Shut Up — Be Happy!
Woot! 4 glorious hours in the Church of Jello. I am revitalized, my righteous obnoxiousness reinvigorated!
Seriously, he kicked some ass. Granted it was all preaching to the choir, but sometimes the choir needs to rally.
For those who don’t know him, here’s the brief — former singer for the Dead Kennedys, made a second life as an activist, rabble rouser, and spoken word performer. Al Sharpton for the angry punk set. Ran for mayor of ‘Frisco, and more than once has been in the running for the Green party’s presidential nod. I don’t agree with every word he says, but he’s a solid, principled, hard core progressive — a moderate anarcho-socialist, really — who’s not afraid to call the Democrats out as quickly as he does everyone on the other side of the aisle. (”There’s the party of war, greed, and corruption — and the party that pretends to feel guilty about war, greed, and corruption”)
One standout funny — Compare and Contrast:
Anyway, he always stirs up my blood & leaves me itching to agitate against The Man. Our ‘corporate managed democracy’ is bloated, corrupt, and spreading like cancer. This isn’t even capitalism, hell it isn’t even mercantilism, it’s feudalism. We have an arduous fight ahead, but it’s a fight we have to make if we want our planet back.
Perhaps the most inspiring thought — consider how fast the Soviet empire fell when the timing was right. Maybe this empire’s not far behind?
We interrupt this program with a special bulletin:
America is now under martial law.
All Constitutional rights have been suspended.
Stay in your homes.
Do not attempt to contact loved ones, insurance agents or attorneys.
Shut up.
Do not attempt to think or depression may occur.
Stay in your homes.
Curfew is at 7 PM sharp after work.
Anyone caught outside the gates of their subdivision sector after curfew will be shot.
Remain calm. Do not panic.
Your neighborhood watch officer will be by to collect urine samples in the morning.
Anyone gaught intefering with the collection of urine samples will be shot.
Stay in your homes, remain calm.
The number one enemy of progress is questions.
National security is more important than individual will.
All sports broadcasts will proceed as normal.
No more than two people may gather anywhere without permission.
Use only the drugs prescribed by your boss or supervisor.
Shut up! Be happy.
Obey all orders without question.
The comfort you’ve demanded is now mandatory.
Be happy.
At last everything is done for you.
Oh — and, thanks to Mr. Biafra for pointing us to this excellent article by Brian Eno. Yes, prop-agenda is exactly right.
I think about this often–how delicate our “democracy” is, how we could turn into something very similar to Iraq or Afghanistan. I don’t think it would be hard for certain groups to overthrow the government. They pretty much already have by going through the government’s own channels.