Even Idiocy Needs An Anthem
Hey look, the Beastie Boys released a new song, free to download and it’s… it’s… oh shit.
Well Ill be sleeping on your speeches til I start to snore
Cause I wont carry guns for an oil war
As-Salamu alaikum, wa alaikum assalam
Peace to the Middle East peace to Islam
Now dont get us wrong cause we love America
But thats no reason to get hysterica
Theyre layin on the syrup thick
We aint waffles we aint havin it“Being together, writing and recording, we felt it would be irresponsible not to address whats going on in the world while the events are still current. It didnt make sense to us to wait until the entire record was finished to release this song.”
- Mike D
First off, I don’t want to start rehashing February’s “MY OPINION ON TEH WAR IS RIGHT AND JOO CNAT CHANGE MY MINDZORRSS@#$@” nonsense. I just want everyone to call a spade a spade. This is what we call a “marketing ploy”. Did you see Mike D’s little comment at the end? Why don’t we run it through Sharkey’s Marketing Bullshit Translator (patent pending). When Mike says “irresponsible”, that’s actually a word for “like throwing free publicity away”. And that bit about it not making sense to wait for the album to be finished? That’s because the song has a limited “time value” from a marketing perspective. See, this way they can gather a whole shitload of support for their next album, because a lot of mindless twits who haven’t considered the possibility that spending trillions of dollars on a war to grab some oil doesn’t make sound financial sense. But anyway, in the event that the Beastie Boys waited for their next album to be complete, the war could be over (I give it two weeks, tops) and their song will no longer have any impact. In fact, the war itself could have changed quite a few minds, and the song would have nothing but detrimental value to the band. Releasing it now will gain public favor, that will last even if the listener changes his/her mind about the war in time. The power of positive market branding can hold a lasting impression, especially on MTV-dulled minds.
*Sigh*. This wouldn’t have been such a problem for me if the song wasn’t so shitty. It’s not bad enough that they had to renounce their first few albums, which in my opinion, were the only ones worthy of my time. Now they make tons of money by adding themselves to the steaming masses of crap who perform supreme acts of idiocy for more money.
Jealous? You betcha.
March 13th, 2003 at 2:37 pm
renouncingn?could someone get me up to speed on this renouncing? what exactly did they say?
March 13th, 2003 at 3:27 pm
Wait a second...Sharkey, why the hell should you be jealous? I mean, you may not have the money they have, and all the things that go with it, but in my humble, and possibly naive, opinion, you have something worth much more: dignity. Revel in the fact that you have not sunken into the abysmal depths of idiocy that these con-artists (excuse the pun) have. Exorbitant sums of money, maybe not; enough self-respect to wake up in the morning and be able to look at yourself in the mirror, definitely.
March 13th, 2003 at 4:03 pm
Round em upyep, lets round up all those \"idiots\" and put em in detention camps. Dissenting is unpatriotic, and therefore blatantly ignorant. That about right?People have opinions, deal with it, hell that idiot bush came on prime time to deliver a scripted bunch of bullshit one liners that he'd already been giving us for the past month, and the amazing press just sat there not asking anything tougher then the pre-approved questions that bush I'm sure spent hours studying...Get over yourself already, you don't like someones opinion, fine, doesn't make them any less meaningful then your own. There are incredibly gifted members of Bush's own administration, I strongly disagree with them, but hey, they're fuckin sharp.If you still think this isn't about oil, then you obviously don't read much into the contracts that are already lined up for \"restructuring\" Iraq. They're all a buncha bushy and cheney companies (Halliburton comes to mind here), and spending millions of \"Over taxed dollars\" to get the oil fits perfectly with Conservative idealogy, since the guvment overcharged them in the first place, they're just gettin it back now with lucrative business contracts...Do some damn research on the historical significance of this before calling someone an idiot...Someone else take the soapbox
March 13th, 2003 at 5:15 pm
Cute smiley - Dews...Pull out of your men and put your email addresses, bitches.
March 13th, 2003 at 5:32 pm
SadIt's sad to me that something as honest and daring as an anti-war protest song would be interpreted by you as a ploy for making money. If anything, this will effect sales negatively as all of the morons who can't take any criticism of the \"might and right\" of America refuse to buy it. Sadly that seems to account for a fair amount of people.
