"I grew up listening to classic rock, and I'll tell you sort of an odd story: My music taste changed on 9/11."

"And it's very strange. I actually intellectually find this very curious. But on 9/11, I didn't like how rock music responded. And country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me. And I have to say, it just is a gut-level. I had an emotional reaction that says, these are my people... So ever since 2001, I listen to country music. But I'm an odd country music fan, because I didn't listen to it prior to 2001."

Said Ted Cruz, quoted in Rolling Stone (where I got via Jaltcoh, who said "On 21st-century rock music, I don't like how Ted Cruz responded").

I can understand feeling so different because of 9/11 that your preference for music would changed. You might resist loud, harsh guitars and self-involved, cynical words. You might find succor in mellower instrumentation and sincere-sounding lyrics. But Cruz's isn't only talking about how he felt, subjectively. He does speak of what "resonated with" him, on a "gut-level." But he's also passing judgment on musicians, how they responded.

I don't know what the time lag is, when you're waiting for a response to a big event. On 9/11 itself, the music available was not responding to 9/11. It was all pre-9/11 music, to be played by you if you saw fit. That was your response, not music's response.  

Later, music have might responded to 9/11, but what music was that? Did rock or country music change to fit the post-9/11 world? I'm blanking. The only thing I can think of is Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising." Does Cruz have a problem with that?

What's Ted talking about? I think he uses words carefully — he's a language master — so I'm taking his language seriously. I'm making it my business to understand the "Ted talk" (to coin a phrase).

I'm queasy about his "these are my people." Cruz is a politician, so who's he trying to get in good with? And what exactly did he hear in country music that made him suddenly see himself belonging in that aural milieu?  I'm thinking he's just posing for us on the theory that we're conned by that loves-country-music bullshit. He's one of the salt-of-the-earth folks. You know, the kind who actually intellectually find their own music taste very curious. The real America.

This makes me think of that old line: "The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made" (Jean Giraudoux). And then there are the corollaries: "It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid" (George Bernard Shaw) and "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal" (Oscar Wilde).

Cruz is not stupid.