| Previously on TheAngryPen: |
09-12-2000 2 Parties |
08-18-2000 Al’s Acceptance |
08-10-2000 Gore’s Choice |
08-03-2000 The American Dream |
07-20-2000 History and Hollywood |
07-13-2000 40 Acres and a Mule |
07-06-2000 The God We Trust |
06-29-2000 Lyrical Assault |
06-15-2000 Bank Fees |
06-07-2000 A Mixture Often of Incongruous Elements |
05-24-2000 Social Security |
05-17-2000 Governmental Good Intentions |
05-10-2000 Johnny Reb and Disgusting Fatbodies |
05-03-2000 Low Fidelity |
04-26-2000 Jackboots and Black Helicopters |
04-19-2000 Movie Trailers |
04-12-2000 All Things Cuban |
04-05-2000 Censorship |
03-29-2000 Juries and Tobacco |
03-22-2000 Several Things |
03-15-2000 Gore the Reformer |
03-08-2000 Mission to Mars |
03-08-2000 Super Tuesday |
03-03-2000 Little Johnny Murderer |
03-01-2000 Bob Jones |
02-23-2000 The Christian Coalition |
02-16-2000 Valentine's Day |
02-09-2000 Short-Sighted Political Parties |
02-02-2000 Mosh Pits |
01-12-2000 Al Gore's Personality |
11-17-1999 Playboy |
09-02-1999 The Demise of Heavy Metal |
 |
TheAngryPen vs. Mosh Pits |
|
|
Shameful!
Uh-oh, he's using that word again. What's gone wrong now?
Well I'll tell you. It's those damn fringe Republicans. They're getting really desperate now and it's truly a sorry sight to see. Witness the following exchange from last Wednesday's Republican debate in New Hampshire between Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer after George The Younger asked Keyes what it was like to be in a mosh pit:
Keyes: | "It's a lot of fun actually. I enjoyed it." |
| Bauer: | (referring to the band Rage Against The Machine) "[this music is] Anti-family, anti-cop, and pro-terrorist. It's the kind of music that the killers at Columbine High School were immersed in…I was a little surprised to see you fall into a mosh pit while a band called 'The Machine Rages On' or 'Rage Against the Machine' played." (Bauer goes on to suggest that Keyes owes the Columbine victims' families an apology for doing so). |
| Keyes: | "Until you told me this fact, I had no idea what that music was. I had nothing to do with that music. Admittedly, I was willing to fall into the mosh pit, but I'll tell you something. You know why I did that? Because I think that exemplifies the kind of trust in people that is the heart and soul of the Keyes campaign." |
Well, well, well. Where do I start? I mean, after I stop laughing, of course. How about, no Presidential candidate should be making statements about the politics of a band whose name he doesn't even know. It suggests that as little as they know about the band's name, they probably know even less about their politics. Now, it is true that I am a Rage fan, but I would be defending them on this point even if I weren't. Anti-family? Pro-terrorist? Anti-cop? Rage? What PMRC propaganda site has Gary been reading anyway?
| "With lecture I puncture the structure of lies. Installed in our minds and attempting to hold us back. We've got to take it back." |
| "Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes. Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal. I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a library" |
I have to say, I heard less intelligent, more inflammatory tripe spewing from the mouths of the wacko anti-WTO protesters in Seattle, and most US News publications gave those clowns front-page, above-the-fold coverage. In fact, my interpretation of that first lyric is that Rage is saying the way to "take it back" is through discussion, rather than destruction (wow, that's pretty good, hey Rage, hire me!).
Any-hoo, what is absolutely unforgivable about Gary Bauer's remarks is his suggestion that Keyes owes the families of the Columbine victims an apology because he once danced to music that their children's killers may have listened to at some non-specific point in their short, violent lives. Beyond getting themselves elected, political figures of all stripes have an even greater responsibility to society at large. They have to remember that their words carry weight, and that their statements influence the political and social atmosphere in many varied and powerful ways.
By suggesting that bands like Rage Against the Machine, may be to blame for Columbine and its off-shoots, Gary has chosen to join America's growing cult of zero responsibility: the same folks who brought you No-Fault Divorce, No-Fault Insurance, multi-million dollar jury awards for coffee that was too hot, and homicidal teens who lay the blame for their bloodbaths at the feet of Hollywood and Rock N' Roll.
Back in January of 1999, a Washington, D.C. Mayoral aide named David Howard was forced to resign because he used the word "niggardly" in a staff meeting. The fact of the word's actually meaning was immaterial. All that mattered was that someone in that meeting was on a racial hair-trigger and was offended by the word's use, simply because they were ignorant of its meaning. Howard felt he had to resign, apparently, because co-workers thought he should have taken into account the possibility that there would be someone in the room who would not know the meaning of the word "niggardly," and would therefore be likely to assume it was synonymous with that other "N-word." Dictionaries are pretty easy to come by. There are three of them within easy reach as I type this. So who was responsible for this ignorance of vocabulary exactly, Howard? Or whomever it was that chose to cry "racism" before checking with Webster?
There is, Mr. Bauer, a direct causal link between incidents like your suggestion that Mr. Keyes apologize for listening to music that might have also been a favorite of someone who once committed a crime, and horrendous results like the temporary demise of Mr. Howard's political career (Howard eventually got his job back). Because when you suggest, from your powerful political pulpit, that no one can ever do, say, listen to, or watch anything that might be, in any way, offensive to anyone, you pave the way for any yahoo with a gripe to ruin the lives of anyone whose opinions they disagree with.
And so what if Rage's lyrics are subversive and anti-establishment? We should be celebrating subversive thought in the new millennium, not suppressing it. American political thought, thanks to the Internet and the twenty-four hour news cycle, has become homogenized enough. Abortion excepted, I can't think of a single issue on which Republicans and Democrats differ in any substantial way. We desperately need to inject contrary opinions into our National discourse in order to shake things up before the pool of original thinking becomes too shallow. Should we have censored Martin Luther King, Jr. simply because his opinions were, at the time, offensive to the Jim Crow South and therefore inflammatory and dangerous? "Of course not!" you say? Well what about Galileo, Newton, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Mark Twain, Darwin, Elvis, John Lennon, Mick Jagger? This is dangerous ground you're treading upon, Mr. Bauer, and all in the name of some short-term political gain in a contest you have already lost. Shame on you.
As for poor Alan Keyes, while I give him credit for thinking on his feet, there are basically two ways to answer Bauer's accusations, and I think he chose wrong. One way would be to do exactly what Keyes did, which was to spin his participation in the mosh pit in such a way that defused Bauer's complaint. The problem with this approach is that in so doing, Keyes legitimized Bauer's laughable position. By appearing to defend himself, he lent the argument undeserved weight.
The best way to handle Bauer's tirade would have been to look him right in the eye and say "Gary, puh-lease. It was a mosh pit, not a book burning." Not only would Keyes have instantly won my vote, but he would have dramatically reduced the potential societal impact of Bauer's ridiculously silly point of view.
Angry Pen out.
Although the Angry Pen has never been wrong, there's a first time for everything. Click here to duke it out with The Pen.
