August 19, 2013

lol...A Funny Way to Protest: Make Yourself Heard

We should do the same, here in Lebanon...

"United Breaks Guitars" is a�protest song�by Canadian musician�Dave Carroll�and his band,�Sons of Maxwell. It chronicles a real-life experience of how his�guitar�was broken during a trip on�United Airlines�in 2008, and the subsequent reaction from the airline. The song became an immediate�YouTube�and�iTunes�hit upon its release in July 2009 and a�public relations�embarrassment for the airline. Musician Dave Carroll said his guitar was broken while in United Airlines' custody. He alleged that he heard a fellow passenger exclaim that�baggage handlers�on the�tarmac�at�Chicago's�O'Hare International Airport�were throwing guitars during a layover on his flight from�Halifax Stanfield International Airport�to�Omaha, Nebraska's�Eppley Airfield. He arrived at his destination to discover that his $3,500�Taylor�guitar was severely damaged.�Fox News�questioned Carroll on why he checked the valuable guitar and Carroll explained that it is difficult to bring guitars onto flights as�carry-on luggage.�In his song, he sang that he "alerted three employees who showed complete indifference towards me" when he raised the matter in Chicago. Carroll filed a claim with United Airlines which informed him that he was ineligible for compensation because he had failed to make the claim within its stipulated "standard 24-hour timeframe". Carroll says that his fruitless negotiations with the airline for compensation lasted nine months.�Then, thinking what�Michael Moore�would have done, Carroll wrote a song and created a music video about his experience.�The lyrics include the verse "I should have flown with someone else, or gone by car, 'cause United breaks guitars."Carroll, who has performed as a solo artist and as a member of the group Sons of Maxwell, wrote two sequel songs related to the events.�The second video, "United Breaks Guitars: Song 2" was released on YouTube on August 17, 2009.�The song takes a humorous look at Carroll's dealings with "the unflappable" United customer service employee Ms. Irlweg, and targets the "flawed policies" that she was forced to uphold.In March 2010, "United Breaks Guitars: Song 3" was released.�The song notes that not all employees at United are "bad apples." The final line of the trilogy of songs is, "They say that you're [United] changing and I hope you do, 'Cause if you don't then who would fly with you?"
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