Like It or Not, You’re Funding Right-Wing Rock

[BrklynLiberal]

I heard about this on Thom Hartmann's show. I hope this is not a dupe post.

These are boom times for right-wing rock, and not just because The Right Brothers’ hit single “Bush Was Right!” now has a music video.

Another “educational” conservative band, Junkyard Prophet, has been busy touring high schools across the country. But these rockers aren’t stickin’ it to the man — they’re being funded by him. The band apparently receives about $1500 per appearance — an amount that several schools have paid out of their drug-free schools funding from the Department of Education. (Junkyard Prophet says it helps students resist peer pressure and “understand the value and beauty of the moral absolutes on which their country was founded.”)

Our sister site, CampusProgress, has details:

The Des Moines Register reported that after one 2004 performance, Junkyard Prophet handed out CDs to a few random students that bore this message: “the death sentence on you due to your sins! The very evidence of your sin will be your death! It is appointed to you to die and after that you will be judged according to your ways! His judgment is so thorough every thought will be brought to the light. When all your sin against God is exposed, how will you escape the damnation of hell?” …

(Prophets frontman Bradlee) Dean has also told students that “there is nothing in our Constitution or founding documents about separation of church and state” and criticized the theory of evolution.

According to the band’s website, it has appeared at over 220 schools over the last few years. (Experience Junkyard Prophets for yourself — their music videos are here.) In some instances turned up by CampusProgress, students were told that attendance at the assembly was mandatory and that they would be suspended if they skipped out.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/30/right-wing-rock/

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/16/bush-was-right/


Crooksandliars.com has the video that Keith Olberman put together for their song.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/11/16.html#a5894

[rucky]

1. One notch less outrageous than the "abstinence educators"

who we pay to tell our kids that condoms don't work and sex gives you cancer.

[AntiCoup2K4]

2. We had a religious rock band that played at my high school...

..and this would have been over 20 years ago.... They weren't any where near this blatant, as far as talking about :evilgrin: HELL :evilgrin: or denying the separation of church and state or anything like that. But they did call themselves "Freedom Jam" and played a sickeningly cheesy cover of everyone's favorite Lee Greenwood Freeper anthem (yes, THAT one :puke: ). Which got a pretty good laugh from the punks and headbangers in the crowd, and a loving Sieg Heil from the young Reaganites.

[AllegroRondo]

40. Freedom Jam?

Wow, they played at my Jr High School in the early 80's.

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. Bush Was Right???

i certainly hope all these nice young upstanding band members have been in contact with their local recruitment office. it's nice to take a stand for what you believe, but it sounds like their message would have a lot more punch if they put down the guitars & picked up a gun for bush? :crazy:

<edited for typo>

[noahmijo]

5. They're too busy fighting the culture war

They are needed here at home to fight the enemy within than in Iraq.

Did you not get the memo?

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. guess i must have missed that one.....

it happens...just ask the white house; you know they never got gov. blanco's letter...you know, the one where she requested federal intervention, the day BEFORE the storm hit? :rofl:

[FreedomAngel82]

21. Oh don't you know?

Didn't you get the memo? They're fighting the culture war here and not fighting them over there! :eyes: Remember some republican guy said that in an interview? I think it was the Washington Journal or something like that.

[Mutley]

32. Well, they can't enlist because

they have a chronic hangnail, or tennis elbow.

[noahmijo]

4. Christian/Freeper Bands SUCK

There I said it for all us true shred/metal/punk fans out there

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[ComerPerro]

6. Conservative Rock sucks. Ask any conservative who their favorite band are

no doubt they will include groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc...

Oddly enough, these people love liberal musicians. That's because no good music has ever come out of self-satisfaction, greed, intolerance, and bigotry.

[noahmijo]

10. You know what? that's TRUE I posed that question months ago

How I see people with Bush stickers and Beatles stickers and how I can't see how that adds up....

[FreedomAngel82]

23. These guys do suck

but not all Christian acts do. There are some really talented ones out there. However they don't go around and be paid with my dad's tax paying money to promote intollerance etc.

[SammyBlue]

46. There is only one band I like that can be remotely considered Christian

And that's Evanesence. I like Evanesence.

[skipos]

7. Johnny Ramone is one of the few conservatives that created good music

in my opinion. Maybe there are one or two others, but it is a really short list.

[Zambero]

12. Agreed, all 3 brilliant chords of it

I sort of like the Ramones. But I can't help beliving that Johnny R's minimalist playing style correlated nicely with a minimalist brain that did not engage in a whole lot of critical thinking, and dwelled primarily on overly simplistic GOP talking points: reduce or eliminate all taxes, don't mess with my guns, America love it or leave it, etc. etc. His music style never really grew, staying pretty much the same for 25 years. And his politics apparently didn't change much either.

