http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1151“Street Fighting Man” Wimps Out
Faced with right-wing criticism and a potential miniscule dent in profits, the Rolling Stones clammed up and pocketed the mega-bucks.
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Well, I was disappointed. Although not there -- I wish I was there, a few hours of an adrenaline rush ripping through my brain would have been helpful. But I was busy brooding, hunched over ugly thoughts in a strange bar far from Boston, far from America, brooding over ugly thoughts that just won’t go away wherever I am. Ugly thoughts about a war manufacturing countless dead Iraqis -- innocent children, harmless grandparents, hard working parents -- dying because of what my country is doing in their country. Ugly thoughts about a war that has delivered nearly 2,000 Americans into the ranks of our “honored” dead, a suspiciously low number furnished by a lying Bush Administration. Although the Stones performance was a “blast” that “sizzled,” and I wish I was there, for me the Stones performance was also a dud that, well, fizzled.
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With a huge press contingent hanging on each breath of each syllable of each lyric of each song, the Rolling Stones chose not to sing their most important song in their entire repertoire, the one song that speaks directly to the tragedy we are struggling through, the one song that evokes human outrage in our era of darkness. “Sweet Neo Con,” which is a scathing attack on George Bush and his foreign policy:
You call yourself a Christian
I think that you're a hypocrite
You say you are a patriot
I think that you're a crock of sh*t.
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Let’s face it, the Stones buckled. Right-wing criticism scarred their wallets. They rolled over for the almighty Neo Con. They acted like whores -- actually, acting like whores doesn’t bother me, since “entertainment engineers” can retain some self-respect.
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This just in: “The Rolling Stones will announce 15 new dates for their A Bigger Bang world tour later today (Aug. 24).” There is more: “SIRIUS Satellite Radio will launch an all-Rolling Stones music channel dedicated to the rock music icons.”
Well, not fighting the Neo Cons is certainly paying off for the “Street Fighting Man.”
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boy! the 2000 coup d'etat sure has showed us who our friends are