I don’t as a rule care about artists politics, anymore than I care about a politician’s taste in music.
But the flip-flop of so many “counterculture” artists to “cultural enforcer” would be jarring, to anyone who thought about it critically.
It made headlines last week: Neil Young, who’s spent the last couple weeks trying to shut down Joe Rogan, was participating in “Free Speech rallies” in 2006.
Now, you could call them anti-George W Bush rallies that had little to do with free speech; I certainly called them that at the time.
But the language Young used is interesting:
“Just getting up in front of a lot of people makes you nervous. But when you know that some of them are really going to be angry at you, and you’re in a crowd, and it’s a volatile situation, people have been drinking, whatever — you know, it makes you nervous.”
“It was just that critical time in history where things were turning. Things were changing,” he added. “Those who feel the way we do had some hope and those who don’t feel the way we do were angry that the change happened. And those people have got a voice, and they have a reason for feeling the way they do. They strongly believe in the convictions. They believe in the military.”
“They believe that we’re doing the right thing for the world, and they have every reason to be respected for their beliefs,” he said.
Does it look like he’s describing Rogan listeners to anyone else?
Did Neil Young become The Man? Did “Rage Against the Machine” become “Rage Enforcing The Machine?”
Maybe – but I suspect the Tea Party, and its slandering back into the shadows, from whence it emerged mean and without manners as the Trump Populist movment, had a lot to do with it. The counterculture of 50 years ago is now the dominant culture.
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