Honoring September 11th: Earle’s Take
by Christian TotoThe September 11 attacks reset plenty of people’s ideological clocks, with Dennis Miller being one of the more prominent folks to reconsider their views.
For me, the attacks showed me a new side of some of the country’s most respected artists. And it wasn’t pretty.
Earle
Artists reacted to 9/11 in a number of ways. Some wrote songs promising a holy whup ass (Toby Keith) on the terrorist nation, while others went on to create stirring work about a city struck without warning (Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising”)
Alt-country troubadour Steve Earle opted to write a song from the perspective of the traitorous thug, John Walker Lindh, who joined the Taliban against his own country.
“John Walker’s Blues” takes an empathetic view of this American man who, some say, actively took up arms against his fellow Americans.
It’s one thing to write from the perspective of a criminal. Johnny Cash did that with grace and power, and there are lessons to be learned from those songs. But it seemed outrageous to empathize with someone like Lindh, especially when the wounds from the attacks were still so raw, so palpable.
What would convince a singer to take such a stance?
Earle wasn’t the only artist whose post-9/11 comments were either ugly or foul.
Novelist Barbara Kingsolver used the attacks to savage patriotism in an editorial reprinted in papers across the nation.
“The American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia, and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder? Who are we calling terrorists here? Outsiders can destroy airplanes and buildings, but it is only we, the people, who have the power to demolish our own ideals.
Other artists picked up similar themes, but it makes my teeth hurt – and my heart ache – to even remember the specifics.
I’ve always embraced and supported the arts, even though my own art career ended as soon as I realized I lacked the chops to truly make a living off my drawing skills.
But seeing respected artists act in such a manner following 9/11 changed my views of the artistic mind – for the worse.
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51 Comments
Ack! I did not know the darker side of Barbara Kingsolver. I think it is time for her to go bake bread.
I tried to read a Kingsolver novel once. Didn't like it and didn't finish it, and that was before I had an inkling that she hated this country. I'll be sure to tell everyone I know not to pick up anything written by her. I've never heard of Earle…
The libtard blogs are all bloviating about how horrible it is to have to re-live 9/11. The Bush-bashing is in full swing, along with the "we hate american ideals, but we're proud to be american" vomit.
9/11 makes me sad, angry, and introspective, but the uncanny ability of the left to sink to even deeper depths sharpens these emotions. Sometimes I'm justifiably angry at these cretins, but the sheer magnitude of their depravity is both sobering and overwhelming. One can only hope that liberals will following their own idiotic talking points about overpopulation and stop breeding.
Almost picked up a Kingsolver novel the other day; knew I knew her name, but could not remember why. Thanks for the reminder, CT—and I think your artistry is just in an area you did not expect.
That's the question: when does naivete, or ignorance, stop being a valid excuse?
Most people are ignorant because they genuinely don't know there are other sides to whichever story the TV's telling them today. They don't know their eyes are closed. And there's a lot of people who would like them to remain ignorant, because if they ever find out there are things that they don't know — that other people didn't want them to know — they are going to be angry about it.
It's the willfully ignorant who have earned our wrath — the people who know that there's another side to the story, but shut their eyes, jam their fingers in their ears and scream "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" when someone tries to tell them. They don't know anything, not because they haven't been told, but because they don't want to know. That, at least, merits contempt.
Wasn't lindh already fighting the Northern Alliance before the U.S. became their allies?
I was always a big Springsteen fan and The Rising album had a lot of power for me. But when I saw him at Giants stadium at the close of that tour and he chided the crowd for cheering during Lonesome Day when he sang "a little revenge and this too shall pass," it was incredibly gratifying when the Jersey crowd then booed him for a good minute.
I was always a big Springsteen fan and The Rising album had a lot of power for me. But when I saw him at Giants stadium at the close of that tour and he chided the crowd for cheering during Lonesome Day when he sang "a little revenge and this too shall pass," it was incredibly gratifying that the Jersey crowd then booed him for a good minute.
With regard to Steve Earle, this is well trodden ground. I know of him and his music, although I am not much of a fan. Everyone is entitled to their views. I have tried to be objective about things, but quite frankly I'm coming around to the following point of view. I would much rather spend my money supporting artists who don't get offensively in my face. He did, and I won't support him. I have never heard of that author, but wouldn't support her.
I believe many Artists want to join a cause or cult to help them feel good or better than the next.
What is amazing is the arrogance that allows them to think their loony ideas are the truth. That the large majority who oppose these "artists" views are simple and uninformed.
Thanks for letting us know about Steve Earle.
Perhaps this druggie will join the ranks of the DIxie Chicks.
There are people who are evil and there are people who support evil because they don't comprehend the way the world works.
Mr. Earle ranted about free speech at the show I referenced in my comments, because Tim Robbins had been disinvited from a Baseball Hall of Fame speech because the powers that be were quite understandably concerned that Mr. Robbins would get on a soapbox and ruin an apolitical event. Steve Earle thought that was a breach of the First Amendment, which both of us hold dear.
