Throughout time music has been used to express the way a musician feels. Sometimes a musician will sing about love, sometimes hate, and sometimes he or she will go as far as singing about current political issues involving war and injustices. In 1797, Jozef Wybicki wrote the Polish national anthem in Italy while fighting the Russians. The song called for an independent Poland and motivated the people of Poland to stand up against the Russians and fight for their freedom. In the 70's it was the Rolling Stones and Crosby Stills Nash and Young that sang out against the Vietnam War and motivated many "hippies" to stand up against the United States government. In the 90's it was time for a new type of music, punk. The band Rage Against the Machine made an enormous contribution to the musical scene. Their songs inspired many to stand up for their rights and also brought enormous attention to the Zapatista movement in Mexico. Their hit song Calm Like a Bomb is one of their more controversial songs that challenges civilization. It uses the themes of society paradigms, recurring problems around the world, the need for society to rebuild from the beginning and the need for people to stand up for their rights.
             Throughout time, paradigms have stopped humans from attempting change and challenging the norms and standards accepted by society in general. A paradigm is simply a set of rules that filters information and sets boundaries and borders for what humans can and can't do. Calm Like a Bomb demonstrates excellent examples of how paradigms are affecting civilization. The song says "Like Baldwin home from Paris" (Rage Against the Machine, 4). This line is making reference to the late James Baldwin. Baldwin was a play writer and author who traveled to Paris where he discovered his homosexuality. When he returned to New York in the 1950's he wrote many plays including about gays and lesbians ...