The Pulitzer Prize: An Oxymoron

Bob Dylan said he was "in disbelief" when he was told he had been awarded an honorary Pultizer for his song lyrics.

Let me tell you Bob, I was too.

The Pulitzer Prize has been regarded in America as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements and musical composition.

Quite simply, there is no rock music or body of rock music work that deserves a Pulitzer.

Now, I know all of Bob Dylan's achievements in writing song lyrics and making the words sound "like poetry set to music."

I even like a lot of his stuff.

But the Pulitzer is supposed to be awarded to composers who reach the apex of musical composition in the most challenging of music disciplines: classical, operatic and symphonic, and not for a bunch of lyrics that appealed to a social group of people during a particularly hedonistic period in this country (60s free love, sex and dope smokin').

The judges stated he was cited for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." Then let the Grammys give him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

This move actually reveals the depths to which the Pulitzer Prize has fallen. The judges have stooped to a PR/publicity stunt in an effort to try and rebuild appeal with a public.

The Pulitzer has lost touch mainly because it has not been able to expose journalism in this country for what it has become -- a fly-by-the ratings junkie and change-on-a-whim elitest group of organizations that want to try and talk or write down to the poor, stupid masses instead of doing some real journalism to splash in the faces of corporate and government hacks running this country.

The judges did one thing right. They did not hand out an award in the category of editorial writing. They shouldn't hand out another Pulitzer in any category until they can get back on the right horse: giving awards for work that will stand the test of highest honor.