March 13th, 2003 at 5:44 pm
beastie boys suckpansies dont even leave an email addy on their site so we can criticize them. what a bunch of ignorant fags.
March 13th, 2003 at 7:14 pm
PatriotismWhatever happened to the days when the US went to war against a crazy, power-hungry tyrant, the American people planted victory gardens and donated nylons and spare tires to help win. Today all people seem to do is call the duely-elected president of our country an idiot and go spouting off their opinions about how this war is all for oil. Hey, Mexico and Canada have a lot of oil, too! Do you think we are going to attack them next? Why not? Thats all we care about anyway, getting more oil! Because whenever the US wins a war, we always stay in the countries we defeat and steal all thier resources, just like we did in Germany and Japan. Oh wait, we didn't do that, we helped rebuild their countries into economic powerhouses. Dissenting for the right reason is not unpatriotic , but dissenting out of ignorance is. If you want to protest the war, pick a good reason, like the loss of innocent life or something
March 13th, 2003 at 7:24 pm
Beastie BoysTo get back on the topic, The Beastie Boys did not get famous by being political commentators. They get paid to write songs, not give their opinions on foreign policy. Their thoughts on the matter are no more important than mine, but they get to use their fame to cram their opinions down our throats. Excuse my ranting, but I'm still a little upset about finding out Leah Remini is a Scientologist...
March 13th, 2003 at 8:14 pm
Bleh.I have nothing against people voicing their opinions, but that's just one really shitty ass song. I normally like the Beasties too, but that was really hard to listen to & it would never make its way into my regular playlist.. ugh. Political protest songs can kick ass, ie: Ohio by CSNY, and can actually call attention to things that deserve the attention. This on the other hand, is a crap song (i really dont believe they made it just for media attention though), for a war that has had way more than enough coverage devoted to it already.
March 13th, 2003 at 8:14 pm
Re: TwogunsActually, we went over the \"why is there so much dissention in the ranks\" topic a couple of weeks ago. The fact of the matter is, this happens for every single war we attempt to enter into. Before World War II, most of the US population wanted the government to stay out of it, stating that Hitler was not a threat to the world, just a crazy tyrant. Good to know that the general intelligence of the US populace hasn't gone anywhere in the last century.
March 13th, 2003 at 8:22 pm
CplusJesus H. Christ. Perhaps someone has not clued Cplus in on the mechanics of marketing. There is no such thing as bad publicity, chief. Put the right marketing spin on Sadaam and you might just think he's almost comical, like a recurring SNL character. Oh... wait. Besides, their key demographic is young MTV viewers, who are getting a broad dissemination of anti-Bush rhetoric every day. Brave? I call it capitalism.
March 13th, 2003 at 9:11 pm
It pays to be a smart business man too1 If it is a money based \"scam\" , or market a marketing ploy, who can blame them? If you/we/I (however [b]you[/b] seem to think I'm siding with) can blame The Beastoe Boys of a marketing based release, then I want it to be freely said that the music industry is a farce and no one is ever willing to listen to something a radio played artist releases.
March 13th, 2003 at 9:21 pm
cont,,,2 If you could get paid millions to release a recording of music or another such desirable for expressing your political belif as far to what one is informed frankly I don't think anyone has been adiquitly informed to make a decision on this, and no one will untill after the fact. Which is one reason to release a recording like this because if we look poorly on our past, wether right or wrong the decisions that were made, this will end up being considered protest music for another band of hippies that don't know what's going on. Damn that was one awesome run on sentance.
March 13th, 2003 at 11:02 pm
MehHeh who you trying to fool ? I would rather have tons of money then dignity any day. Besides that we all know bush is king doush so why bother mentioning it ?
March 14th, 2003 at 12:43 am
as i said beforeI hate celebrities for having opinions because they aren't really people. Who they trying to fool anyhow?
March 14th, 2003 at 12:46 am
one more thingthey should go back to writing shit like Sabotage. definitely one of their best, and the video kicked ass. oh well.
March 14th, 2003 at 3:05 am
Umm...I don't know that Bush is king \"doush\"....
