God Bless Neil Young
But why does it take a 60 year old Canadian musician to generate
political activism in America?
Steve Watson / Prisonplanet | April 22 2006
As an avid Neil Young fan of a few years now I am so happy to see him
take an important stance against the criminal NeoCons in the White
House and the illegal activities they are perpetrating at home and
elsewhere.
Known for his straight talking, confessional lyrical style, Young will
hold back nothing on hastily penned new album "living with war" which
will be an all out assault on the Bush crime syndicate.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/220406_b_Young.htm
It seems that Young has woken up from his slumber and realised that the
unconscionable actions of the criminal elite must be addressed and not
simply sugar coated and quietly accepted as part of a "post 9/11
mentality".
The centerpiece of the album is surely the song entitled "Let's impeach
the president". No one else within the music industry has had the guts
to pen such a brazen personal attack on Bush and the Neocons.
Young 's words here are savage and blatant and he should be commended.
Furthermore, there is certainly no feeling of phony leftism about the
lyrics, a charge that has been leveled against many other protest songs
that have come before.
Let's impeach the president for lying
Misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
The song goes on to address the Regime's criminality, spying, the mess
they made of post-Katrina New Orleans, hijacking "our religion" for
partisan purposes, as well as how they have used divisiveness and
racism to further their political agenda. Young backs up his lyrics
with Bush's own words, turning his inspid/Orwellian diatribe on tape
against him as the song is transformed from a hard rocker into a
soaring gospel inspirational.
"You're always going to rub somebody the wrong way when you sing 'let's
impeach the president,' " Young said. "But that's what this country's
all about - being able to express your views."
In response to the frighteningly routine, ridiculous and ignorant
accusations that Young is being "unpatriotic", he responded:
"We don't all have to believe in what our President believes in order
to be Patriotic."
Neil Young is a guy who, like many, was sucked into the phony
patriotism after 9/11, rallying around Bush and speaking out in favour
of the PATRIOT act.
Yet his abrupt about face without fear of re-crimination is admirable
given that many others within the entertainment industry have not dared
to speak out at all.
Furthermore, other celebrities that have spoken out , seem to be stuck
firmly within the false left/right paradigm and their words tend to be
cliched and cringe worthy. Take Madonna for example, who warned us all
that "9/11 was ambiguous" yet government involvement could not be
proven, reinforcing the hollow limited hangout of the impotent
left-wing Michael Moore school of whitewashing. She is a celebrity who
clearly only thinks in terms of her image.
Young on the other hand cares less about his own image and record sales
and more about freedom in America. Yes he has flip flopped politically
all his career, ranging from protesting against Nixon in the 70s to
staunchly supporting Regan in the 80s, but always with the notion that
freedom in America is sacred.
"Shock And Awe" is another lyrically powerful song on the record. As
Howie Klein of the "Down with Tyranny" blog suggests, let's hope that
the mentality that inspired Young's "Shock and Awe" will be remembered
long beyond the mentality that inspired Bush's shock and awe.
Back in the days of shock and awe
We came to liberate them all
History was the cruel judge of overconfidence
Back in the days of shock and awe.
Our "chief" was landing on the deck
The sun was setting on a golden photo op
Back in the days of "mission accomplished"
Thousands of bodies in the ground
Brought home in boxes to a trumpet's sound
no one sees them coming home that way
thousands buried in the ground
Thousands of children scarred for life
Millions of tears for a soldier's wife
Both sides are losing now...
Although Neil Young's words are moving and poignant, one must ask why
is it that it is a 60 year old Canadian that is having to remind us
America is being destroyed by our so called leaders?
Why must we rely on someone like Young in order to inspire some kind of
political activism in America today?
Young himself has said "I was waiting for someone to come along, some
young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up ...I
waited a long time. Then, I decided that maybe the generation that has
to do this is still the '60s generation."
What is wrong with the youth of today? Is this indicative of the fact
that kids today do not even understand what freedom is supposed to be?
Have the Orwellian attempts of the Neocons to transform the meaning of
"freedom" into "slavery", with terms such as "PATRIOT act", "Mission
accomplished" and "New freedom", begun to succeed?
I am 26 years old, I am in the prime of my life, and to see the
generation below me systematically ignoring and dismissing everything I
have grown up knowing is cherished and sacred is very scary.
God bless him, but what are we going to do in another generation's time
when artists like Neil Young and others in the limelight are no longer
here to remind us just what America and freedom is supposed to be?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/220406_b_Young.htm
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