Editing wikipedia article about @theloosh

I am noticing that the wikipedia article about Lucia Micarelli is a stub.  I put a whole lot of stuff on the talk page about it.  I don't like to put stuff on the main page, because it gets so heavily edited.  I just want to reproduce what I put on the talk page here before it gets effaced somehow.

I'm not sure why this thing is getting right and left justified.  I have it set for only right justify

== Other career milestones ==

I'm putting this here, rather than on the main page, because I'm so sick of self-righteous editors deleting my stuff.  Frankly, I think editors are destroying wikipedia by making it too hard for ordinary people to post.  I'll let someone else deal with the co-dependent drama.  But there is a whole lot more to her career than what is on the main page

For instance, I see that the over-zealous editor has deleted the reference to the solo performances with Ian Anderson, because the point was surrounded by other language the editor didn't like -- effectively throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Here are two youtube videos from January of 2006 of their appearance in Vienna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTVuFKozfJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGl-Mt302Y

While the main page refers to her tours with Josh Groban it neglects to mention that she appears as a soloist and concert mistress  in two of Josh Groban's DVDs: "Live at the Greek" and "Awake."  This music was characterized as classical/pop crossover.  Her solos, "Kashmir" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," also appear on YouTube.

Again, while the main page refers to her touring with Chris Botti, it doesn't mention that she also appears  as a soloist on Chris Botti's DVD and CD from his "In Boston" concert playing "Emmanuel."  This is on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8NN4fpdm40

She appears prominently on a DVD/CD called "Love Project Journey,: organized by a percussionist called Yael.  This DVD/CD features improvisational/experimental music. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1523352/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Here is a youtube video of her playing with Josh Groban and David Foster on "Mi Mancherai" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJwNS-FPXOI

She did a duet of "Kashmir" with William Joseph on his CD "Beyond." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hsAtAOGcs  https://www.pandora.com/artist/william-joseph/beyond/kashmir-feat-lucia-micarelli-violin/TRx2jgz3ndrnmbK

She had a single "One More Cup of Coffee" on a fundraising CD Set for Amnesty International called "Chimes of Freedom" along with Steve Earle.  On this single she both plays the violin and sings, revealing a bluesy singing style. https://music.amnestyusa.org/products/steve-earle-and-lucia-micarelli-one-more-cup-of-coffee-valley-below

She can be heard in several pieces on the CD's coming out of the Treme show.  These include "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance," "New Orleans Blues," "Heavy Henry," "Spring Can Really Hang You Up," and "Carved in Stone."  These songs are in the New Orleans Jazz genre.

She toured with Chris Botti again, more recently, including in the 2015-2016 season.  During these performances she was featured soloist on several pieces.  I counted 5 or 6. http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=13655

She had a PBS special filmed June 3, 2017 https://events.kcrw.com/events/an-evening-with-lucia-micarelli-filmed-live-for-pbs/

The music of the Trans-siberian orchestra has been characterized as symphonic metal.

Also, she studied with Pinchas Zukerman, a very notable violinist, in the classical genre.

The variety of genres that she has undertaken is notable.

I believe that the emotional style and the unique sound of her playing are also notable -- even though the editor doesn't like to hear about it.  Josh Groban recently tweeted that no one sounds like her https://twitter.com/joshgroban/status/870506744446832641  If you watch videos of her playing, you can see that what she is doing with the bow is not what other violinists do.  It's hard to put these things into words, but presumably some future scholar, studying her work, will be able to explain why she is able to make the violin sound like other instruments, such as electric guitar (Kashmir) and tenor sax (Heavy Henry).  It's hard to verbalize these things before the academic vocabulary characterizing her work is developed by scholars.  There is a huge bias in wikipedia in favor of academic language developed by scholars, which results in ordinary people who try to describe this stuff in conversational English getting censored.

Another notable thing about her is her history of performing barefoot, which is visible on all of the DVD performances -- and some of the youtube videos listed above.

== personal life ==

She is originally from Queens, NY.