[mitchum]

19. I had a friend give me a very similar analysis of Johnny's...

mindset/aesthetic last week and I believe that you guys are correct.
Johnny Ramone was just a simpleminded philistine.

[Brundle_Fly]

28. he was no...

Joey.

[AntiCoup2K4]

29. Thankfully Joey & DeeDee never let him write the lyrics.

Though I heard Johnny wasn't all that happy when they came up with "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg".

[julianer]

31. Morrisey

and Eric Clapton have both shown a fairly nasty side to their character over time, flirting with racism and fascism.

They both seem to have repented now however.

[JI7]

34. can you give me examples of that in both Morrisey and Clapton

i am a fan of both of them and unaware of it.

i know Neil Young supported Reagan once.

[Heddi]

44. Some would say

that Bengali in Platforms is xenophobic and is autobiographical in the sense that morrissey doesn't like foreigners ("life is hard enough when you belong here"). However, he explains that he himself isn't xenophobic, but many brits are, and is singing the song as they would.

Many people also point to "National Front Disco" as being his way of siding with the neo-nazi National Front. Of course this isn't true either.

People have shown dismay at Morrissey occasionally wrapping himself in the Union Jack during concerts and say that THIS shows he's a Nationalist.

Of course, one need only listen to the lyrics of "Lazy Sunbathers", or "Interesting Drug" or a plethora of other anti war, anti-government, anti-monarchy, pro-pooor, pro-working class, etc songs to see that he is hardly a racist or a fascist

I think that when people say "Morrissey is a Racist", they fail to see (hear) the tongue-in-cheekness of his lyrics, and his occasional trend to sing beyond himself--meaning, that he's not writing songs from his mindset, but from the mindset of others. Just because he sings about it doesn't mean he BELIEVES in it (reference: Rape Me by Nirvana. hardly a pro-rape song, also Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots, which is sung "by" a rapist, but I would hardly say that the song is pro-rape).

I find that the people who call Morrissey a Racist, or a Nationalist, or a Facist are generally people who have only heard 3 minutes of songs, and 10 hours of hearsay.

Also, when Ronald Regan died, Morrissey commented that he wished it was GWB instead....yeah, real fascist :eyes:

[julianer]

45. Here is a link regarding Morrissey

http://motorcycleaupairboy.com/interviews/1992/caucasian.htm

He appears to have made attempts to backpedal:

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=1065

'One other strange thing happened that night. Sitting in the balcony was Morrissey-yes, that Morrissey. Like a flash one young Anti Nazi League member asked him to sign the Unite Against Fascism launch statement, which he did. He then signed a Love Music Hate Racism T-shirt and offered to support future anti-fascist gigs. Has Morrissey changed his views or is he just an opportunist? Only time will tell.'

Clapton:

'In 1976, Clapton was the centre of controversy, and accusations of racism, when he spoke out against increasing immigration, during a concert in Birmingham. Clapton said that England had "become overcrowded", and implored the crowd to vote for Enoch Powell to stop Britain becoming "a black colony". These comments (along with equally ill-advised comments by David Bowie) led to the creation of the Rock Against Racism movement in the UK.'

From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton

[derby378]

8. Keep tabs on your local school and block them from coming

Oh, and by the way - NOMINATED!!

[Nicole]

20. Good idea!

[BrklynLiberal]

11. kicking for those who missed it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. This is so wrong

on so many levels.

[0rganism]

14. Thanks. I'll put this in chapter 38 of my upcoming bestseller...

How George W. Bush's America Turned Me Into A Libertarian

These neo-con peckers have put me off my goodwill toward federal spending entirely. Their budgets are stuffed with crap like this, line items buried deep inside a boring bureaucratic proposal no one will ever read. If the Dept. of Education wants to promote GOPropaganda directly in the schools like this, they can do so without my blessing and, I hope, without my dime.

[KitchenWitch]

15. I read about this the other day

I told my son that if they ever advertise an assembly with that band that I would take him out of school for that day.

[mitchum]

16. Can't these musicians find some self-respect...

and live off of strppers or something.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Oh I think the first amendment

covers that BS. I loved that segment that Keith did. And of course they're being paid by. They don't have any real talent other wise.

[Yollam]

18. I live in San Francisco, so I'm pretty sure I'm not.

But It's a shame so many people are being made to do so against their will...

[FreedomAngel82]

22. I also agree with one poster on

Thinkprogress' site that said to get the ACLU involved. They're paying them to "sing" propoganda with tax paying money. I don't think my grandmother would like knowing she is paying for talentless propoganda. I wonder how big their shows are. I'm sure it's probably a smaller crowd. Please give me Eminem and Kanye West anyday.

[drhilarius]

24. To quote Hank Hill:

"Christian rock doesn't make Christianity better, it makes rock and roll worse."

