Now Playing at Reason.tv: Rage Against the Machine's Peaceful Protest

Politically charged band Rage Against the Machine played Minneapolis during the Republican National Convention, stoking fears of a major clash between kids and cops reminsicent of Chicago 1968. reason.tv's Dan Hayes was on the scene for the riot that never was.

Comments

[Don Mynack]

Do I have to watch it? That band blows...

[JMR]

The funniest thing about that band is that they're workin' for SONY. If ANY music company is the epitome of "the machine," it's probably Sony. Hypocrites of the left equal those of the right, as usual, when it comes to this chutzpah thing...

[Travis]

Rage is a good band but their no MC5.

[SugarFree]

The most impressive thing about Rage Against The Machine is that they are true to their self-proclaimed communism. The band operates totally as a non-profit and gives away every dime they make to the less fortunate.

[Diogenes of Sinope]

The hero of these people is usually Chomsky, a man who is against almost everything. Private property, free markets, government, he wants it all done away with, contradictions be damned. It would be a utopia so impossibly perfect that not even its advocates can really describe what it be like or how it would work, only that it should be.

In short, nonthreatening nonsense. The Weathermen were scary because they advocated a positive ideology of violence and property destruction. Rage Against the Machine and the "Far Left" as it is, on the other hand, really only talk in negatives. They themselves are impotent, and their ideas without consequence or relevance except as entertainment.

[Episiarch]

Driving down West River Parkway with a shotgun...

[Nick]

Regardless if they give every dollar away to charity that they make, bands on major labels only make like 5% of total record revenues, meaning the commidified, Che-shirt wearing rebellion they have launched has, like Che shirts themselves, made the capitalist machine quite a pretty penny. Ah, posturing.

[Lamar]

Little known fact: the word "rage" in Rage Against The Machine is from the fratboy lingo meaning "to party all night, puke, then party some more."

Apparently, Complain Against The Machine was already taken.

[The Frith?]

@Sugarfree:

I Might have a little respect for them if they went the Radiohead and did everything in house. Sold it in house, and kept all of the profits in house to do with as they wish. or, does this too much resemble free-market capitalism for their tastes?

[Unsubstantive Kurt]

SugarFree, are you sure about RATM giving away all of their money to charity?

Their Wikipedia does say that when they opened up for U2 during their Popmart tour, they gave away all profits to charities, but later in the article mentions the irony of "voicing commitment to leftist causes while being millionaires signed to Epic Records".

[Episiarch]

NutraSweet was being heavily sarcastic, Kurt.

[Elemenope]

Leftists aren't against people being millionaires. They simply demand that the millionaires feel bad about being so fortunate!

They're democrats, not communists.

[The Extispicator]

Leftists aren't against people being millionaires. They simply demand that the millionaires feel bad about being so fortunate!

Leftists aren't against people themselves being millionaires. They simply demand that the millionaires pretend to feel bad about being so fortunate!

Fixed.

[Diogenes of Sinope]

"They're democrats, not communists."

Zach de la Rocha, Rage's frontman, is a supporter and activist for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a socialist revolutionary group in Mexico.

Additionally, here's a quote by Tom Morello that I found on Wikipedia:

"America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve."

As is the case with Chomsky, and most other socialists in the activist entertainment industry, Rage Against the Machine is thoroughly hypocritical.

[Lamar]

From what I gather, the left makes you feel guilty about being rich, and the right makes you feel guilty about being intelligent. It's a wash, folks.

[WalterBoswell]

The guy with the blue bandanna who is speaking of the self fulfilling situation - kinda sounds like a robot, where's that accent from pray tell?

[Old Bull Lee]

It sounds like he's making an Ayn Rand-like case for entrepreneurism. Except he doesn't seem to realize entrepreneurism exists.

Why can't these motherfuckers just move to one of the worker paradise countries that's so much better? Oh yeah, they might actually have to do real work instead of being rock stars.

[Old Bull Lee]

To clarify, I was referring to the Morello quote since I can't WTFV at work.

[Paul]

The band operates totally as a non-profit and gives away every dime they make to the less fortunate.

You sure? I haven't received a single dime.

[Paul]

The hero of these people is usually Chomsky, a man who is against almost everything. Private property, free markets, government, he wants it all done away with, contradictions be damned.

Chomsky is not against government. That's the myth of the man. The reality of the man is that while he has preached a kind of anarchy, he's hedged on that in recent years and talked about preserving "those few institutions" which protect and preserve the rights of the less fortunate. Peel away the layers and Chomsky becomes very pro-government. It's just his government.

Believe me, Chomsky wouldn't hesitate to use the force of the state to hammer out his utopian vision.

Chomsky is anti-establishment, not anti-authoritarian. There's a big difference.

[Naga Sadow]

Fools! All fools!!! I agree most of their work is terrible and hypocritical but this quote from Morello sums up why I still like the band!

"A good song should make you wanna tap your foot and get with your girl. A great song should destroy cops and set fire to the suburbs. I'm only interested in writing great songs."

[Paul]

A great song should destroy cops and set fire to the suburbs. I'm only interested in writing great songs."

Hmm, I wonder if he'll ever write one?

[Jamie Kelly]

That band should be butt-fucked collectively and then set on fire.
They suck like an Orrick Excel slut. And they're possibly the biggest fucking hypocrites on the planet.
Fuck them and fuck their fans. I hope they all die of bone cancer.

[Paul]

set fire to the suburbs

And this one cracks me up. Depending on which city you're in, that would be the equivalent of preserving the wealthy, white yuppies, and burning the neighborhoods of the less fortunate people of color. But I guess the words "set fire to the suburbs" invokes a feeling, and is less connected with anything meaningful.

[Paul]

Jaimie, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel about them.

[Naga Sadow]

Let the lyrics calm you Jaime.

Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes
Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal
I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a library
Line up to tha mind cemetary now
What we don't know keeps tha contracts alive an movin'
They don't gotta burn tha books they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells
Rally round tha family, pockets full of shells

[Elemenope]

Wow, Naga, I never realized how Bulls on Parade reads like a Palin resume.

[Zerg]

Say what you want about RATM's political views...
but those guys fucking rock hardcore!!!
RATM IS AWESOME!!

[Jim Walsh]

Anybody hear about that punk rock musician who was jailed in Cuba for dissing El Jeffe? I understand Chomsky and Tom Morello are hosting a benefit concert for the guy.

Nah...just kidding...never happen...

[Free Gorki Aguila]

Here's the story of the Cuban punk guy; he was jailed briefly, then fined.

http://punkrock.co.il/archives/93