Michael Jackson is one of the greatest artists of all time, and one of my personal favorites. In this song, he brings awareness to listener’s ears about some of the questions we should ask on a daily basis. With the corroding earth around us, we forget to think about others living on the planet besides us (e.g. elephants, whales, nature). In the lyrics, nature is referred to as a “womb.” This particular line struck me as the most powerful. Nature is in fact the womb of Mother Earth, nourishing and giving birth to so many new, beautiful things. Mother Earth, through her womb, nurses plants, nests animals, and neglects the harm done upon her by us. As we continue to beat and batter her, she still continues to try to be resilient against our violence and feed our damaging addiction. Yet soon, sooner than hoped for, our Mother Earth will succumb to our abuse and have nothing left to give.
Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” definitely uses a Sophist approach of rhetoric. Not only are the lyrics geared toward questioning our thoughts and reaching our emotions, but the melody behind the lyrics is soft and sentimental as well. Along with this appeal to emotion, Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric is also seen when looking at the lyrics. Several times personification is used. For example, one line of the lyrics reads “the crying earth, the weeping shores.”
Although this song is not only talking about Mother Earth, but also about war and our survival, the power behind the music MJ sings is enough to open your eyes about all three topics.
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