[FreedomAngel82]

25. LOL

I remember that. I love "King of the Hill."

[progressoid]

26. The Olberman clip is priceless!!

I'm going to have to start taping his show. Damn!

If that moronic band comes here, I'm a gonna make a stink.

[bvar22]

27. Fight the Talibornagains with a Liberal Christian band.

Song 1) What part of "Thou shalt not kill" do republicans NOT understand?

Song2) Jesus was a long haired Liberal

Song3) Feed the Hungry, Heal the Sick or be hearded up with the goats

Song4) Who would Jesus Bomb?

CD "CoverArt":

[Nothing Without Hope]

30. The GOP knows children are vulnerable to "cool" figures like rock band

leaders. So they make US pay for lies to these vulnerable children, and the children are forced to attend.

It's 1984, total fascism, brain-washing, evil.

[Cooley Hurd]

33. I hope Billy Joel sues "The Right Brothers" for ripping off his song...

..."We Didn't Start the Fire," or whatever that crappy song is called. Memo to "The Right Brothers"; if you're gonna rip off a song, at least rip off one that is NOT considered one of the most annoying songs ever recorded.:eyes:

[NoPasaran]

35. Considering I'm also funding an immoral war, continued research into

nuclear weapons, a secret gulag, subsidies to "faith-based" religious nutjobs, and Tom DeLay's haircuts, a few dollars to some shitty band hardly registers on my outrage meter.

[LWolf]

36. All it takes is one parent

to bring this up with the school board, with the backing of, say, the ACLU if the problem isn't remedied. Keep an eye on your districts, and be prepared to take action.

[Montauk6]

37. So much for the right-winger's embrace of the marketplace...

Reminds me of Gore Vidal's pointing out the shrill irony of WFB relying for years on public broadcasting for his pro-free market show "Firing Line."

[Hubert Flottz]

38. Bushler-Jugend?

Hitler indoctrinated the young people in Germany too...Jim Jones indoctrinated the young people...Now Bush is indoctrinating the young people. The young people are "Easy Marks" for the wolf in sheep's clothing.


Doctrine

The Hitler Youth had the basic motivation of training future "Aryan supermen" and future soldiers who would serve the Third Reich faithfully. Physical and military training took precedence over academic and scientific education in Hitler Youth organizations. Youths in HJ camps learned to use weapons, built up their physical strength, learned war strategies, and were indoctrinated in anti-Semitism. After outlawing the Boy Scout in all the lands Germany controlled, the Hitler Youth adopted many of the scouts activities, though changed in content and intention. A limited amount of cruelty of the older boys toward the younger was tolerated and even encouraged, since it was believed this would weed out the unfit and harden the rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Jugend#Doctrine


Lebensborn Program?

snip>

As you know the Lebensborn program had two main components. The first was the encourgagement of non-marital pregnancies between Aryan youths with the off-spring rasied as Nordic supermen. The second, and more disturbing aspect of the program was the kidnapping of children from occupied territories and the distribution of these children to "aryan" families. During this program about 200,000 children were kidnapped from Poland. It is estiamated that about 50,000 Ukrainian children were kidnapped and about 50,000 from the Baltic regions. Even countries like Norway and France were not immune from such kidnappings and most of the children that survived the Lidice massacre (Czechoslavakia) were taken into the Lebensborn Even worse, the parents and siblings of kidnapped children were occasionally murdered or sent to concentration camps.

After the war only a small portion of such kidnapped chilren were traced and returned to their homelands. Only 30-40,000 of the kidnapped Polich children were returned. more...

http://veritas3.holocaust-history.org/questions/lebensborn.shtml

[Swamp Rat]

39. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! ... no words!... HAHAHAHAHA!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[sakabatou]

41. $1500 for right-wing crap?

WTF?

[Berry Cool]

43. Back in the '70s, there was a Christian organization touring rock bands

in high schools. The organization was called "Young American Showcase" and they put bands on the road that had names like Free Fare and Freedom This and Freedom That.

They would be booked for a mandatory school assembly. The students would assemble, the band would play its mainstream rock fare, and then at the end they'd start pushing the Jesus message.

This was SOP in small town high schools back then. Nobody challenged it or stopped it. I went to one of the concerts when I was in high school. I remember my older sisters thinking there was something "wrong" about it. Well, of course there was...we were a public high school. No one should have been pushing religion on us in a public high school.

But I guess it still happens today.

[OnionPatch]

42. This is just scary

If my daughter were forced to attend a concert where they started religious proselytizing, I would be furious. Someone would certainly be hearing about it from me. And our tax dollars are paying for it? Hmmmm....maybe we need to start organizing to send liberal "peace" bands to schools and see how fast this whole propa-band-izing on tax dollars lasts. ;)