March 14th, 2003 at 10:03 am
Summer's EveMain Entry: douche Pronunciation: 'düshFunction: nounEtymology: French, from Italian doccia, from docciare to douche, from doccia water pipe, probably back-formation from doccione conduit, from Latin duction-, ductio means of conveying water, from ducere to lead -- more at TOWDate: 17661 a : a jet or current especially of water directed against a part or into a cavity of the body b : an act of cleansing with a douche2 : a device for giving douches3 British : a rude awakening - douche verb
March 14th, 2003 at 10:55 am
It never ends with this kid.Of course, once again, that is not nearly right.Dissenting is not unpatriotic, in fact, quite the opposite is true. However, when the dissenting opinions are coming from three, uneducated, white rappers from Brooklyn, it's possible you might be getting your information from blatantly ignorant individuals.Have any presidents, since Eisenhower (first president to use television), ever delivered an unscripted address on television?They are entitled to their opinion, but it is less meaningful, not because I don't like it, but because of who it comes from: three uneducated rappers. An issue such as this should be met with original, educated opinions, not phrases that you can hear on the news at least twenty times a day. Whether this is about oil or not was not brought up, so I'm not entirely sure why you mentioned it, but let me deal with that here with just a series of questions. Do you agree that the U.S. is the world's only superpower? If we wanted something badly enough, couldn't (and possibly wouldn't) we just take it the first chance we got? Have we waged a war against Iraq previously? If we want their reserves that badly why didn't we just take them the first time around?Wait genius, there's one more thing. No one can do any research on the historical significance of this because it hasn't happened yet; the past is the domain of history, this issue is still in the present. Idiot.P.S. Wouldn't you rather have both dignity and large sums of money terminal_stasis?
March 14th, 2003 at 11:25 am
War on IraqLike Sharkey said, this war will be over when the media finds something else to cover.And I think Bush will do the only thing left after this all over....smack his forehead and say DOH !
March 14th, 2003 at 11:45 am
Anyone realize this yet?um, guys, if we were invading because of oil, why dident we just stay in Iraq 12 years ago after we kicked the shit out of Saddam?
March 14th, 2003 at 12:30 pm
ok ok so we didnt take the oil then...but whats the real reason we're going after Iraq then? Bin Laden? Nope. To disarm them? Well, why dont we disarm a more potent nation like North Korea? Why go after small fries like Sadam? Because he used chemical weapons on his own people? Hey didnt WE give him the capabilities? Isnt this just a loose end from the cold war and we stoked Iraq to keep them from going commie? OHHH so this is all our fault now were just gonna go clean up the mess. Forgive my libral mouth....And who said the Beastie Boys were uneducated? Nobody here has said anything outside of rhetoric ive either seen on this site or else where be it magazine or news program. Joe Strummer didnt agree to this war, wheres everyone calling him an asshole? And what about Tom Morrello? Is he nothing but a money grubbing celebrity? That Tom Morrello, all he does is jump on the bandwagon to make a buck! Jeebus cant we all just get along?
March 14th, 2003 at 1:13 pm
Johnny Rockstar?Is there any reason in the world we shouldn't look out for our interests? Just because we aided Iraq in the past, and want to disarm them now, only means one thing: our interests have changed. See, in the realm of foreign policy, it's actually okay if your interests change, in fact, dynamic interests are the core of foreign policy. A static international environment is not only impossible, it's just plain silly. Imagine, if you will, that our interests never changed concerning Japan after WWII; would you, or they for that matter, still want our Occupation forces over there now, approximately 60 years later? Nope.Now for Saddam and North Korea. You ask why Saddam and not North Korea? I'll tell you why. Remember the Soviet Union? Do you know what communists do every May 1? They parade their weapons around. See, for Kim Jong-il (the leader of North Korea) weapons, especially the strong ones, are everything, they make him who he is, just like other communists, so the threat of him selling, or giving, them to anyone is slim. However, Saddam Hussein is characterized not by his weapons, but by his heinous atrocities; as long as people get hurt, Americans, Kuwaitis, Israelis, his own people, etc., he feels he's accomplished something, and you can see this simply by studying his past actions. With a man like this, we are genuinely worried that, in an effort to hurt more people, he will sell or give his weapons to like-minded individuals or groups, namely, terrorists like that in Al-Qaeda. This is about keeping WMDs out of the hands of people who want to hurt people. Kim Jong-il just wants to show off his muscle, Saddam, and those he could and would commiserate with, just wants to do harm.Finally, to the Beastie Boys and celebrities. Read any number of biographies about the Beastie boys and you'll find ample proof of their lack of education. And, yes, all celebrities are money grubbing.
