I don't get it. Reggae, that is.
True appreciation of reggae can only be learned if the listener is experiencing a similar bio-chemical state of awareness as the performers. It is a form of "state-dependent learning", and although a person may be able to somehow enjoy reggae without sharing this bio-chemical state experience with the musicians, the experience will be superficial.
Reggae is fundamentally a sacred music--used to teach lessons, transmit morals and history across generations, and form community through sharing of life experiences. As with any form of sacred music, it may be enjoyed analytically or superficially by "outsiders" and academics, but true "overstanding" of the socio-spiritual depth of Reggae music can only be experienced if the listener has a personal and intimate understanding of the Rastafari weltanchauung, through receiving of their sacraments, discussion and learning of their scriptures (reasonings), and sympathy with their goals.
I would suggest, Tom, that you probably haven't done these things. I would venture to say that you don't "get" Tibetan throat-singing, Huong Thanh (Vietnamese sacred music), or Bata (sacred music of Yoruba/Ifa and Afro-Caribbean Santeria) either, and for many of the same reasons...
http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/rastafarianism.htm
In other words, to really "get" Reggae, you need to get really high on ganja, sit for hours discussing the issues of man's relationship with Divinity, dance nyabingi, and be an downpressed member of a dominator culture fighting against your downpression.
Actually once you understand that Ganja is a sacrament given to man directly from God, most of the rest of it pretty much follows. It's actually pretty hard to deny--I mean, the temperature at which THC starts to metabolize IS 98.6° F, and that's pretty hard to write off to pure coincidence...
If I and I want to "get" how Rasta think, listen to how Rasta speak. Rasta have a dialect that is painfully straightfoward and truth-laden. It takes the twisted Orwellian syntax and meanings of modern English, deconstructs it to reveal it's REAL meaning--that of downpression, subjugation and obfuscation--and replaces those words and syntax with new words that have a much more "reasoned" structure.
If the Rastafari movement ever gains a foothold in a nation that has "strategic" value to the USA, it will be labeled as the next "Al Quaida"--this stuff is DANGEROUS to the status quo. Rastafari doctrine stresses simple life, brutal honesty in communication, communal consideration of one's actions, and considered greed and covetousness to be some of the most egregious sins. That sort of thinking is just the sort of thing that many people in the West these days consider to be verging on "terrorist doctrine". Let's hope that the Rasta movement never gets in the way of the Military Industrial complex, or else we'll start seeing news reports about pot-crazed, dreadlock-wearing "religious fanatics", and telling us what a threat to our way of life these people represent. Let us pray that these gentle, kind, thoughtful people never come to the attention of Babylon on that level. The world would be a much worse place without Rastafari and their wonderful culture.
Jah Rastafari,
Deliver us from the hands of our enemy that we may prove faithful for the last day, when our enemy has passed, and decayed in the depth of the sea or in the belly of the beast.
Selah.
Amen.
