Artists who have gotten a little too political lately....

here are some of my naive hopes:
we can hope that the war will be brief and relatively bloodless.
we can hope that soldiers and civilians on both sides will be able to return to normal lives at some point in the near future.
we can hope that government leaders will stop slandering each other (especially when they're allies...), and that government leaders will start acting like responsible adults and not like children at a playground with name-calling and petty, petulant behaviour.
we can hope that with the election of a new palestinian prime-minister that the peace process between israel and palestine will actually be able to move forward.
we can hope that the palestinians will at some point in the foreseeable future actually have a homeland, and that israel and palestinian will settle into a mutually beneficial detente.
we can hope that the diplomatic damage done by this whole debacle will not be too serious, and that the people in charge will realize that strong, multilateral (and not petulantly driven...) institutions are in everyone's best interest.
we can hope that america and it's allies stop slinging mud at each other.
we can hope that there won't be any more large-scale terrorist attacks.

Perusing my various fave bands' websites, I'm somewhat struck by how many people aren't using their official websites as pulpits from which to assert their opinions on the issue,....which is somewhat of a shame. While I may not agree with them, I'd be curious to hear their thoughts on the subject. The Sisters of Mercy did have what I thought was a somewhat subtle comment on the intro page of their site, condemning the U.S. as a rogue nation, but that site seems to be unreachable at the moment (have at it, conspiracy theorists!)

This is the official site of The Sisters Of Mercy.
We are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. And intellectual love gods in our spare time. We make records, sometimes. We play concerts, sometimes.You're here anyway.
This website contains ninety-seven million words, which are personal oil and ignorant zealots and the USA is a rogue state. This website contains five pictures of Isabelle Adjani. You're welcome.

http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/

*I am kidding.

we are soooo meant for each other.

"Dominion/Mother Russia" made it clear years ago what his thoughts would have been, I'd think.

um, anyone who thinks that Christopher Hitchens is "level-headed" cannot be taken seriously, esp. in comparison to Susan Sarandon (who, despite being a Naderite, is actually quite "level-headed").

and i fail to see what's wrong with any of Momus's political observations -- though that could be because i agree with an awful lot of them.

You may not agree with them, but for Chrissakes, wouldn't you rather them provoke a reaction than not? There are enough vapid dummies in entertainment.

the artist/celebrity is expressing their political views

therefore

he/she is trying to influence our political views

therefore

he/she thinks we should amend our own views because he says so. he/she is patronising us. he/she thinks her opinion on political matters SHOULD matter to us, because he/she is wealthy and famous.

having said that, i can see russ's point. and often artists are trying to reason sweetly with us (or draw attention to an issue people might have overlooked) rather than saying "this is my opinion, you should all get in line with it!"

bands that have a political dimension to them (even if its kneejerk reactionary type stuff) i welcome.

The thing that gets me about the current wave of hostility towards musicians or actors that criticise the war is the lack of any sense of perspective on the wider discussion/reporting of it. The overwhelming position of much of the US media is not so much being strongly in favour of war as not even considering the faintest glimpse of a possibility that there may be another view. That's before you even get to the rabid conservative bear pit of talk radio.

Jesus, if on the one hand you've got a few liberal Hollywood stars having their say, then on the other you've got the massive political hegemony of the US government viewpoint, it's hardly an even balance, is it?

i didn't mean your suspicion of "acts who suddenly become political after an event". i meant the suspicion of any political comment whatsoever.

i've nothing against a political slant, exactly. i certainly don't demand one, but if an artist expresses his political views with wit and intelligence, who am i to complain? i am uncomfortable when i feel the artist is trying to hard to force is opinions on me and forcibly change my mind, though.

Actually, I'd say my problem isn't so much with the artist , but rather anyone who'd be influenced by the artists opinions. How can anyone take you seriously if you say you care enough to go to a protest rally, but can't be bothered making the effort to really inform yourself of the issues instead allowing yourself to be led about by the emotional string pulling that is rampant at the moment?

Also people, do you have to be TOLD by others to make up your own minds? I thought this was something intelligent people could work out for themselves without being told things or spoon-fed all the way.

Channels of Influence

I had read about that yesterday -- yet another reason to hate ClearChannel.

where does he get off?

onstage in Budapest, apparently.

Couple that with the fact that he personally answered several of my e-mails (for a fairly big band, the fact that he answers all of his e-mails himself says a lot), and the greatness of his new solo song, I think... I'm in love!

...The vacuum of good leadership in the Arab world in the last century is truly tragic--Sadat, Ataturk and Katami notwithstanding...

Sadat = Arab
Ataturk = Turk
Khatami = Persian

Oh, but Tom Morello, Eddie Veddar, Sleater-Kinney, The Coup, Damon Albarn...they all jumped on the "anti-war bandwagon" because it's "the hip thing to do", right?

Thank god the Dismemberment Plan is breaking up, then.

Yes.

Also, Saddaam wasn't killing people anyway?

some folks are better at expressing themselves than others. but art is about being moved to say/do/make something by things going on around you. and that's what's happening, 'political' or not.

It's just hard to imagine any of the artists I mentioned as jumping on an anti-war "bandwagon" when each and every one of them are actually CONTINUING their stance which they've maintained for roughly TEN YEARS now.

If continuing-following-one's-ideals-for-ten-plus-years = "jumping on a bandwagon", then, well, my definition for "bandwagon" is completely wrong or something.

Anyway, sorry, I thought you were joking; it's still hard to believe you truly meant that, given the circumstances of each of those artists' past histories. But to each their own, I guess.