There's so much good on blackbloc that I didn't want to link to just one entry (also, Blogspot, archives, you know the drill). Just start at the fine-toothed fisking of Dave Matthews' pronouncements from on high on Iraq from February 9th, and read down. I myself haven't said anything about this latest pretentious screed from a member of the artistic community, because I have never cared for the Dave Matthews Band's music (one note of one of their songs guarantees I will change the station), and besides, haven't we established that artists -- actors, musicians, the lot of them -- are mostly idiots on this matter?
I am of course old enough to remember Gulf War I quite well. I remember that a lot of musicians came out with "Don't Blow Up Iraqi Children"* ads on MTV, and nothing is more insufferable than seeing rock stars paste on the sincerity. Very few rock stars (I speak of this genre because that was my main preoccupation twelve years ago) can do the sincere thing well (U2 was one of the few bands to have this skill, and even they overused it, and they were out of the picture during GW I). Most should not even try. It just pisses people off.
*I paraphrase. I don't remember the exact nature of the slogans, but they were on that childish level.
Posted by Andrea Harris at February 11, 2003 11:00 AMMost people in the entertainment industry probably couldn't even find Iraq on a map. I respect Tom Cruise more now because he's the only one of them who's actually had the honesty to say so.
Posted by: David Jaroslav at February 11, 2003 at 03:14 PM