Feed My Frankenstein…
We had former Senator Fred Thompson telling all of the actors in TV and film to shut up. We had country musicians telling the Dixie Chicks to shut up. We had anonymous “folk purists” telling folk musicians to shut up. Now, the latest on the right-wing entertainment wingnuts to play the “shut the hell up” card is Alice Cooper (for the love o’ God, don’t read the comments on the article through this link – there’s enough stupidity there to choke an Equine American).
ALICE COOPER has told the Canadian Press that all the rock stars campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry are guilty of one thing: treason. The shock-rock legend, a staunch Republican who attends NBA games in Phoenix with Arizona Senator John McCain, was disgusted when he learned of plans by Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M. and other bands to hold a series of concerts aimed at unseating U.S. President George W. Bush.“To me, that’s treason. I call it treason against rock ‘n’ roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics,” says the 56-year-old Cooper, who begins a 15-city Canadian tour on Aug. 20 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
All right. So Cooper’s just saying that rockers shouldn’t be political, right? I mean, he’s a “staunch Republican,” but he’s just saying that a rocker shouldn’t endorse a political candidate, right? Because then you’d be getting politics mixed up in your rock ‘n’ roll.
Despite his strong insistence that rock has no place in politics, Cooper is one of just a handful of high-profile musicians who’ve proclaimed support for Bush.
sigh
Y’know, it occurs to me that rock ‘n’ roll has pretty much been the modern era’s folk music for the non-traditionalists. Check its history and you’ll find lots of political content – even if it hasn’t always been intelligent and thoughtful. But that’s neither here nor there.
Cooper is just the latest in a short string of conservative-leaning celebrities who have touted the “Shut the Hell Up” message – and, oddly enough, every single one of them has been an open Bush supporter responding to the news of other entertainers backing a Democrat.
Should we let entertainers tell us how to vote? No. But not because they’re entertainers – because we shouldn’t take orders on how we vote. It’s a matter of collecting your information from different sources and deciding for yourself. But entertainers are Americans with the same rights as every American citizen and with the added bonus of a massive pulpit from which to speak. If an entertainer decides to be political, they have the right to be political – and people who don’t agree with them have the right to turn their attention elsewhere.
The problem I have with Alice Cooper is not that he endorses Bush – although I do have to admit that I’m disappointed by it. It’s that Cooper openly endorses Bush and then has the nerve to tell liberal-leaning musicians who endorse Kerry that they’re being traitors to rock ‘n’ roll. It’s hypocrisy of the highest order, and it’s right in line with Fred Thompson, Charlie “It Ain’t A Rag It’s A Flag” Daniels, and the other high-profile right-wingers who haven’t just endorsed Bush, but have also spent time and money telling their liberal counterparts to shut up.
And isn’t it funny that so much of the message these people spew is that “people don’t care” what celebrities think? You would think that if that were the case, nobody would have to tell them to shut up.
Feh.