Music and Politics

I'd like to ask a very reasonable question but I am concerned it will attract the attention of the small minority of Patch readers who comb these blogs looking for political discussions so they can weigh in, oftentimes with spit and venom that would be unimaginable if they were not hiding behind a computer screen. But I believe it's a reasonable question (if multi-parted) that hopefully get's some people thinking.

Remember the Dixie Chicks? Remember how one personal statement of how they were "ashamed" that the President Bush was from Texas (due to his single-minded path towards war with Iraq), led to their being vilified, CD burning events, boycotts, talk-radio exploding with venom and hate, death threats, and more and more? Now compare that with the recent reactions towards Dave Mustaine of the band Megadeath, who said, and I quote: "Back in my country, my president is trying to pass a gun ban so he's staging all of these murders. The 'Fast and Furious' thing down at the border. And Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there. And now, the beautiful people at the Sikh Temple. I don't know where I'm going to live if America keeps going the way it's going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America." 

Say what? Did this guy just accuse a sitting president of murder? This guy goes so far over the top that he makes fellow washed-up musician Ted "I-Told-Obama-To-Suck-On-My-Machine-Gun" Nugent seem almost normal. So one has to ask, where is the Dixie Chick-level outrage? Where are the talk-radio bullies to shout this guy down? Why is it acceptable to slander our president now, with some of the most outrageous statements in the history of American politics, but even modest, personal criticism back then was cause for congressional hearings?

(And please, don't try saying it's because we were at war. First of all, we weren't at war with Iraq at the time, just planning it. Second, we're at war right now if you haven't noticed.)

Maybe it's because the Chicks are women? Could be. It's much easier to pick on woman than to get up in the grill of some amped-up metalhead. Or maybe, just maybe, we see something different in this president that makes it "ok" to casually accuse him of mass murder for political gain. Think about that. Why does what this guy says not disgust us?

But let me close while continuing in the music theme here. Have you heard of Pussy Riot? If you haven't, they are a Russian punk bank whose members were just recently sentenced to two years in prison for speaking out against Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Seriously. They were convicted of "hooliganism" with the bought and paid for judge calling them a danger to society.

Yes, they are a danger, but they are a danger to the society of thieves and con men who run that country at the moment, so they had to be locked away. Do you notice a parallel here? Dave Mustaine can say any stupid thing he wants, and even though he sees jack-booted thugs in his fever dreams coming to take him away, it's not going to happen. This is still America and what happened to the Dixie Chicks was a spasm of stupidity, not the way we do business. The people who think like Mustaine or support Mustaine or who think Mustaine is funny or cute, should take a long look at themselves because they are confusing the United States with Russia, and it's our first amendment that guarantees that idiots like Mustaine are free to say what they think. A civilized society simply wouldn't pay attention.