March 14th, 2003 at 1:54 pm
All of thoes who have been to Iraq raise you hand *just me*Yes people, I have been to Iraq. Infact I have been all over the world having grown up in the military. Because of Saddam's brutality, people in Iraq are so paranoid to the point that they believe their own homes are bugged and the police are listining in on them. I have seen first hand what is happening to his people. Most are starving because he is taking the aid money and just making more pallaces for himself; dont you think that 53 Presidentail Pallaces is compensating for something? You cannot walk anywhere in Iraq and not see a picture of Saddam every two feet, and if one of his doubles is making an appearance (Saddam has not been in public for over 4 years), YOU HAVE TO GO OUT AND CHEER FOR HIM OR DIE. No shit, these people are scared shitless of the man but cannot do anything about it at the moment. Remember that the gun dosent smoke untill after you fire it.North Korea is a joke, I still dont think of them as an immediate threat towards the world at the moment, but a threat non the less. Did you know that 99% of the country dosent have electricity? I agreee with Fututor about communism, having been to the USSR before it came appart and Cuba back in 95 during the Hatti refugee crisis, they just want to be known as a country you cant fuck with so easily and not much more. People need to get out in the world and see things with your own eyes before you make any judgememts about who is right and wrong, except celebs, they just want to get on TV more....
March 14th, 2003 at 3:46 pm
Fututor and why we didnt keep iraqs oilSo it IS about intrests whether they be manipulating small fry dictators turned into monsters? We have a few of them running around the world. Sadam and Bin Laden are just the famous ones and both ironically are powerful because of the United States. Sure were just taking care of \"our intrests\" but thats not why the world is furious. This is, you see, called responsible actions in a global community. People are concerned about other lives that WILL be lost and they wont make it on TV for us to see either. Sure Sadam is taking the financial aid but thats why the US stratigic bombing campaing is aiming at Water Facilities right? To make sure the Iraqis have a better life? You can continue to say that this isnt about oil AT ALL but after this inevitable war is over we can watch the oil prices fall and wonder why. Since no one has addressed the question i dare to take it on. Why didnt we take the oil? well after some reading last night (yes research! thank you google!) it seems that we wernt after Iraqi Oil rather we were getting Iraq out of Kuwait and keeping Saudi Arabia SAFE. These two countries supply much of our oil intake per day and it is in our intrests to keep them out of Hussains hands. NOW we have been progressivly distancing ourselves from Sauid oil (because Sauidi has been raising its oil to America which has savings of over $620 Billion dollars since the Gulf War.) Since we are getting out of Saudi we have been actively looking for new sources of oil. Is that we are going after Iraq? Not the Main reason but goddamn thats a great benefit. and one last note in my epic novel here, some of the protesters are actually \"fighting the act of war.\" Do i want Americans to die in the desert? Fuck No. Do i want some Iraqi children to die as we bomb their cities? Fuck No. Do i have all the answers? Nope, are the Right Wingers here correct in all ways here? Nope. This is a grossly complicated situation here and as there are benefits to war there are certainly complications that this war will bring...:throws my fucking soapbox away: I think im gonna avoid all political posts from now on.
March 14th, 2003 at 4:07 pm
some reference linkshttp://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p01s04-wosc.htmlhttp://www.msnbc.com/news/724539.asp?.cpl=1http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/moser/02/oilwar.html (good pro war argument)http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/16176.htmhttp://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1999/issue2/jv3n2a6.htmltheres more but thats some of the ones i used.
