Lauryn Hill’s new track “Neurotic Society” has homophobic lyrics that include, “Social transvestism,” “Commerce and girl men,” “Greedy men and pride fiends” and “Quick scam and drag queens . . . Real life’s been blasphemed.” The song compares the queer community to “serial criminals” and holds us, at least partially, responsible for “this neurotic, toxic society” we live in.
The former Fugees frontwoman has taken to her Tumblr to explain the meaning behind the song, but instead of clarifying, she comes off as hypocritical and muddled. She writes, “Neurotic Society is a song about people not being, or not being able to be, who and what they truly are, due to the current social construct” yet degrades a culture that’s trying to be “who and what they are” in a social construct that makes that difficult — no help from her:
Neurotic Society is a song about people not being, or not being able to be, who and what they truly are, due to the current social construct. I am not targeting any particular group of people, but rather targeting everyone in our society who hides behind neurotic behavior, rather than deal with it.
The world we live in now is, in many ways, an abhorrent distortion, an accumulation of generations and generations of response to negative stimuli. Many don’t even have a concept of what normal is, by virtue of having lived afraid, ashamed, as victims of abuse, or inadequately handled for so long. I believe in coming up from under that fear and allowing the psyche/soul to truly heal. I understand that healing is a process, but I also believe that it is our responsibility to seriously care for ourselves, so that we can extend that level of concern for others and positively affect our environment.
I want what is best for Humanity. Humanity, aligned with the Spiritual principles, that help each individual conquer fear, and transcend limited circumstance. I believe in healing and dealing with the traumatizing events of our lives, both in this lifetime, as well as those passed down to us, or inherited, so we can live as fully as possible.
“We’re living in a joke town,” Lauryn raps, and she may be right. But in this case, the real joke is her.
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