Warning to conservative US metalheads,

[redrumloa]

I received an email from a good metalhead friend of mine, who's opinion I value and usually agree with. I have yet to hear/read the offensive material but chances are he will be right. I am reprinting here for your consumption.

Non-conservative-US-metalheads need not respond:-P

A Sad Day in Metal , Part2...?

Hello Jimbo,

the last time I used this title as an email subject, it was unfortunately
about the death of Chuck Schuldiner.  Sadly, I am now forced to use it to
announce the death of good sense and simple common decency.

By now you may have heard about the recent reunion of the original lineup of
Exodus, minus the late Paul Bailoff. They have released their first album
entitled "Tempo of the Damned" to much fanfare, due in no small part to the
fact that is produced by Andy Sneap, who is best known for producing
Testament's brilliant "The Gathering" and Kreator's last two discs.

Unfortunately, Exodus have decided to stomp on the very fiber of their
existence.  Hey James, I'm the first to admit that our music has it's share
of those who don't exactly share our view, but these guys have crossed the
line.  Chris Barnes can grunt all he wants about "Amerika (sic) The Brutal"
between tokes on his hash pipe, but when a band starts making profane, vulgar
snipes about the very flag that symbolizes Exodus' freedom to speak their
mind and line their pockets, you simply have to say WHOA. The song I'm
referring to is the opener, titled "The Scar-Spangled Banner", and sadly the
rest of the CD doesn't stray very far from this theme.  I am not going to
give the lyrics the respect of reprinting them here...they are THAT
offensive.

Many of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are doing such "barbaric"
things as defeating terrorists, rapists, and child-killers, are metal
fans.  I wonder how they would feel to hear such tripe coming from our own
musical community?  Are musicians so politicised that good and evil are now
matters simply of personal interpretation, according to how well they fit in
with their selfish, myopic agenda...?

At the risk of sounding pompous and self-righteous, I am asking you to send
Exodus a message and boycott this CD.  If you want to see the lyrics for
themselves thinking that maybe I'm getting carried away here, I will honor
that request.  Trust me, Exodus now deserve our hard-earned money even less
than Metallica do...and that's saying a lot. Unfortunately they got mine
before I knew what was up.

I welcome your input and comments.

[that_punk_guy]

redrumloa wrote:
Non-conservative-US-metalheads need not respond:-P

I will anyway. :-P

You can't support free speech and then complain when someone says something that offends you. You have to leave the door open to criticism, otherwise how can you possibly claim to have protected freedom of speech?

Besides that, if metal fans have any intelligence, perhaps they're the ones that are unhappy with the situation and want to come home? For them, this would be a call to arms!! :-D

(No pun intended.)

[redrumloa]

You can't support free speech and then complain when someone says something that offends you. You have to leave the door open to criticism, otherwise how can you possibly claim to have protected freedom of speech?

Did I mention banning? Did I mention locking anyone up?  :-? Freedom of speech is not a free pass to act like a jackass without criticism.

I just think entertainers in general are so far detatched from reality, it's sad. I vote with my dollars, and I vote against hipocrats trying to make a quick buck pissing on the very freedoms (and the men who died to give those freedoms) that gave them the right to be an idiot in the first place.  :-x

[that_punk_guy]

redrumloa wrote:

You can't support free speech and then complain when someone says something that offends you. You have to leave the door open to criticism, otherwise how can you possibly claim to have protected freedom of speech?

Did I mention banning? Did I mention locking anyone up?  :-? Freedom of speech is not a free pass to act like a jackass without criticism.

Your friend's message suggested to me that he felt Exodus had taken their freedom of speech too far. It shouldn't be possible to take freedom of speech too far.

Of course you're free to criticise what they've said, but I don't think you should be criticising them for using their right to free speech - because then you are pissing on those freedoms.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

that_punk_guy wrote:
Of course you're free to criticise what they've said, but I don't think you should be criticising them for using their right to free speech - because then you are pissing on those freedoms.

But of course, everyone is free to do so.

[that_punk_guy]

;-)

[KennyR]

Many of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are doing such "barbaric"
things as defeating terrorists, rapists, and child-killers,

Yes, but usually only with friendly fire.