She is mixed race being of Korean and Italian ancestry

She has been married  https://twitter.com/theloosh/status/451945873573183488 https://www.instagram.com/p/mWvDamn18R/  Though I heard she may have gotten divorced

What do I believe?

What do I believe?

I was asked this question by a twitter user who self-identified as a Jehovah’s Witness.  My response here is shaped in part by her having identified herself that way. I might have written something different to someone else, but not sure about that.

I don’t expect this document ever to be completely finished. I will think of new things to write in here, I’m sure.  So here goes.

• The true name of God is unpronounceable.  No human names for God are correct or incorrect.
• The religious/spiritual experience is universal, but non-verbal.  The use of words to describe this experience leads to conflict.
• The true nature of God is not understandable. No human scriptures or religious texts are correct or incorrect.
• No person or group of people has a monopoly on the truth about God.
• Asking the question “Do You Believe in God?” is non-sensical, because whether one believes or not depends on how the word “God” is defined, but the word cannot be defined, because human language is insufficient.
• The confidence of particular individuals in the truth of their own scriptures or their own interpretation of scriptures relates to their particular personality, but not to the accuracy of their interpretation or scriptures.
• People who push their religious beliefs on others are insecure and need others to validate them.  Often they are bullies.  Often they are crazy.  I was nearly attacked by a street preacher when the guy I was walking with decided to talk to the preacher about what the preacher was saying.

Nevertheless, I was raised Protestant, so I have been strongly influenced in my thinking by that formation.

I have been very drawn to the Baha'i' faith, and to the three unities expressed by Baha'u'llah, but I have never declared myself to be a Baha'i', because I haven't done enough research to be sure that I understand all the implications of that.

The above being said, I nonetheless share some of these personality issues that make me want to push my beliefs on others.

Some more beliefs

• conscientious objection to war and military service.
• sanctity of the environment as God’s creation.
• sanctity of truth — and repulsion toward people who lie.
• wrongness of oppression of people based on gender, age, race, LGBTQIA, religion etc.
• Generally I like free speech and deplore efforts to suppress it. 
• I am pro-choice. I do not believe that killing human embryos, prior to the appearance of human brain activity, is murder. Fetuses later in development are a bit more troubling to me, though it depends on the circumstances.
• some social justice: i.e. basic safety nets for everyone -- though I still accept that some would be richer than others, and I don't believe in government ownership of the means of production
• 12 step approach to self-improvement

This twitter user asked me how my beliefs are helpful. Yeah. I do believe that if everyone shared my beliefs this would be a better place. Sure.  I know everyone thinks that, but of course I think I'm right.

Regarding Quakers (Religious Society of Friends):

I am an unprogrammed Friend.  I identify with Friends General Conference, rather than FUM or FEA.  

Quakers do not have a creed.  You cannot say, based on the affiliation of a person with this movement, necessarily what they believe.  I cannot speak for others.

******

Addendum:

I have also been influenced by Yoga, which I started studying at age 13.  I'm also drawn to aspects Zen Buddhism and Taoism.  Some Zen practitioners regard unprogrammed Friends/Quakers as practicing a form of Zen Buddhism -- though, also, some Quakers are very insistent that Quakers should be Christian.

*******

5/23/21

I was asked by my Quaker Meeting to formulate what I believe.  I looked back at this blog, but decided that there were some things I wanted to re-word.  This is what I have so far:

The divine as unknowable.  This is a core belief for me. Neither the divine nor the physical universe can be completely encompassed by human speech or thinking.  What happens may seem illogical or harmful.  This is due to our deficiency in thinking, not to the divine. 

All names and descriptions are wrong.  The divine is not impressed by any one wrong description over another.  Logical inconsistencies between religious beliefs can also be explained by the unknowable nature of the divine.

The word God is a variable, like the letter x in Algebra. It represents the answers to unanswerable questions.

