The Releases: Zeppelin Over China (LP—GBVi, 2019) / You Own the Night (Single—GBVi, 2018)
This has been a weird and disturbing week to be an American. The exceedingly-public murder of a man, and the cascade of hyper-partisan rhetoric that has followed it, shouldn’t leave any of us feeling comfortable about our current state of affairs. The fact of the matter is that political violence has long been a scourge in this country, claiming people on both sides of the spectrum, good and terrible.
How we respond in moments like this is ultimately what defines us as people, both in the singular and plural sense. And in intensely-charged times such as these, it’s not always easy to be the bigger person; even when it feels like we hold a clear claim to the moral high ground. And it’s particularly frustrating when things that once appeared to be objective truths turn out to be political debates.
I’m not claiming to have any special insight, or to be above the tenor of our times. I will admit that, several times in my life, when an unknown-to-me politician is asked for a statement, I have a nearly-reflexive reaction to the ‘D’ or ‘R’ that appears next to their name. It has led me to make incorrect assumptions, or to extend unearned benefit or doubt to the words that person is speaking.
Still, those assumptions have become increasingly (and almost shockingly) accurate. Blatant acts of ignorance, intolerance, disrespect, and even violence are all justified in the name of ‘consistency,’ ‘conviction,’ ‘loyalty,’ and political expedience. And while the magnanimous thing to do would be to claim that this is effectively a “both-sides” thing, I don’t think we’re talking about equivalencies here. Take for example, the politicization of vaccines, which aims to throw away generations of scientific research and progress in the name of ‘personal’ choices that ultimately impact all of us.
I started this project in January, under the looming shadow of an administration that never even should have been given a first chance: the result of a political ‘Hail Mary’ that gambled on America deserving far less credit than I had ever imagined possible. Those first four years were dire, but their most sinister impulses were at least undercut by a healthy mix of resistance, incompetence, and institutions that bent without breaking.
So many of us breathed a sigh of relief after the horrific events of January 6th, 2021. Surely, a nation built on the principles of democracy—even a qualified democracy—would never return to power a person who so blatantly tried to overturn the will of the people. The mere thought that he could even win the nomination was absurd. After all, any politician who didn’t voraciously denounce his words and actions should have become irrelevant themselves.
Fast-forward just a few years, and we find ourselves in a situation where that administration has not only returned to power, but has tightened its grip on every branch of government, and effectively eliminated any meaningful guardrails that could prevent it from taking total power. The courts have been packed; Congress has been rendered impotent.
And while our political institutions have effectively become little more than a rubber stamp for an administration hellbent on consolidating its power, so too have other critical institutions wilted under pressure: universities, businesses, and the media have all caved on the threat of legal and economic repercussions for their resistance.
Silence is now the only ‘safe’ option for those who oppose this regime; lay low, stay off of their radar, and pick your battles wisely—even if it means compromising your very reason for existence. After all, the midterms are only a little more than a year away, right?
Charlie Kirk may have believed in free speech, but surely his biggest beneficiary doesn’t. His Attorney General has announced that she intends to target “hate speech” (defined by who?). His Deputy Chief of Staff has vowed vengeance on what he calls a “vast domestic terror movement” (based on what evidence?). His vice president’s “statistical fact” regarding politically-motivated violence is neither of those things. And last week, a Republican representative from Wisconsin told a gathering of reporters that they were “responsible for that assassination.”
It seems as if the ‘free speech’ that Kirk claimed to hold so dear only matters when it’s in accordance with what conservatives are comfortable with. Over the past week, plenty of people have faced the threat of losing their livelihoods, simply for reposting things that Kirk himself said, or for pointing out the fact that he was literally in the process of repeating an oft-told falsehood about trans people when he was killed. People have been scolded for not properly mourning the death of a “family man”; though those same folks are attacked for “politicizing” the deaths of schoolchildren.
Silence, again, is apparently the only safe option. This was made abundantly clear today, when Oklahoma’s State Superintendent ordered schools to observe a moment of silence in honor of Charlie Kirk. Imagine being a trans kid, forced to show respect and dignity toward someone who dedicated much of their public life denigrating people like you, all in the name of ‘free speech.’
Many would just call this an unfortunate sign of our times. But there’s a more appropriate word for it.
Rating: Zeppelin Over China (6.8) / You Own the Night (★★★1/2)
*Singles are star-rated by their A-side; albums and EPs use the “Russman Reviews” scale.
Bob-ism of the Week: “I’m tired of watching the child / The insane child (“Charmless Peters”)
Next Week: The GBV 2019 barrage continues—albeit with just a measly single album.
