I have a calendar reminder set up on my cell phone and often on Sundays it reminds me to write a blog post called "Allow Me To Respond . . ." but often I am just not interested in working up the indignation and anger that I need to write an effective post under that title or at least as effective as I think it needs to be. It isn't that I do not have opinions on things. Because I totally do. But I just would rather not feel angry about stuff. There are issues that I do find important to me and I do care deeply about things. But more and more I feel like it is not going to be beneficial to me to get myself all worked up about an issue or issues that I can do nothing about.
One issue for example is an artist named Ted Nugent. He was a seriously hard , dirtbag rocker whose musical career started in 1958 but he really didn't start to get well known until the mid sixties when he was playing with 'The Amboy Dukes' (A band that I know nothing about),
'Journey to the Center of the Mind" - Amboy Dukes
Nugent always denied that he knew anything about this song being about drug use. I personally find that hard to believe. But that doesn't really matter and I do enjoy the song. I actually find it very listenable and enjoyable. It pretty much totally espouses the hippy ethic of using mind expanding drugs to achieve enlightenment.
I can feel myself getting more and more aggravated as I am reading about him for this. The hypocrisy of his life and the way that he lives it now as some sort of poster boy for conservatives and the pro gun lobby just makes me sick to my stomach. It isn't his positions and thoughts on gun control, he is welcome to think what he wants to think. But it confuses me that a man could go from basically dodging the draft, if you follow the link you can see how muddled the record is on that. But it is perfectly clear that he did all he could do to get out of going to war. Which is very odd given that he seems to be so in favor of gun use and military action now.
There has also always been a certain sleaziness of character around him. My favorite story is of the 17 yr old girl that he got involved with, since she was to young for him to be legally involved with Ted got her parents to get the courts to allow him to become her legal guardian. That just blows my mind. I realized that things were a little different back in the 70's but seriously? I can even imagine in anyway that this would be appropriate at all.
All those things aside I am still able to enjoy his music. But for me the problem has come in with some of his comments about the whole Trayvon Martin case. Now the jury has ruled and I am not going to argue the case. That is really not my problem. My problem is the insensitivity that he is presenting about the death of a young man who did not need to die.
I am just going to stop there. Because if I go on I am no better then he is. The only thing that I can really say is that if I was a member of my neighborhood watch and the 911 and I had this conversation
"Dispatcher: Are you following him? Zimmerman: Yeah Dispatcher: Ok, we don't need you to do that. Zimmerman: Ok "
I would have stopped following him. That would have been all that I needed to hear. Zimmerman did not do that and because of that Trayvon Martin is dead or it could have gone the other way and Zimmerman could have been killed. The bottom line is that if Zimmerman had just listened to the 911 dispatcher and stayed in the car then none of this mess would have even happened. That is a fact and there is no way around that fact. What happened after he left the vehicle is one thing and I understand that. But for me the problem starts when Zimmerman takes it upon himself to leave his vehicle despite being told that he did not need to do that. Zimmerman killed Martin and had he stayed in his vehicle Martin would still be alive and we would not be having this stupid conversation and Ted Nugent would not be flapping his sleazy, draft dodging yap.
One issue for example is an artist named Ted Nugent. He was a seriously hard , dirtbag rocker whose musical career started in 1958 but he really didn't start to get well known until the mid sixties when he was playing with 'The Amboy Dukes' (A band that I know nothing about),
'Journey to the Center of the Mind" - Amboy Dukes
Nugent always denied that he knew anything about this song being about drug use. I personally find that hard to believe. But that doesn't really matter and I do enjoy the song. I actually find it very listenable and enjoyable. It pretty much totally espouses the hippy ethic of using mind expanding drugs to achieve enlightenment.
I can feel myself getting more and more aggravated as I am reading about him for this. The hypocrisy of his life and the way that he lives it now as some sort of poster boy for conservatives and the pro gun lobby just makes me sick to my stomach. It isn't his positions and thoughts on gun control, he is welcome to think what he wants to think. But it confuses me that a man could go from basically dodging the draft, if you follow the link you can see how muddled the record is on that. But it is perfectly clear that he did all he could do to get out of going to war. Which is very odd given that he seems to be so in favor of gun use and military action now.
There has also always been a certain sleaziness of character around him. My favorite story is of the 17 yr old girl that he got involved with, since she was to young for him to be legally involved with Ted got her parents to get the courts to allow him to become her legal guardian. That just blows my mind. I realized that things were a little different back in the 70's but seriously? I can even imagine in anyway that this would be appropriate at all.
All those things aside I am still able to enjoy his music. But for me the problem has come in with some of his comments about the whole Trayvon Martin case. Now the jury has ruled and I am not going to argue the case. That is really not my problem. My problem is the insensitivity that he is presenting about the death of a young man who did not need to die.
I am just going to stop there. Because if I go on I am no better then he is. The only thing that I can really say is that if I was a member of my neighborhood watch and the 911 and I had this conversation
"Dispatcher: Are you following him? Zimmerman: Yeah Dispatcher: Ok, we don't need you to do that. Zimmerman: Ok "
I would have stopped following him. That would have been all that I needed to hear. Zimmerman did not do that and because of that Trayvon Martin is dead or it could have gone the other way and Zimmerman could have been killed. The bottom line is that if Zimmerman had just listened to the 911 dispatcher and stayed in the car then none of this mess would have even happened. That is a fact and there is no way around that fact. What happened after he left the vehicle is one thing and I understand that. But for me the problem starts when Zimmerman takes it upon himself to leave his vehicle despite being told that he did not need to do that. Zimmerman killed Martin and had he stayed in his vehicle Martin would still be alive and we would not be having this stupid conversation and Ted Nugent would not be flapping his sleazy, draft dodging yap.
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