Trying to prove the existence of God is nonsensical.  First, there is no consensus as to what the word “God” represents.  Many people seek to prove or disprove the existence of God using a concept of God that they understand to be promulgated by some group — but that group lacks actual authority to define God and the person making the argument may not even understand what that group actually believes.  Second, the nature of logic is to reason from assumptions to conclusions. Logic can show that certain assumptions are inconsistent with each other, but the assumptions are taken on faith.  Trying to prove an assumption is stating right up front that you lack faith in that assumption.  If you say you are going to prove the existence of God, that means that you do not have faith in God.

Sense of contact: Many people have a sense of contact.  I think some people call this a “personal relationship” with God. What is this? Is it actual contact with an external divine being or an interesting neurological phenomenon? People sometimes seem to be inspired by their sense of contact to speak words or take action.  Often these words or actions lead to conflict. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I do like meditation, yoga and Zen koäns, tho.

Life after death: I’m not particularly attracted to this concept.  However, I believe, from physics that time is a dimension.  Things that existed in the past are not gone.  They are just located in a particular section of time that is not currently accessible to us.  That does not mean that it will never be accessible to us.  Moreover that does not mean that some divine entity cannot freely travel back there and visit what exists in that other place. I don’t really believe that people are dead.

I sometimes quote from religious texts or traditions because they seem to coincide with what I feel.  This is due to my literary upbringing.  I do not accord any religious text a sacred weight. Each text is the best effort of the authors to express their understanding.  Each text is wrong, but also has elements of rightness — elements that genuinely reflect a historical divine inspiration. Each text must be interpreted within a historical context. It cannot be applied in a simple minded fashion to current events.   

I get annoyed by detailed systems of signs, numbers, symbols, or diet that purport to be religious or spiritual.

The concept of free will is not attractive to me.  I believe that most of what goes on in the brain is in the subconscious, based on what I’ve read of reports of scientific literature.  The conscious brain is a delusional egomaniac that thinks it is in charge, when it is the tail thinking it is wagging the dog. 

Discussion of transgender issues on twitter 5/23-24/16

Anybody trying to read this: I am still editing it.  It's not finished

I had a long twitter conversation with some folks about trans issues.

This has been bouncing around a lot in my head.  First, having my ex and my eldest child be trans makes it very personal, but also the format of this discussion being on twitter was confusing and alienating.  Twitter is not a great place to discuss issues that take more than a few interchanges. Blogs are more sophisticated.  So I wanted to add some more information.

Safety issues

One issue had to do with the safety of restrooms.  

Some people participating and reading seemed to be unaware that transgender people are being attacked.  I tweeted a link to wikipedia where someone is keeping a list of trans people who have been attacked for being trans.   wikipedia list of trans people being attacked  Plus there was a huffington post article Huffington Post article about trans people being attacked  Clearly trans people are being attacked.

Then there was the issue of women being attacked, specifically, at Target.  Here's some information about that. women attacked at Target . I pointed out that none of the attackers were alleged to be trans.  

My ex told me that he goes to some event called Transgender Day of Remembrance about trans people who have been killed for being trans.  This is obviously one of those high drama events about tragic loss of people.

On the other hand, in retrospect, I do have to concede that the number of cis women who are attacked for being women dwarfs the number of trans people who are being attacked for being trans.

Detransitioning

There was an assertion that most trans people regret their decision, and specifically that Caitlin Jenner regretted her decision.  With respect to Caitlin, she has most emphatically denied that she regrets transitioning.  Caitlyn Jenner denies sex change regret 

I have certainly heard trans people denying that most regret it 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html

Pretending

This person I was talking to had the impression that "trans" people are "pretending" to be the other gender. This word is wrong. I would accept words like "obsessed" or "delusional," but not "pretending."  "Pretending" implies that people know that what they are doing is fake.  That is not the case with trans people.  That is the case with many cross dressers.  Many cross dressers know they are pretending to be of the other gender.  Trans people believe they are of the other gender and are in the wrong body.

Biblical interpretation

I'm not sure why I care about this. I'm not a fundamentalist.  I don't believe that the Bible is literally true. I did grow up in Christian churches, though, so I do care what the Bible says.  A lot of fundamentalists don't seem to recognize that most Christians are *not* fundamentalists.  They seem to think that fundamentalism is the only way.

