Here are highlights from an op-ed piece in today's
NY Post by Joe Simonson, pared and edited by yours truly: "After suffering through the horrors of the music-hall massacre first hand when Islamic terrorists stormed the venue in the middle of the band’s set, killing 89 concert-goers, Jesse Hughes, lead singer of the Eagles of Death Metal, finds himself suffering the ultimate indignity for a musician: getting cancelled from two upcoming French festivals. In a recent interview, Hughes committed such blasphemies as noting that 'political correctness is killing our natural instinct and making us vulnerable,' attacking 'affluent white kids who have grown up in a liberal curriculum from the time they were in kindergarten . . . inundated with . . . lofty notions that are just hot air.' Authorities have chosen to rush to the defense of 'marginalized' groups, regardless of how preposterous it looks. Sure, Hughes heroically tried to save concert-goers and was later hospitalized after pieces of 'teeth and human bone' lodged in his face, but what really matters is that he briefly drifted away from the nebulous conception of 'tolerance.' Worse, it’s unclear what exactly these music festivals hoped to accomplish by forbidding the Eagles of Death Metal from performing. Total capitulation to the assassin’s veto hasn't worked very well for Europe. The band's music represents everything radical Islam loathes: the West’s tradition of free expression and having a good time. And losing these things is precisely what’s at stake if artists don’t stand up to the kind of behavior displayed by these festival organizers. Cancelling the Eagles of Death Metal’s performances wasn’t a virtuous act. All it did was disappoint a whole bunch of fans and further embolden extremists. I suppose ISIS might appreciate the cancellations, but you know what it would appreciate more? Outlawing Western music entirely. Maybe it thinks it has advanced another step closer to that — and who could blame the terrorists for that assumption after the cowardice on display? Sadly, the latest series of attacks in Europe has brought out the absolute worst examples of this kind of thinking. Shortly after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, some leftists didn’t hesitate to wonder whether the publication’s staff were ultimately responsible for the attacks because they dared satirize Mohammad. They fear that allowing the band to play might potentially 'alienate young Muslims.' No concern is shown for the actual victims of the attacks, only the hypothetically offended. Who wants to listen only to music that has been OK’d by a bunch of spineless liberals and their culture of censorship? Doesn’t that seem kind of antithetical to what rock n roll is all about? Just as the Paris atrocities were seen as an attack on all of Western society, the cancellation of the Eagles of Death Metal sets should be considered an assault on free expression." Kudos, sir. Here's a link to a song the band performed on Conan O'Brien's TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXFPeE-kQ2A
Also from the music world: There was violence at a rap concert in Manhattan last night. A thug opened fire, killing one, wounding others. Fear not -- the Reverends Sharpton and Jackson will help the police bring the slime to justice -- not! It is unlikely they will even stage a rally to protest the scourge that is such violence. They'd rather detract and deflect by blaming cops.
My thanks to the blonde beauty who bought the large tome on the brain, to the gentleman who purchased the
Webster's Dictionary, and to Caroline, who donated a seascapes DVD backed by jazz tracks,
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
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