Henry Rollins On George W. Bush
The A.V. Club sat down with Rollins and had Henry answer reader mail about the state of the union and the country's political direction. You won't be surprised to know he's got an opinion about Dubya. Though his answer may surprise you.
A.V. CLUB: Do you give credit to George W. in any area, or do you feel (as most in this A.V. Club demographic seem to) that every single thing he has done in seven years has been sinister, self-serving, and/or stupid? —Pete DeebleHENRY ROLLINS: I think the Bush administration has done almost, if not all, the things they set out to do, and in record time. I am sure they are well impressed with themselves. I think that all the peace and prosperity we enjoy now, our surplus of cash, and good standing in the world is a testament to…
Oh, wait, that was the other guy. Yes, I guess that I am one of those people who would probably be going with that whole "sinister and stupid" thing. I guess I am part of that "A.V. Club demographic," the one that comprises more than 60 percent of America. It's strange to be in the majority, I'm not used to it.Gotcha! It's okay, he got us too.
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Tags: Henry Rollins
He's so punk. Going out on a limb there in voicing his disapproval with the administration.
I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you.
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Because it would be punk to side with Bush? I fail to see the problem...
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Well... it is true, the Bush administration has accomplished virtually everything they set out to do in record time:
-rolling back taxes on the rich
-rolling back Roe vs. Wade without hardly a struggle
-Endless war
-major American footprint in the mideast
-republican majority in Supreme Court
-redistributed electoral precincts to benefit the republican party
-roll back the corporate environmental reforms of the Clinton Administration
-cut funding for education
-cut funding for non-profits
-widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor
-renewed the cold war with the world's communist and socialist leaders
-relaxed monopoly laws on corporate america while simultaneously illiminating a century of protective utility laws that insured all Americans have a right to equal access of water/ electricity/ gas etc.
It's a sparkling performance, really. There's only one thing left to do: eliminate social security. And they've got two years left. They'll find a way.
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Don't forget revoking our Writ of Habeas Corpus.
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He was asked a question. I hardly think he was trying to be or do anything, other than answer the question.
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Go to AVClub. His other answers are insightful. I just think this one was funny.
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The turnaround was a little lame, though. Instead of that little "Oh, wait, that was the other guy," he should've let out with his trademark full-on bellow: HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAWWWW! SUCKER! SUCKER!!!
Cos that would've been awesome.
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"Liar" has come up on my Nano A LOT lately for some reason. Shuffle is so not random.
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There's something very unnerving about any group of people with common ideologies using them to pounce an opposing group-- either liberal or conservative, and I think far too many of my peers, myself included, fall into this hideous cycle.
Remember, this is vital: A person's idea of goverment is seperate, and should be seperate from their moral values and their soul. When someone wants to eliminate social security or any other form of welfare, why is it necessary to involve personal perjoratives? Why do I see what amounts to conservatives being called heartless, or evil, and liberals irrational and godless? I wonder when the kindness of our hearts started to depend on the type of goverment we prefer...
When did supporting the rights of huge corporations become something to be left to the most vile and unenlightened of society?
Does supporting a person's right to sit during the pledge of allegiance make you any less an American?
Why does opposing a federal abortion law mean you don't care about women -- not that you want these sorts of sensitive issues left to more localized goverments?
When we begin to emotionalize a person's worldview, we start to become what we hate in the "other side" whether it's heartless or brainless.
Big gov, little gov, pro-life, pro choice, pro-iraq, anti-iraq... I've had conversations and arguments with people from every side , and I've never met a very smart person who would go so far to say the entirety of conservatives were idiots, or liberals for that matter. There are brilliant folks on both side, brilliant supporters of the president, brilliant foes. Very spiritual and contemplative conservatives-- and just as spiritually uplifting liberals.
So really, what gives? Why the gang mentality? Isn't this what sports and pro-wrestling is for?
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have you guys looked at the comments following Rollins' answers? at the AV Club? jeez, people are such assholes sometimes!
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BAD MONKEY! MONKEY SEE? MONKEY DO! MONKEY WILL DESTROY YOU! BAD BAD MONKEY!!!!
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Chase seems to forget how prominently sports and pro-wrestling figures become political ones. Think Jesse "the body" Ventura, or Jack "QB" Kent.
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Although there is some truth to Chase's comments his position also allows for a kind of relativism that misses the moral and ethical issues of causing pain and suffering by taking the position that non-living entities, ie. corporations have the rights but not the responsibilities of humans among numerous other errors avidly propounded officially by the Bush administration. Among these are the abdication of being responsible and good stewards of the earth for both current and future generations of life on this planet in preference to the accumulation of profit; honesty vs lying; the difference between true self defense and preemptively attacking a bully who might someday try to beat you up; honoring human rights vs supporting torture and indefinite incarceration; the callous discounting of victims of disaster while giving preference to the enrichment of the already rich. I believe that while a person of good heart and intention may make mistakes that when the preponderance of actions taken by a person or group of persons so clearly favors profit and power over honoring general moral and ethical values then we have an obligation to call it what it is "evil" this even though G.W. Bush et. al. may believe in their hearts that they are good. It is not good by any definition I can recognize.
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Colin, are you forgetting Heath Shuler, or do you have some awful vendetta against The Vols? I'll never know.
And Craig, I'm not saying there's not a right or wrong position, or that there is no evil. That attitude is lunacy and I agree. But there''s so little introspection these days.
People've got to step up and share the blame. I'm only lying to myself when I say I'm tired of Bush and his antics, or his ignorance, or his hidden agendas. For every issue I've got with Bush or any other person in this world, there are at least twice as many I've to work out with myself. There are positive ways to work at both of these , and there are negative ways.
Conclusion:
After this many hours on earth, you'd think we'd realize that it's not "them" it's "us."
Check this out, it's a good quote:
Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.
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"The underrated A. Whitney Brown once said that our voting process has stopped being about voting for the candidate you like the most, and become about voting for the candidate you dislike the least. Is there any way around this problem? Our two-party system has such a stranglehold on the voting process (the higher the level of government, the tighter its grip) that anyone supporting a third-party candidate runs the risk of splitting the vote in favor of their least desirable choice."
I still cant believe that so many countries have preferential voting, yet the 'most civilised' and 'our protector' (sorry no offense, but that's the view we get from J.Howard) the United States, can't grasp the concept, and still have, in my uneducated opinion, a very unjust voting system.
And these people run the world..
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Jack,
It's not that none of us get the concept. Hell, some progressive local governments and municipalities even use it. Good luck getting the Senate and House to vote against their own interests, though, which is what they'd have to do here.
You may recall that after the 1992 Perot debacle, the Democrats and Republicans effectively colluded to ensure third party candidates couldn't get into the debates. And that is NOTHING compared to the amount of power they'd have to give up in a ranked voting or (god forbid!) proportional system. We SHOULD abolish the Senate too for similar reasons, but since the Senate would have to consent to being abolished, that won't happen either.
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man, "tv party" is a bitchin' song, huh?
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Same old liberal rhetoric...blah blah fuck Bush blah blah Bush is a liar.
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Thats funny because the same old Conservative rhetoric is "Same old Liberal Rhetoric..."
and guess what, it's all the same
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the guy who posted first is a huge dickbag, just fyi
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Why do they keep asking these entertainers questions like they all have Poli Sci degrees from Georgetown? Why do I care what a singer thinks about politics again? Ask them about music -- I care what they have to say about THAT subject.
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henry rollins the unicorn
punxpalz.ytmnd.com
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Speaking of George W. Bush:
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
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I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memory so it never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
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