The following instances of scripture were cited to me.  

Deut 22:5 Gal 3:28 Deut 23:1 Mat 6:25 Ro 1:24-32

Let's just look at these passages in more detail.

Deut 22:5

5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Of course, a transwoman does not think she is a man, so her desire to wear women's clothing, in her mind, would not violate this provision.

But, even putting that aside, this passage is part of the Torah, the firs five books of the Bible.  For Jews, this part of the Bible is particularly important, and is to be paid the utmost attention to.

Most Christians, however, while enjoying reading the Torah, typically do not obey many of its provisions.  During this interchange of tweets, I gave the example of eating pork, which most Christians do, even though the Torah prohibits it.  Some Christians even take the position that the New Testament supercedes the Torah, despite Jesus having said that he would not take on jot or tittle from the law.

Still, I have to be a bit skeptical of a person who may eat pork, swear oaths on the Bible, &c citing the Torah to me, when they don't observe other provisions of it.

It's also ironic to me, because conservatives were asserting, when Hillary Clinton was running against Rudy Giuliani for NY State Senate, that he was more conservative than she and that she was a dangerous liberal.  Then we saw photos of him dancing on stage in a chorus line in drag.  I always wondered what all those conservative Republicans thought, when they were asserting that he was more conservative.

Gal 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I find it mysterious that this passage would be cited as prohibiting people from doing gender reassignment.  This seems to be a statement of acceptance, not a statement of prohibition.  If anything, I would cite this as an argument for why it would be ok, and not make a difference if one was to transition, since everyone is one anyway.

Mat 6:25

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

This statement seems to be about trusting God and not worrying about whether will have food, drink, or clothing.  I fail to see how this could be interpreted as relating to the appropriateness of transitioning.

Ro 1:24-32

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

I see this passage as relating to gay people -- not that I agree with it -- but it does not seem to be dealing with trans people.  I don't think my ex or my son is having sex with anyone, actually.  Caitlin has said she is asexual.

In any case, I don't think that a Christian need worry about whether these passages are prohibiting people from changing gender -- not that the person who cited them to me was willing to consider that her interpretation might have been wrong.

First, some screen shots of the discussion.  It's hard to capture the sequence in a 3 way twitter conversation, because people are writing responses sometimes not seeing that other responses have already occurred. If you open a tweet, you can see what conversation it is part of, but sometimes several tweets share the same history.  

This has been bouncing around a lot in my head.  First, having my ex and my eldest child be trans makes it very personal, but also the format of this discussion being on twitter was confusing and alienating.  Twitter is not a great place to discuss issues that take more than a few interchanges.  Blogs are more sophisticated.

Safety issues

One issue had to do with the safety of restrooms.  

Some people participating and reading seemed to be unaware that transgender people are being attacked.  I tweeted a link to wikipedia where someone is keeping a list of trans people who have been attacked for being trans.   https://t.co/17SSil5ouA  Plus there was a huffington post article https://t.co/4tfLYvBTPq  Clearly trans people are being attacked.

Then there was the issue of women being attacked, specifically, at Target.  Here's some information about that. https://t.co/FOeuRSF0MK . I pointed out that none of the attackers were alleged to be trans.  

My ex told me that he goes to some event called Transgender Day of Remembrance about trans people who have been killed for being trans.  This is obviously one of those high drama events about tragic loss of people.

On the other hand, in retrospect, I do have to concede that the number of cis women who are attacked for being women dwarfs the number of trans people who are being attacked for being trans.

Detransitioning

There was an assertion that most trans people regret their decision, and specifically that Caitlin Jenner regretted her decision.  With respect to Caitlin, she has most emphatically denied that she regrets transitioning.  https://t.co/dwfyLZOQIy 

I have certainly heard trans people denying that most regret it 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html

Biblical interpretation

I'm not sure why I care about this. I'm not a fundamentalist.  I don't believe that the Bible is literally true. I did grow up in Christian churches, though, so I do care what the Bible says.  A lot of fundamentalists don't seem to recognize that most Christians are *not* fundamentalists.  They seem to think that fundamentalism is the only way.

