Use Your Voice

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Description

I started writing this song on the back of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president of the United States, a repudiation against the falsehoods and lies peddled under Donald Trump. And yet, many lawmakers within the Republican Party still refused to challenge and impeach Trump because they were fearful of upsetting their own angry mob that they have whipped up. Instead of being afraid and fearful of their own angry echo chamber, they could’ve and should’ve been responsible leaders who should be doing the more complex job of educating people.

This isn’t something limited only to the far right – we see the same thing happening elsewhere in our increasingly divided society; one only needs to take a look at social media echo chambers to see that it is full of people who are absolutely convinced that they are correct; and are willing to be awful to anyone who disagrees with them. The logical conclusion of this is that victims are silenced if they are not a ‘perfect’ victim; and false, grand narratives and conspiracy theories are allowed to spread unchecked because people are fearful of those in their own echo chamber for speaking up and saying “hold up... that’s not right”.

Lyrics

Use your voice
(use your voice)
Or shut up
and lose it

Use your voice
(use your voice)
Or shut up
and lose it

Anyone can fight,
But are you strong enough to care?
They don’t believe in justice
All they wanna do is judge us

Fear!
Hate!
Lies!
Division!

Fear!
Hate!
Lies!
Division!

Anyone can fight,
But are you strong enough to refuse?
They don’t believe in science
They spread conspiracies to deny us

Don’t ever let them judge you
They don’t know your story

Anyone can fight,
But are you strong enough to love?
They will twist and abuse the truth
To sow fear and lies to divide us

Fear!
Hate!
Lies!
Division!

Fear!
Hate!
Lies!
Division!

Use your voice
(use your voice)
Or shut up
and lose it

Use your voice
(use your voice)
Or shut up
and lose it

Words and music by Si Chun Lam. February 2021.
Copyright © 2021 Si Chun Lam. All rights reserved.