You do know that’s the “bad guy” speaking at that point in The Wall, right? It’s pretty complex and this is only my take on it, but I interpret the whole album as basically a titanic struggle between authoritarianism and humanity in a bunch of different contexts and in that section the antagonist (authoritarianism) is the one speaking.
Do you have some kind of citation on him being racist? I read this just now but I’m not convinced. “The Wall” is among other things a pretty strong statement in opposition to fascism and the holocaust (which is not an especially bold stance to take), but it sounds like he’s also against Israel’s modern-day version of apartheid, which is a little more bold stance and one I definitely agree with. That doesn’t mean he’s anti-Semitic.
Why he likes Putin and Russia I have no idea. He had pretty complex feelings about WW2 because the Nazis were very clearly the “bad guys,” but also his dad got killed in the war when he was just a little kid, so he also just hates war in general. If I wanted to be charitable I could say he’s applying that logic to Ukraine (maybe there’s some kind of justice to this war, but also war is so horrible that we should just make peace with Putin and end it at whatever cost, even if Russia “wins,” so no one else has to lose their dad.) That’s not to say I justify his view – it’s just me trying to make some kind of sense of it.
So, I’m really not trying to be combative with you about this. I actually did exactly this already to find the Guardian link I sent. I’ve now read the second link, the CNN article, which says basically more of the same – that he’s potentially in trouble for playing that satirical character in “The Wall” because of Germany’s strict regulations against Nazi iconography. Also he doesn’t like Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Nothing about racism that seems at all convincing to me. There are some people who call him anti-Semitic because he disagrees with Israel’s government, but long story short those are two very different statements to me. You’re free to have a different opinion, but I read the two articles and I’m not convinced.
IDK man. It sounds to me like you’re falling back on “It’s all there, do your own research, it’s all there” and sort of talking down to me because of my viewpoint, but I feel like that’s not a fair thing to ask – if this stuff is easy to find, you’re welcome to find some and send it to me and I really will take a look. I’m genuinely open to someone showing me why I need to change my view if you’re into the idea of investing the time to do that, but I don’t feel like I should have to indefinitely search for new sources when I’ve already invested a certain amount of open-minded time into trying to research the question.
Like I say, I have actually read a few articles trying to look for the information. I see that there are certain people who think he’s a racist. I read their reasons and in my opinion they’re wrong. But you’re free to see it differently.
Yeah, I think you’re right: I’ve seen the argument (I read the ADL page), and I just don’t agree with it. In particular I didn’t like how we’re back to saying that he “paraded around on stage wearing an SS Nazi uniform.” It makes about as much sense as those people who attacked the actress who played Skyler from Breaking Bad (or more accurately if they attacked her when the entire thesis of Breaking Bad was how Skyler was a bad person and it’s a terrible thing to let yourself become like Skyler.) I mean, it may be that the ADL simply didn’t give enough time to the situation to really understand it and misunderstood the intent of that uniform in that particular show, because they do have genuine Nazis to deal with who show up in genuine Nazi garb.
I have Jewish ancestry myself, and I see the actions of the Israeli government pretty similar to how Roger Waters sees it. Being anti-Semitic and wanting a particular group of Jewish people to stop committing crimes are two very different things; if you define being anti-Israeli-apartheid as being racist, then I’m racist too. Furthermore a person who uses racism as a shield against someone who criticizes their actions for reasons that have nothing to do with race, I think hurts their ethnic grouping in the long run a lot more than they help it.
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You do know that’s the “bad guy” speaking at that point in The Wall, right? It’s pretty complex and this is only my take on it, but I interpret the whole album as basically a titanic struggle between authoritarianism and humanity in a bunch of different contexts and in that section the antagonist (authoritarianism) is the one speaking.
Do you have some kind of citation on him being racist? I read this just now but I’m not convinced. “The Wall” is among other things a pretty strong statement in opposition to fascism and the holocaust (which is not an especially bold stance to take), but it sounds like he’s also against Israel’s modern-day version of apartheid, which is a little more bold stance and one I definitely agree with. That doesn’t mean he’s anti-Semitic.
Why he likes Putin and Russia I have no idea. He had pretty complex feelings about WW2 because the Nazis were very clearly the “bad guys,” but also his dad got killed in the war when he was just a little kid, so he also just hates war in general. If I wanted to be charitable I could say he’s applying that logic to Ukraine (maybe there’s some kind of justice to this war, but also war is so horrible that we should just make peace with Putin and end it at whatever cost, even if Russia “wins,” so no one else has to lose their dad.) That’s not to say I justify his view – it’s just me trying to make some kind of sense of it.
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So, I’m really not trying to be combative with you about this. I actually did exactly this already to find the Guardian link I sent. I’ve now read the second link, the CNN article, which says basically more of the same – that he’s potentially in trouble for playing that satirical character in “The Wall” because of Germany’s strict regulations against Nazi iconography. Also he doesn’t like Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Nothing about racism that seems at all convincing to me. There are some people who call him anti-Semitic because he disagrees with Israel’s government, but long story short those are two very different statements to me. You’re free to have a different opinion, but I read the two articles and I’m not convinced.
IDK man. It sounds to me like you’re falling back on “It’s all there, do your own research, it’s all there” and sort of talking down to me because of my viewpoint, but I feel like that’s not a fair thing to ask – if this stuff is easy to find, you’re welcome to find some and send it to me and I really will take a look. I’m genuinely open to someone showing me why I need to change my view if you’re into the idea of investing the time to do that, but I don’t feel like I should have to indefinitely search for new sources when I’ve already invested a certain amount of open-minded time into trying to research the question.
Like I say, I have actually read a few articles trying to look for the information. I see that there are certain people who think he’s a racist. I read their reasons and in my opinion they’re wrong. But you’re free to see it differently.
Cheers mate
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Yeah, I think you’re right: I’ve seen the argument (I read the ADL page), and I just don’t agree with it. In particular I didn’t like how we’re back to saying that he “paraded around on stage wearing an SS Nazi uniform.” It makes about as much sense as those people who attacked the actress who played Skyler from Breaking Bad (or more accurately if they attacked her when the entire thesis of Breaking Bad was how Skyler was a bad person and it’s a terrible thing to let yourself become like Skyler.) I mean, it may be that the ADL simply didn’t give enough time to the situation to really understand it and misunderstood the intent of that uniform in that particular show, because they do have genuine Nazis to deal with who show up in genuine Nazi garb.
I have Jewish ancestry myself, and I see the actions of the Israeli government pretty similar to how Roger Waters sees it. Being anti-Semitic and wanting a particular group of Jewish people to stop committing crimes are two very different things; if you define being anti-Israeli-apartheid as being racist, then I’m racist too. Furthermore a person who uses racism as a shield against someone who criticizes their actions for reasons that have nothing to do with race, I think hurts their ethnic grouping in the long run a lot more than they help it.
Yes, antisemitism is racism. But not because of race, race is social construct. Have a look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization)
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