Right-wing fans mocked for boycotting Rage Against the Machine after realising band’s politics

Fela's music is transcendent and the man had guts. Like Marley, he was willing to risk his life to stand up for what he thought was right. This isn't a knock on Rage or Bruce or Neil, but the stakes were much higher for artists like Fela or Marley when they got political.

 

Funnier than clueless fans are clueless performers. I don't know any particular examples from music, but Slim Pickens as Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove comes to mind. Pickens was kept in the dark about the film's subversive tone and played a straight-up American hero. The joke may have been on him, but he laughed all the way to the bank as the role was a boost to his career.

Easier to imagine are performers who are not clueless but disagree with the messages of their group's work. I feel bad for anyone who plays along in that situation, even if they are well paid to do so and no matter their political views.

 

Ha Ha. Since I don't like the music I must admit I haven't devoted much time to trying to make out the lyrics. I will listen to and enjoy music the lyrics to which I don't appreciate or can't make out, but if I don't like the music, the lyrics are always going to get short shrift.

 

If you really think about it most people have some fundamental disagreement, etc. with what they do everyday to make a living, get by, etc. For many it's finding their job pointless / not meaningful. For others it's not wanting to work at all or working for the wrong company / person with a wrong agenda/beliefs/goals. Etc.

Yet most of us still do it probably b/c munnies.
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Re original post - Let's be real - most people as a whole buy or consume lots of things where I don't agree with the people behind it. A more extreme example - It is very well known the cartels do vastly repulsive things and have ruined Mexico to a large degree - yet they are still rich b/c a ton of people still buy the drugs (I'd say it's no secret where they come from), even those who have been personally impacted in a negative way by the cartels...

I suspect part of the reason people blame entertainers or public figures (in many cases rightfully so) is b/c it's easy and they're prominent. It's not so easy to blame yourself for the use of drugs when you "just want to party" or "but it feels bad if I don't use drugs". FWIW I disagree pretty strongly with both modern progressive and right wing ideologies - yet I have a ton of products, music, w/e made by people on both sides b/c to me the freedom to believe and do what you want in America > random petty personal disagreements.

Politicians are the exception given they have the ability to legally stop our ability to do whatever and (theoretically) have the state monopoly on the use of force - i.e. if you don't follow my new law, I will fine or arrest you.

 

Exactly why I retired when I had the chance, and gladly took the financial hit.

 

One thing I have to give RTAM credit for aside from Morello's pretty stellar guitar work, is that their moniker is a great example of truth in advertising. Anyone who just discovered their politics is a moron.

 

I saw RATM in 99 on the last tour before they broke up. The first 2 albums sound amazing. 4 guys in a room bashing it out. Sick tone and sound quality. You can hear the sizzle in the performances. Get the original cd masterings or the SACD's of the first 2.

 

I suspect the fans in question found RAtM before they developed into their current political views. Probably dudes who grew up apolitical or left-leaning with them on the TV & radio. Probably more focused on nostalgia while listening than the content of the music.

If they recently discovered the band that's three strikes of obliviousness: RAtM is on a major label, playing a typically left-wing genre, with an obvious leftist image. I don't want to believe that level of naivety exists but I guess you also have people thinking these bands & their politics were ever counter-culture who missed out on the fact they were leading acts with massive advertising budgets from the world's leading entertainment corporations.

Of course I'm hitting this with the perspective of someone who grew up mainly in the 2000s. It was typical for my generation to have at least one RAtM obsessed teacher in our school career, usually a balding male in a starchy shirt LARPing a subversive who infiltrated the establishment. We loved these teachers at the time but progressing through high-school into college you begin to realize that they were 100% in line with the school curriculum despite all the fluff about what would happen if the principal discovered they were *gasp* injecting climate & social justice into their lectures. It taught me that society always has a few avenues for those who want to rebel.. within guidelines set by the rich & powerful.

 

My one and only live RATM (sort of) performance was at a Ripple Effect protest concert held during the 2008 RNC in Saint Paul (where I lived at the time). The power was cut just as RATM took the stage and they led the audience in chants of some of their music. Peaceful march ensued. My GF and I slipped through the riot police lines before tear gas was deployed.

Rage Against the Machine Lead March to RNC After Police Shut Down Impromptu Show

Video: RNC Ripple Effect concert bombed tear gas police-Rage Against the Machine AntiFlag Michael Franti
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It was fun. I guess that I've outed myself as a left-winger (far SW corner of the political compass).

 

Unless their name was different, their politics and their intent to make politics front and center are obvious from that alone.

 

That is an insult to the usefulness of tools.

Some people you simply do not want near you.



P.S. Yes, Little Britain.

 

Amusing article especially given all of its corporate ads popping up.
Rage Fueling the Machine???
shame when your body of work becomes clickbait.

