That's nice, but allow me to provide a counter-argument.canveyboy wrote: ↑Wed 13 Feb 2019, 10:11 pmSeconded.Old Soak wrote: ↑Wed 13 Feb 2019, 10:10 pm Personally I'd be grateful if the moderators either deleted or moved to an off topic location anything political which doesn't directly refer to the E.P, it's contents of even PSB in general as it's become extremely tiresome (and in some cases loathesome) and ruined an otherwise excellent thread. I don't care about your politics, this is a fan forum. If you want to talk politics please post your opinions on a political forum.
Pet Shop Boys have created an EP called "Agenda". The context in which the term Agenda has been used aligns with the definition of "the underlying intentions or motives of a particular person or group." Thus, Agenda can, be contrast with Narrative, which can be defined as "a representation of a particular situation or or process in such a way as to reflect or conform to an over-arching set of aims or values (i.e. an Agenda)".
A successful Narrative will both facilitate the achievement of the Agenda, whilst concealing the actual Agenda. Thus, the Agenda is covert, whereas the Narrative is overt. The political class, by virtue of what they are paid to do, have a lot of opportunity to hob-nob, find, align and collaborate with those who hold shared Agendas. These associations, and their covert nature, enable the political class to form their own cabal of people who jointly project a shared Narrative, whilst pursuing a shared Agenda. This private-public dichotomy between Agenda and Narratives, enables the political class to pursue that which is not only potentially beneficial to their constituents (which is what they're expected to do) but also that which is beneficial to themselves as individuals (which is arguably what they spend more of their time doing). Now, consider the possibility that these cabals extend beyond the political class alone, but to others in society who wield power - the ultra-wealthy, the well-connected, intelligence agencies, the mainstream media, experts etc... and the potential for them to covertly manifest their Agendas, through mutually agreed Narratives, at the expense of your best interests, is massive.
Much of the discussion to date has been about exploring the Agenda behind the Narrative. If people are content with facile explanations or facile reviews of these songs, then they're unlikely to be interested exploring the Agenda behind the Narrative, and so be it. However, this is an EP about Agendas, and this a discussion forum, where presumably people wish to discuss things in a degree of depth with others. Thus, if people are challenging Narratives, in order to uncover and expose Agendas, then one could argue, that's the entire point of this release.
We've seen and heard the Narrative, I.e. The Lyrics, but what is the Pet Shop Boys Agenda?
Retro.