My Ministry story: The one chance I got to see them was on one of the first Lollapalooza festivals, in Raleigh. They came on stage, started playing, and people in the audience started tossing plastic cups back and forth. For a while it was pretty great, but then people started getting stupid. They stared putting mud in the cups. They started throwing the cups on stage. Stage managers were running back and forth trying to collect the cups. Then one of the cups hit Al. He stopped singing, cussed out the crowd, left the stage, and refused to go back on. Their set was done and they had done maybe three songs. Someone came on stage and threatened to cancel the rest of the festival if people didn’t settle the fuck down.

Seems to be a fair amount of shilling for ai and LLM’s on Lemmy lately. This happening on other platforms?

Gonna be showing my age here, but I was heavy into the likes of Dead Kennedys, Ministry, the whole D.C. Underground punk scene (Black Flag, Fugazi, etc). Anymore, though, I don’t actively seek out music with strong political messages. I prefer to hear artists sing about their personal experiences, their struggles, triumphs, losses…and a political slant is okay as long as it’s an organic part of the song’s message and not just endless proselytizing or ruining your own music by being a political douchebag. (Looking at you, Ronnie Radke!)

Edit: Almost forgot, dude, if hip hop is your thing, check out Run the Jewels.

1. Big Stone Airb&b
2. Rich fuck
3. Probably Not Australia

How’d I do?

I would only want a tail if I could use it to swing a hammer.

I’d pick Fantastic Mister Fox.

And honestly, the way that movie is, people probably wouldn’t even notice.

I was having this discussion with a friend of mine yesterday, talking about how US citizens managed to positively move marijuana legislation in a better direction…I think this is a good example…

NORML was a major player in changing political and social attitudes about marijuana. They’d stage major demonstrations that were more than just performative. They’d hand out leaflets with information. Gave you the contact info for your reps to put the pressure on them. There was merch for fundraising. The atmosphere at those demonstrations was electric - people were happy to be a part of the movement.

And here’s the most important part: they never let up. Not until they started hearing sincere conversations happening in congress. Not until states started changing their attitudes. And all this in the days before social media was ubiquitous.

NORML’s approach is a great model to follow to effect positive change - change that the people genuinely want.

When I see, for example, the No Kings demonstrations, I have to ask if their follow-through is as effective. Do they encourage people to continue to engage with their government after they go home? In addition to the anger at the current situation, are they also generating excitement about what could be? Because if it’s just periodic protests with silence in between, that’s not going to be as effective.

Let’s be clear - our government didn’t get this bad overnight. It took decades of silent fascist creep to effect a gradual shift. It’s not going to get fixed overnight either. Make those demonstrations loud, festive, informative, and make sure they echo for months after the fact, until the next one. Raise funds for the cause by selling shirts and hats and stickers people are proud to wear. Sell the message. Let it be known that the message is for all Americans, even the ones you hate for voting this shit into existence, because those are the hearts and minds you have to change.

It can be done. It might take decades but it can be done. It’s been done before, in way worse environments than this.

And hey, if it helps, even in the backwater red counties I drive through, I see way less enthusiasm for this garbage than I did even just two years ago. I feel like that’s not insignificant.

Off the top of my head, and of course these are completely subjective, I just think of songs that still feel relevant or still reflect a popular attitude today. Feel free to agree or not.

You’re So Vain by Carly Simon

Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band

Piano Man by Billy Joel

Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

“If you like, I can suggest other defensive strategies, or I can begin contacting the families of the crewmembers that were blown into the vacuum of space. Shall I do that now?”

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“Where’s Narnia???”

I’ve learned that EV owners are absolutely not immune to bouts of vehicular douchebaggery. But putting a vroom vroom box in your EV? That’s just a cry for help.

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Their vehicle.

Think of, for example, the obnoxious shitbag in his emotional support truck, or the BMW prick, and all the behaviors attributed thereto.

All economies collapse immediately.

Goddamn menace to society, that’s what you are.

This is angry upvote material.

It’s a matter of structural stability. Peanut butter, being more dense, makes for a superior foundation. In the event of earthquakes, sudden stops, or cabin depressurization, a PBJ with the peanut butter side down stands a stronger chance of maintaining position and surviving.