The following instances of scripture were cited to me.  

Deut 22:5 Gal 3:28 Deut 23:1 Mat 6:25 Ro 1:24-32

Let's just look at these passages in more detail.

Deut 22:5

5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Of course, a transwoman does not think she is a man, so her desire to wear women's clothing, in her mind, would not violate this provision.

But, even putting that aside, this passage is part of the Torah, the firs five books of the Bible.  For Jews, this part of the Bible is particularly important, and is to be paid the utmost attention to.

Most Christians, however, while enjoying reading the Torah, typically do not obey many of its provisions.  During this interchange of tweets, I gave the example of eating pork, which most Christians do, even though the Torah prohibits it.  Some Christians even take the position that the New Testament supercedes the Torah, despite Jesus having said that he would not take on jot or tittle from the law.

Still, I have to be a bit skeptical of a person who may eat pork, swear oaths on the Bible, &c citing the Torah to me.

Gal 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I find it mysterious that this passage would be cited as prohibiting people from doing gender reassignment.  This seems to be a statement of acceptance, not a statement of prohibition.  If anything, I would cite this as an argument for why it would be ok, and not make a difference if one was to transition, since everyone is one anyway.

Mat 6:25

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

This statement seems to be about trusting God and not worrying about whether will have food, drink, or clothing.  I fail to see how this could be interpreted as relating to the appropriateness of transitioning.

Ro 1:24-32

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

I see this passage as relating to gay people -- not that I agree with it -- but it does not seem to be dealing with trans people.  I don't think my ex or my son is having sex with anyone, actually.  Caitlin has said she is asexual.

In any case, I don't think that a Christian need worry about whether these passages are prohibiting people from changing gender -- not that the person who cited them to me was willing to consider that her interpretation might have been wrong.

Reply to Onion Article

I tweeted a link to this article at the Onion God clarification.

I wanted to put a comment after the letter, but, so far as I can see, you can't comment on an Onion article.  That's a bit surprising, but I suppose they get too many crazies.

Anyway, I do like this article.  It does mostly reflect the way I see God.

The Onion is uniquely situated to issue this type of article, without qualifying it with something like "I believe God wants ...."  They can just baldly assert that "He" actually had a press conference.

I'm pretty sure they would, if necessary, issue another article where "He" makes some qualifying statement about "his" gender.   I personally find the assertion that God has gender baffling.  Surely God: can appear as whatever God chooses;  does not always choose to appear human and with gender; and does not have fixed divine genitalia floating out somewhere in outer space?

There is just one point that I want to address here and that has to do with identifying elements of scripture as being due to human error.

I prefer the interpretation which Baha'ullah gave.  He said that scripture was issued with a message to people in a particular time and place.  Taking it out of context in another time and place can yield results that were not intended at the time.

Thus, in particular, with respect to the teachings against same sex relationships in the Bible, I believe that they were intended to address marital infidelity.  The "do not lie down with a man as with a woman," implies that this person is doing both.  I don't think, at the time, people were really thinking about people who might want to marry someone of the same sex.  I doubt that occurred to anyone, so people saw no need to address that issue.

Spelling reform

Now here is a question, which I think is totally inadequately discussed

I am interested in spelling reform.  Studies show that countries, such as Italy, which have had spelling reform, have much lower rates of dyslexia -- maybe even NO dyslexia.  Currently incredible numbers of person hours are spent teaching children spelling.  It takes years to get kids to spell properly and even then it is unlikely that most of them are always successful.  If we have spelling reform, all those hours could be spent with these kids actually reading, rather than learning irregular spelling.

How do you feel about spelling reform?

---------------------
Aside: I can't help but wonder, if the people who were spending all these hours teaching irregular spellings to small children were men, wouldn't we have had spelling reform a long time ago?

Trying to organize information about my Quixotic Quest

My quixotic quest for the world anthem was inspired by learning about Michael Jackson’s ideas on this topic.