Of course, the First Amendment does not guarantee the right for a celebrity to speak at some function or other. It protects the right of people to express their opinions on their own, a right that dies quickly under the socialist systems that Steve Earle venerates.
This bit of obviousness is lost on him, and always will be. He's a naive fool.
Still love his music, though. I highly recommend El Corazón to all, capitalist and communist alike.
I agree with you, but isn't the icon next to your name the sleeve shield Finnish volunteers wore in the Waffen-SS?
If America sucks so bad, someone please answer a question for me…
Why do all these losers who hate her so much still live here ?
…but it is only we, the people, who have the power to demolish our own ideals.
Seems like she was predicting the Obama adminstration.
Why would he write that line when he didn't want people to react to it?
I don't know the context, but I''ll guess he meant the line to say that our response was "revenge", which I'm sure, he thinks is bad and that it is meaningless, thus, it will pass. I dunno.
What I dislike intesnsely about The Rising-there's really no mention of the terrorists. Firemen are just a jumping off point to use 9/11 as marketing. Who did this and why is never really addressed;. 9/11 was murder. Instead to Sprinsgteen, it's jsut some unfortunate bad day at work.
And when it comes to cops, "41 Shots' really pisses me of, as does the "Free Mumia" nonsense Springsteen and Steevn Van Zandt have tried to sell. Springsteen is a faux working man who lives in a mansion In Rumson, New Jersey. He hasn't wanted for anything in 35 years. Yet he stands in judgment of cops. Go to hell.
I really liked Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks. If it weren't for their imbecilic political views I might still be a fan.To quote Laura Ingraham, shut up and sing.
Maybe there is something in the artistic mind that always thinks that challanging popular notions is the same thing as denegrating them. That is what I think is really at play here. It is one of the function of the arts to challenge us but that is not the same thing as trying to tear down the culture. It is always important that we have reasoned disenting views with which to debate and learn from. It is not reasonable to expect anyone to respect someone whose sole purpose seems to be to tear down the very culture that allowed disent in the first place. It is also reasonable to expect that the very citizens of that culture would reject those that seek to destroy, denegrate, insult, or otherwise make small what most hold dear. We live i a free country. You have the right to be stupid, ignorant, and naive but when thier views begin to impede my freedoms that is where I have to draw the line.
Grew up near Steve Earle. He's a moron. Always has been. Pretty nice voice, but then, so did Herr Schickelgruber.
Steve Earle's music is primarily self-indulgent crap. Yeah, it's alt-country-folky in what could be an interesting way, but there are lots of better artists out there in the same style that won't insult your intelligence.
That is a very good question!
Well said Rich.
I am tempted to provide the link to the article above in her amazon review areas for her new book.
Not a bad idea.
Yep. She has The Lacuna coming out soon. I am gonna do it.
— On Fri, 9/11/09, IntenseDebate Notifications <notifications@intensedebatemail.com> wrote:
An informed reader is a happy reader.
It's nice that you're able to see past his ideology and still respect his talent. That said, this hits too close to home for me. I couldn't buy anything he produced any more than I could pick up a Kingsolver novel. It seems like it hurts my country too much to support these people.
I wish all celebrities would take this to heart. Shut up and sing; shut up and act; etc. Most people I know who are not part of the celebrity elite actually have working brains and can, surprisingly, come to their own political conclusions. I don't need some entertainer with a drama degree to tell me how to vote.
Because it's the best place in the world and they know it. I also think that they know there's a portion of society that laps it up and will continue to stroke their fragile egos. I've lived outside the U.S. and came home so grateful to have grown up in such a great country. The constant disrespect these people heap on America is disgraceful.
Oooh, boy, you've hit a topic close to home.
I'm a huge Steve Earle fan. I own every one of his studio albums. Even met the man after one of the three of his shows I've seen, on the Jerusalem tour in fact, and have a funny inside story to tell about it. I do think he's got a big heart. I do think he means well. I do think he loves his country. I also think he's a naive fool.
As for Kingsolver et al, the very reason they can say with freedom their thoughts, however insensitive and glib, is BECAUSE OF AMERICAN PATRIOTISM.
When will these idiots realize that THEY ARE JESTERS AND MINSTRELS, and no one in their right mind takes the jester seriously- if they do, they are certainly lacking in sound advice.
IMHO, Steve Earle hasn't written or recorded anything worth listening to since Copperhead Road (late 80's). He's been in & out of rehab and marriages (7? or 8? at last count) for decades and is the classic poster boy of the drug-addled A&E lefty that should never be taken seriously on anything outside of their very, very, narrow area of expertise (and often not even then).
I don't know what Kingsolver's excuse is. I've only read The Poisonwood Bible and while it was an interesting story, it tended to completely absolve native Africans for any and all of their bad acts- everything was the colonialist whiteys' fault. Hey, maybe she should change her name to Barbara Absolver?
Yes. Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Bono and on and on and on are self indulgent and seem to look at their music mostly as a monument to themselves. I hear their songs and the message I get is 'Look at me. I'm an empathetic genius.'
