Dead End Kennedys

The title of the iconic punk band Dead Kennedys‘ last album “Bedtime for Democracy” (1986) is said to come from the film “Bedtime for Bonzo” starring Ronald Reagan and is an indictment of Reaganomics, neoliberalism, war, and infobesity. It also features the track “Shrink”.

The lyrics of Shrink speak mostly for themselves. Smaller means more food, more space, and not ending up like dinosaurs. All things we at Shrinking Man can agree with. Yet, rather then embracing the desire to shrink as a viable expression of a different value system towards the end of the song the act of shrinking becomes part of a scheme of the rich and powerful elite to trick humanity into solidifying existing inequality. In doing so the song (perhaps unintentionally) reinforces existing prejudice against the little man. Again smallness is seen as weakness and an act of submission rather than a superpower and thus solidifies the notion that bigger is better. Get them out by Friday a mini opera by (at the time) progressive rockband Genesis, plays out along similar lines.

In the dystopian novel This Crowded Earth a similar idea about totalitarian ploys for shrinking plays out very differently as the small majority eventually ‘hunts’ for the last few remaining tall people. Also not something to look forward to, yet another reason not to seriously consider becoming smaller, and another reinforcement of the cynical notion that the human species one way or the other is destined to discriminate. The Shrinking Man asks: What if this were not so? Over the past 15 years we made an effort to allow alternative and positive shrink stories and values into our collective creative consciousness. Without such fantasies it will be very difficult to cultivate the necessary desire for smallness.

Illustration by Winston Smith.