It's a matter of choice. I personally don't choose to sing songs that repeat the ugliness of the past. I know they exist, and they have a right to keep on existing. But of all the wonderful songs out there, I get to choose which ones I lend my energy and loverly voice to, and which ones I'll just pass up, thank you very much.

However, let's don't tar S. Foster too very much. One of his loveliest songs, "Hard Times," has to do with economic injustice and the fact that wealthy, comfortable people were inside their cozy houses while the starving poor were languishing 'round the door. It was an early American "consciousness-raising" song, and has a beautiful tune, to boot.