Hey hollywood, where's the epic movie about the attempted rescue of Mike Spann?
Steve who? This guy is fast becoming a coffee house act.
It's the Finnish coat of arms.
Nevah even heard of Kingsolver.
I remember all the crap Sir Paul McCartney endured after he debuted his anthem, "Freedom", in NYC at the benefit concert for the families of firefighters and policemen. The sheer hatred of the loony left was on display as they pondered McCartney's stirring lyric: "This is my right, given by God, to live in freedom…". They were incensed that he evoked God. Of course, their hysteria knew no bounds when they heard him sing, "Anyone who tries to take it away will have to answer, because this is my right." They just couldn't handle his Churchillian call to arms. I've loved McCartney since I was 9 years old and still do today over 40 years later. Thanks, Paul, for a great song.
Never heard of Kingsolver or Earle. Now I know why.
Earle has dead eyes.
I agree. For me, REGARDLess of their talents. I cannot and will not knowingly support leftard fools.
I like artists I know that agree with my sense of the world. If I don't know, then I can judge an artist on the merits of their music/talents. I'll assume they've in concert with my basic tenants. Once I observe otherwise, I have a really hard time enjoying their work anymore. I'm a redneck hick I guess.
Does that matter?
How pleasing it must be for record execs and book editors when people say, "9/11 who?"
I have a lot of old Steve Earle stuff. About the turn of the century his songs quit being about trucks, trains, blues, whiskey and bad women and veered into anti-death penalty chants/pro-taliban b.s. and that's fine. For somebody else to buy. AMF, Steve.
If you will check your world history and US history you will find that taking up arms against one's fellow countryman is quite common.
I think ‘Johnny Walker Blues’ is deeper than described here. I don’t think it’s entirely sympathetic—empathetic, yes, but, not sympathetic. The song ends with Lindh with a sack over his head, now an enemy of his own people and a testament to his own father’s failure to help him build a cogent identity, disillusioned and in chains. I couldn’t agree less with Mr. Earle politically, but I think this song is poignant and thoughtful. The perspective is one of a deeply troubled and searching kid lost in the din of MTV pop culture looking for spiritual relevance in a world that can be materialistic and vapid. I think this song illustrates how impressionable young people can become when in them is inculcated a deep skepticism of Western values and a distrust of their own culture. I think Mr. Earle may also be taking a swipe at Marin County in this song. Let me say, however, John Lindh is a traitor and should never under any circumstance be released from prison.
They're not trying to tear the culture down. They are, as you said, trying to "challenge popular notions." Unfortunately, it's only *our* popular notions they want to challenge. They never, ever look at their own beliefs and truisms and ask themselves if they know the whole story. And they never think that perhaps their audiences (you and me) have heard their point of view and rejected it. We're always the ignorant ones, the unthinking ones, the ones that need to be taught a lesson, the ones that need to be brought down a peg by our more sensitive, more nuanced, more reality-based betters. ____The thing that really bugs me is, these jokers are all basically self-appointed authorities. Evidently, they woke up one morning and thought to themselves, "I'm more sensitive than everyone else! I've got something important to say!" They didn't ask anyone about the real depth or significance of their ideas – no reality check before starting their careers as poet-gurus to the ignorant masses. Their ideas *felt* important, therefore they must *be* important. In fact, I'm not sure they even had ideas – more like they had feelings and the ideas were simply back-story.
Whatever. I find "artists'" ideas, for the most part, extremely trite, conventional, simple-minded – only from the left rather than the right. I read newspapers and online news. I analyze and think and, yes, sometimes I even have feelings. I have a mental and emotional life of my own. What I don't need is some yahoo pretending, by virtue of the fact that he can sing and play a guitar, that he knows more about politics and morality than I do, and that I should listen to him because he can give me all sorts of deep insights. Frankly, I'm an old man and I've been listening to this shit since the 60s. There's nothing Steve Earle or U2 or any other "artist" can say that I haven't heard a hundred times before. To me, the "insights" of musicians are just background noise.
I have a lot of respect for Steve Earle. I disagree with him about 99% of the time, but unlike Springsteen his principals don't swing back and forth depending on who's in the White House.
How does what Kingsolver wrote, "savage patriotism"?? Since when is it patriotic to senselessly destroy your own ideals–which is what Kingsolver is warning against in that quote. Also, commenter Space Commando was offended when Springsteen chided the crowd for cheer teh line about revenge in Lonesome Day, and that is equally ridiculous. How is it that anyone should cheer "revenge", and hold it up as a virtue? Simple revenge leads to never-ending cycles of violence, and is a shallow approach to complex problems. So, Bruce was correct to set people straight, especially when it is his song that they were misinterpreting as some sort of idiot, flag waving cheerleader anthem for war. If you right wingers are sick of being steroeotyped as knuckle dragging morons, maybe you should try thinking a bit deeper about things, rather than constantly repeating the knee-jerk, salute the flag, faux-patriotism, chickenhawk routine.
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