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Friday, August 17, 2012

"Paul Ryan Is the Embodiment of the Machine Our Music Rages Against"

Rage guitarist Tom Morello in Rolling Stone
Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine. Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage. I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings! Don't mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta "rage" in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions. You see, the super rich must rationalize having more than they could ever spend while millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night. So, when they look themselves in the mirror, they convince themselves that "Those people are undeserving. They're... lesser." Some of these guys on the extreme right are more cynical than Paul Ryan, but he seems to really believe in this stuff. This unbridled rage against those who have the least is a cornerstone of the Romney-Ryan ticket.

2 comments:

jimf said...

Strange fact -- the car in the background of that (in)famous photo
(a 1956 Austin Westminster model A95) is preserved in a temple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thich_quang_duc_car.jpg

jimf said...

Another strange fact I just discovered. There now seems
to be a supernatural legend (like legends associated with
Christian saints with incorruptible bodies or body parts)
associated with the self-immolation.

http://www.newsfinder.org/site/more/thich_quang_duc_the_living_heart/
------------------------
"His body was consumed, and all that remained was his heart. Later
when the Buddhist community tried to cremate his
heart it remained intact. It was placed in the Reserve Bank of
Vietnam and became the symbol of the Holy Heart."