 

Hasn't it really been that way for a while now? I mean... going back to Obama's mid-second-term, it was brewing. Especially online, in the early days of the alt-right. I don't want to generalize too much about it. Most conservatives I meet are cool... they have some legitimate issues and ideas. I myself like some of their general ideals about law/order, small government (when it makes sense,) values, tradition, stability... those are all great things. Of course there are going to be some loud people that lampshade those ideals in order to make every issue about what they want. And they stick to their party hardline, because it's the only way they get support. They can draw in some of the people who share their more reasonable ideas, by way of conflation and carefully-placed emotional payloads. Conservative ideals are used against them at times, by people who claim to be on their side, but I don't think it is as prevalent as it looks on TV.

I'll put it this way. What I see on Fox news versus what I hear from openly conservative people I meet are pretty much night and day a lot of the time. They're not that into it these days. They feel like their party is going off course. I think at least some on the left think the same of theirs.

And that's what I mean when I say it's been that way for a while. There have always been issues that got taken advantage of - stuff that was open to abuse by people who would tack what still kind of are obviously reasonable things onto more out there agendas, likely to the dismay of most supporters, who you don't notice because they're quietly shaking their heads. And of course there are whole sections of media who cater to that crowd and drive the division by further reinforcing extreme thinking in already extreme people. The good stuff gets buried under a whole pile of that. Most people in general want to be better than that. The prevailing sentiment from normal people on both sides is that there is a lot of bullshit involved in the whole game.

That's my take anyway. I'm going less on news and more on my actual interactions. I'm more center-leaning left, which of course tints my view on it. YMMV.

I get it, but I just don't think it's how things work in the world. You can't separate politics from anything. I mean, in a democratic society, it is important that ideas move freely in order to have representation, and so people know what they're actually dealing with. And I think the answer is not to oppose at every turn, but actually examine your means of coping with cognitive dissonance. Take it MORE seriously and address it in a more honest way, no matter what's being pushed... because that's the only way to move on.

Being exposed to stuff that challenges your whole ideology is physically stressful for the majority of people. Like, you can measure and quantify the stress response. That sucks. But I think it simply must be dealt with as part of getting through life. Conflicting things can coexist in people's minds, just as they do the world. And if you can figure out how to make it work for you, it's barely even a thing. It becomes a lot less troublesome when you allow yourself to see things from more than one angle, instead of forcing the conclusion that gives you comfy thoughts. The comfy thoughts are a trap if your values are so rigid that they can never align with reality. Of course there will be friction there! The world changes, but you never do!

It gets abused, and yeah, it is obnoxious. But I think if something political in an unexpected place rattles you, the only realistic way to deal with it is to address it within yourself, because it isn't going to change. People do themselves a disservice by thinking they can just stick in their corners, because it leaves them woefully unprepared for when it DOES come to them, which is inevitable. I think people make it harder for themselves by trying to shut it all out... not to mention there are big parts of the world that you can never see by operating that way. How do you cope with conflicting stuff that creeps in if you refuse to engage with things that are all around you? It can't be done.

I do get the tribalism and manipulation angle. It's really true and IMO totally abhorrent. But again, I think that all works because so many people choose not to engage at all with things outside of their own worldviews. It sets us up for this 'shitty politics everywhere' scenario we always wind up in. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if people could work a little on letting go more often, and they wouldn't so easily get swept away by people who only claim to be on their sides.

That said, courtesy is important, too. As individuals we have to be mindful of place and time. But again, that would probably matter a lot less if people were able to handle conflicting ideas better. I think we all fail at that sometimes. But because of that I think we can all do a lot better, too! I think it's the only way certain things get reclaimed from the scourge known as politics.

Same here, except I love me some Rage, haha. But yeah, this is what I was just talking about. So much in our conversations is undermined by an unwillingness to face ideological challenges honestly. We butt heads and get spun around A LOT simply because so many people have this deep fear of taking in ideas that are in conflict with their own. They'd rather take an equally or even more absurd one that happens to match-up, as a way of dodging that internal confrontation. And then we keep going at it, getting nowhere, with shit getting dumber by the day.

I swear to god I hate those f'ing democrats... they're just like the republicans!

We live in a time with so many scary things in it, but sometimes I swear that the scariest things for people today are ideas. And I don't think it should be that way. So long as someone hasn't raised a fist, there is still time for words. And we ought to embrace that, regardless of our beliefs as individuals. Hell, you should WANT to talk to people who think differently. They are the ones who can most benefit from what you have! And besides, if you are that resolute and think you've got something truly great, why not test it? Take the Ferrari out for a spin, man! It's like polishing diamonds. And if you get proven wrong, why wouldn't you want to know? It's not like being wrong benefits you or anybody else. It hurts for a little while, but not as much as the torment of blindly missing out on big chunks of the world around you for the sake of stuff that gives you nothing but cheap pride.

It's an emotional thing. Maybe that is something we need to emphasize more in our culture and education system. Just really try to teach people what this whole politics thing is about, what it is for, and how to deal with the emotional pitfalls that come with it. Maybe then people can have better conversations more often, and maybe democracy itself grows for it. That is like, my one big wish right now... that the left and the right alike would be more open to honest self-criticism. IF that happened as often as it should, we'd probably have a lot less of... this. People might find they have more in common than they realize.