
Since the earliest times in human history, music has been a form of self expression and creativity. In recent years, music has been given a visual form  in music videos, especially with the birth of Youtube, which makes visual media so accessible. “Where Is The Love? Ft. The World” is a music video with a powerful written message translated into a visual form. This music video takes many famous and well-known celebrities, as well as ordinary people and puts them together to talk about a universal concept: Love. Originally the music video was made in 2003 and then remade in 2016 to demonstrate the current times issues, such as police violence and bombings in different areas in the world. Also the video was cut into different parts, some are people speaking out the lyrics and other parts are visual images displaying violence and hatred. Each image is set-up to show some sort of struggle to prove that what the world really just needs is love and understanding.

One of the first images displayed is of a child in pain and distress while his mother is holding him and seems to be in the same state.  The pair looked as if they have been near a bombing area, which is a very common problem in the Middle East. Innocent women and children are being killed in bombings by the United States. The world is in such a critical state that countless amounts of people are dying everyday. In the search for criminals and terrorists, hundreds and thousands of innocent people are being killed. This scene captivates the observer into feeling empathy and compassion for the mother and child. One feels as though they almost want to reach out and help them. Once the world knows peace and comes to the realization that we are not different countries, but rather the world as a whole, many lives will be saved. 

Another image displayed is of a black man shot dead on the floor with his hands behind his back. This is another example of pure hostility and violence. Today, the United States has experienced an uprise of police brutality against minorities but primarily, African Americans. Many innocent African Americans are incarcerated, beaten and sometimes even killed. Often the police officer exhibiting this brutality never even gets indicted of a crime. Many mothers lose their child, many wives lose their husbands, and many children lose their fathers because of cruelty shown by police.  The meaning of this song advocates for justice and equality of races, and talks about how only loving one’s own race only leaves space for anger and discrimination. There has always been racism, but in the recent years we’ve seen racial tensions so great they almost seem irreparable. We might be different races or colors, but we are all human beings. The picture shown confirms the idea that the world is in serious need of love and unity. 

In conjunction with the idea of racial tensions, some of the people singing the lyrics are police officers. Just as not all African Americans are felons, not all cops are racists, some of them genuinely just want the well being and safety of all United States citizens. Unfortunately, because of police brutality against African Americans, minorities are retaliating by killing innocent police officers. There are many reasons for African Americans to be angry and frustrated but to retaliate with death and even more violence only increases the problem. “Where Is The Love?” campaigns for peace and wants to show that the only way we can defeat hatred is with love. Showing the cops in this video proves that they too want unity and equality and their somber faces displays how tired they are of this vicious cycle of racial hostility, both from blacks and whites. We are all one as human beings, despite the color of our skin.

Another powerful image shown is a child looking very injured and with rubble beside him. One of the lines in the chorus of this song is “Children hurtin’, you hear them crying” and it is one of the main themes. In the original video it was children who were wording “where is the love”. This is because kids are the most pure form of love. Children know no malice or prejudice until they are taught it.  Kids are ones hope for a brighter and better future and thus it is imperative to teach them understanding and compassion, rather than bitterness and hostility. This picture also represents that by hurting each other, children are becoming collateral damage. Children are very receptive and when they see a world that is hurting, they will as well. 

Various leaders of different religions are also shown in this video, wording the lyrics. Regardless of their religious beliefs they all stand together for one common ground: love. In a time of social turmoil people turn to religion and it should be used to unify people rather than divide them. No matter what one’s religious beliefs are they all stand for love and discriminating against anyone for their religious beliefs is wrong. Even if one may not understand it or believe in it there should still be respect for it. Showing these religious leaders displays the idea that knowing love is knowing God. when we can all come together to love one another we can truly become close to God.

One of the other scenes displayed in this music video is of two girls, and one of them is wearing a shirt that says “Hug me I’m Paki”. Because of the recent terror attacks and threats from groups such as ISIS, Al-Queda, and other terror groups, many have a fear of Middle Eastern people. They believe that because these terror groups originated there, that all people from the Middle East are terrorists. People also tend to believe that the muslim stands for or even tolerates violence but that is far from the case. Terrorists are extremists who take a certain religion and bend it to their own agenda. Believing that a whole religion and culture is terroristic is not having compassion and understanding.

Overall this music video stands for peace and most importantly, love. It is showing that the world is so lost and in a place where it looks as though we have no compassion for each other whatsoever. What the world needs is a deep understand that we are all one. We are not our beliefs, our races, our sexual orientations, or our genders, we are all human beings. But most importantly the world must learn that you can not overcome hate with more hate. The only way you can overcome hate is with love.