March 14th, 2003 at 5:01 pm
Research at Google First John, read this http://bittersanity.blogspot.com/2003_03_01_bittersanity_archive.html#90350901. It'll help you understand that countries are quite different ideologically on foreign policy. Also, while you're at it, run right over to http://www.neoflux.com/ and have a ball with all the great new stuff you'll learn.Onward and upward. First, just for reference, bin Laden is not a small fry dictator turned monster; he's just a wealthy, radical Muslim, Middle Easterner who happens to be a terrorist. Second, who the fuck made you king of the moral high ground? \"Responsible actions in a global community\"? Whether actions are responsible or not in the global community is a completely relative idea; most, if not all, in the U.S. believe genocide is wrong, whereas Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, and others have felt otherwise. Sorry pal, but looking out for our interests is a responsible enough reason for lives to be lost for me, and I think plenty of men and women who are presently volunteering their lives would agree. Also, how in the hell do you know that our bombing campaign is targeting water facilities in Iraq? Do you work for the Pentagon? Or did you just get that information from Google like the rest of your knowledge? Now, I never remember saying that this war wasn't about oil. It is about oil, but not all about oil. Do you honestly believe that the U.S. is the only country who has a vested interest in oil? Don't people in Europe drive cars? Do you have a motor vehicle? I'll bet you do. And I'll wager that you, and most Europeans, won't wonder at all why oil prices fall when, and if, they do.Regarding Saudi Arabia: I'm sorry in advance, but I have some non-Google, non-Internet related reading that will take more than a few minutes to peruse. Just give David E. Long's The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a once over, and you'll get a feel for the \"special relationship\" that the U.S and Saudi Arabia have had since the 1930's.You don't, \"want Americans to die in the desert\"? Well, possibly to your surprise, the Americans who might die in the desert don't really care what you want. They are volunteering to serve their country and carry out it's interests. You don't want, \"some Iraqi children to die as we bomb their cities\"? Strangely enough, the Pentagon doesn't want that either. There are very specific people we want to eliminate over in Iraq, and none of them are children. Further, I imagine there are probably a few Iraqi children who wouldn't mind seeing you die, maybe not. Either way, I know you don't have the answers, and fuck, I know I don't have them either. But I can see reality staring me in the face, and I'm going to stare right back. Just because this is a, \"grossly complicated situation here,\" doesn't mean that it cannot be discussed intelligently and dealt with, however that may end up being.Oh, and please, no more soapboxes.
March 14th, 2003 at 6:31 pm
Johnny RockstarI don't think anyone here wants to see Americans die in the desert or Iraqi children die when thier cities get bombed. But do you want to see Kurdish children die when Saddam decides he want to drop some nerve gas on them? Do you want to see civilians die when he forces them into military sites to act as human shields? I don't want anybody to die, but a war to disarm Iraq is the lesser of two evils.
March 15th, 2003 at 4:33 pm
Sharkey.../me works in marketing and grasps its concepts quite well.I don't quite see the basis upon which you're basing your thoughts that this is a marketing ploy. Certainly it will garner some attention, but that needn't cause us to doubt the intention. Also note that I personally don't like the track even though I am a big fan. I've found most of the anit-war music (http://peace-not-war.org/) being made right now to be pretty bland actually, but I like the fact that it's being made. It's very important that the US not quash the rights of it's people to cry out against what it does, that's the much proclaimed freedom which they apparently fight for. The voice of dissent need not be right, it needs no might, it only needs to be.
March 15th, 2003 at 7:52 pm
OilI live in Canada, which sells more oil to the US than Iraq does. In fact, Canada sells 14% of the entire US total intake. If this war is about oil, come get us fucking defenseless Canucks! Fuck off!
March 16th, 2003 at 2:37 pm
bahThis war, and our problems in the middle east are products of failed hawkish foreign policy from decades ago. The whole \"Might makes right\" bullshit continually looks to be solving our problems, but years later we see what exactly those ramifications are...Support Mujahadeen to stop the commies, you get a well funded, guerilla force well versed in CIA tactics of sabotage and urban warfare...Support lil dictators throughout the world that happen to have significant strategic benefits for the US (ie, Oil, or possible launching pads for future 'peacekeeping' missions), and eventually they have visions of grandeur, and flip us off to pursue their own goals...Truth is, we won't really know the full extend of our lil incursion into Iraq for probably 10 years, when those recruits (called regugees) are trained by various anti-west organizations, and shipped on their merry way...Lets face it, if your fighting an enemy that is very much willing to die for their cause, you gotta take a hard look at what drove them to do that, and realize \"Hey, maybe threatening them with death isn't gonna work as well as it seemingly does in Texas...\"just to you loyal pro-war types, you can't fight an Ideal (terrorism) with more suffering, thats what turned those people to that role in the first place. We gotta democratize our so-called \"allies\" first, then worry about what some pissant 3rd rate dictator is doing.Oh, Fututor, fyi, N Korea got caught shipping scuds just a month or two back to yemen, and have a long history of weapons proliferation and supply. You better believe those nukes will be on the market, especially if they can hit the west coast already...(burns soapbox, and prepares to hear how 'stoopid' and uninformed I am)