Serj Tankian - Glaring Through Oblivion

There is no escape from the flag these days, even if the wind was made in a Hollywood studio. After a whole day of bundled nerves, little food, and no sleep, I got on the phone with The Howard Stern Show to defend a wrong paraphrasing of a statement I made a week ago about the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I said everything I needed to say without backing off, and respectfully, but would not respond to the detailed opinions of the hosts, though I disagreed or begged to differ. At the performing complex by my hotel in Denver, I see a huge screen that plays God Bless America. I feel sick be cause I feel like I aborted my gut feelings for the first time in a long while and lost respect for myself in the process. foreign policy in the Middle East, but all would have fallen on jingoistic ears among the listeners, though I thought Howard would be amused. foreign policy in the Middle East, but all would have fallen on jingoistic ears among the listeners, though I thought Howard would be amused.

I live in the U.S.A. and am afraid to say whats on my mind, because of physical threats and rhetoric directed against my band members and myself in this time of confused patriotism. How ironic is that? I agree that sometimes it takes a tragic event to bring people together. My goal was to defuse mass medias modern McCarthyism while basically making sure no other radio stations drop our record (as they have been) and no one else threatens our lives or livelihood (though I was called an unoriginal dumb fuck commie by a caller anyway). After I hung up the phone, I couldnt help but think, Am I being framed into losing credibility by showing fear that I actually possess? Or am I living smart in times of deaf ears so that I can pick up that first listening lobe and puke my knowledge of the forthcoming unnecessary ending of our civilization? (Civilization is by no means a complimentary term in my book.) Maybe as time passes and emotions fade, todays move will be seen as one of talent. After all, I avoided being caught in the conflict, did not agree with almost stereotyped statements, and said everything I needed to say, in general terms, of course.

As Chomsky says in Manufacturing Consent , if you question the premise of the system in a thirty-second sound bite, you end up sounding like a madman. However, you can easily defend the status quo in that limited interlude. I have one voice but too many listeners, it seems. The twenty or so million people in the audience listening today would not understand if I was to question the premise that the American government does not really act for the benefit of its people when it comes to foreign policy matters, but to the needs and desires of the few elitist industrial powers that have a chokehold on our destiny, so it seems, coupled by a stagnant, unresponsive, sensationalistic mass media. Im supposed to feel better now, but I dont. I feel that I bit my tongue and betrayed my vision that kept prompting me to speak, despite the fear, despite the inability of listeners to comprehend, and the looming threats to myself and my band members.

Besides rhetoric, free speech and the First Amendment fell into the toilet when the first airline hit the World Trade Center and started this next chapter in American history. I let the worst possible reason, fear, stop my mouth from conveying facts and figures, which would be heard mostly by deaf ears, of course. Freedom of expression remains the primary vehicle for the actualization of democracy. An uneducated nation that is without freedom of expression, that dives into the self-righteous river of supposed morality, that consumes beyond its resources, that is unappreciative of the natural balance of life, is not a democracyand is doomed to extinction. I, myself, have vowed to never ever again hold my tongue.