Michael Jackson believed that if we could achieve the whole world singing an anthem together, it might make war more difficult.  This was based on watching his audiences unite in singing with him when he was on stage — and seeing racial/ethnic/religious/gender differences dissolve in those audiences when people sang and danced together.

Michael Jackson wrote or co-wrote at least three songs focusing on uniting the world: “Cry,” “Heal the World,” and “We are the World.”   Here is a list of some videos showing people singing these songs

Michael Jackson's "Cry" video

Kris Philips singing Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie's Song "We are the World"

Connie Talbot singing MIchael Jackson's song "Heal the World"

I’ve been writing a lot about this quest under another pseudonym.  Here is a list of blogs that focus on the quixotic quest.  A lot of these blogs have been inspired by my interest in Pop Music, and the incredible power that this music has to unite fans all over the world.

https://skysong263.blogspot.com/2020/01/thehuofficial-and-quixoticquest.html
2019 allegations against mj
Miss Saigon and the Quixotic Quest
Wonder Woman and the Quixotic Quest
Latest on the Quixotic Quest cc @joshgroban
World Hip-Hop Dance Competition and the Quixotic Quest
Progress on the Quixotic Quest

Judith Hill appearing with Josh

Open letter to Stevie Wonder

Singing for World Peace

Letter to Josh Groban of October 2010

A bit of Autobiography

The Mayan Apocalypse and the Quixotic Quest
Questions for the Republican Political Debate

Here are some blogs that mention the quest as an aside

Does one buy or listen to MJ's works now?
Elton John at Madison Square Garden

Afterthoughts about Blogs about Josh

Eric Whitacre at Alice Tully Hall March 2013
Josh Groban at the Beacon Theater 9/29/15

I recognize that many people now detest Michael Jackson because of the TV special with allegations that he molested children. I don't know whether he did or he didn't, but his observations of the unifying effect of music, dance, and children remain very valid.  You could say many things about him, but no one could dispute that he knew his audience.

*******

Addendum 7/1/15

There was a great video with an interview between Ethan Bortnick and David Foster about the power of music.  In this video David Foster posited that music brought the Berlin Wall down.  I had an embedded youtube video of this interview here, but the link is broken now, so I had to delete it.

This interview was particularly poignant to me, because I was an exchange student in the USSR in Leningrad in the summer of 1978.  That summer there was a protest in Leningrad when a concert by a western rock band was cancelled.  

The Americans in my program were suddenly given surprise tickets to the Kirov Ballet that evening, which were normally never available, so we wouldn't be out on the street when the protest, which was anticipated, occurred.  When we came out, we could see water on the streets in the area of the protest, where the government had opened up fire hoses on the protestors.

********

Addendum 1/3/16

The anthem of the European Union is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."  This seems like another candidate for World Anthem. I had another great embedded youtube video here, showing a flashmob relating to this song.  Unfortunately, the link is now broken.  BTW singing/dancing flashmobs were inspired by people impressed with the unity message of Michael Jackson.

*****

Addendum 7/5/18

This video shows again the power of music and dance in international communication

Addendum 11/9/18

They're still singing "We Are the World" in China! 

Addendum 2/16/19

I've been trying to draw Josh Groban's attention to my #QuixoticQuest for a while. I don't think he accepts this concept.  However, he does have a related concept, about the unifying effect of music -- see, e.g. this recording, where, near the end he talks about Bridge Over Troubled Water

https://chirb.it/OwbcHP

Sometimes, I think that YouTube is really the realization of Michael Jackson's dreams for singing around the world -- as people all over the world are listening to each other sing and singing the same songs.

Addendum 8/25/19

Here's another article about the political effect of music

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/how-k-pop-is-tempting-young-north-koreans-to-cross-the-line/2019/08/19/0f984654-839f-11e9-b585-e36b16a531aa_story.html

This article reminds me of the interview between David Foster & Ethan Bortnick that I referred to above, but which seems to have been deleted from YouTube.

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Addendum Feb 2025

I recently found out that Carol Burnett had a song on this topic, maybe before MJ came up with it.  She wrote "If I could write a song."