Former Rage guitarist Tom Morello

Have you guys heard of Congressman Paul Ryan? Well, did you guys know that left leaning revolution-friendly Rage Against the Machine is his favorite band?

In a recent editorial written by Tom Morello for Rolling Stone magazine, the enigmatic guitarist discusses newly announced Republican running mate Paul Ryan’s odd love of Rage Against the Machine and doesn’t mince words in his response about the unusual pairing.

Morrello, a Harvard graduate, compares Ryan’s love of his former band akin to Charles Manson’s infatuation with the Beatles and Governor Chris Christie’s love affection towards a good Springsteen song – they may like the sound of the music, but they are completely “clueless” about the actual band.

“Ryan claims that he like Rage’s sound, but not the lyrics,” writes Morello. “Well, I don’t care about his sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.”

Morello goes on to admit that Ryan certainly does have “rage” in him, but quickly counters that its more akin to “a rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions.”

Tough words from Mr. Morello, but the article itself was more than simply poking fun at Ryan’s choice of music. The guitarist, moving towards a more somber voice for the piece, gave a direct message to “the super rich,” asking that they must rationalize having so much more than they could ever spend while “millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night.”

Those of you out there familiar with the antics of Morello and Rage Against the Machine should find this unsurprising in the least as earlier this March Morello made a public call on air and later via Twitter to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh specifically asking the controversial figurehead to “stop using our music on your racist, misogynist, right wing clown show,” although there is actually no legal power to stop such use.

Morello went on to discuss how is well aware that bands such as Rage affect people in different ways, adding that while some fans concentrate on the energy of the music in order to simply mosh and throw around some elbows, for some listeners, it has actually changed their “minds and lives.” He continues to write that he feels as though many activists around the world were radicalized by Rage Against the Machine and have since worked tirelessly towards global humanitarian efforts. He later caps off his sentiments with, “perhaps Paul Ryan was moshing when he should have been listening,” thus completing that wicked burn.

Morello does end his essay on a bit of a hopeful note though, stating that it is possible that maybe the band did add some “sensible” ideas into Paul Ryan’s otherwise consistent conservative school of thought, adding that maybe if elected he’ll pardon Leonard Peltier – a Native American activist whose 1977 trial has been placed on Amnesty International’s “Unfair Trials” category in their Annual Report: USA 2010 – or maybe even “fill Guantanamo Bay with the corporate criminals that are funding his campaign.”

But  as the man himself ends it, “I’m not betting on it.”

 

PC: Wikimedia Commons

Via: Rolling Stone