their opinion to their loyal followers and fans. This in turn changes the beliefs of their audience and doesn’t allow them to make their own views and beliefs about the world and society. When I personally read the poem however, I am reminded of how Australian culture and society has changed to suit the majority, for example as Australians the celebration of Halloween is an American activity and it is because of the American influence on society that we have changed. The majority also includes those with more liberalistic ideals, in this day and age if someone doesn’t agree or believe in these liberal views than you are frowned upon by the majority. Because of my strong family background and lack of liberal ideas, I too have suffered slightly and am therefore frowned upon by some people. This profound amount of intolerance to ideologies and beliefs in this day and age