Punknews.org

|
Sign In | create an account

Henry Rollins talks about the Tea Party movement

Posted by aubin on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 1:30 PM (EST)

Henry Rollins has contributed an editorial to Vanity Fair with his thoughts on the Tea Party Movement which has become one of the major causes of the right wing in the United States. Henry titled the editorial "We're Gonna Have a Tea Party Tonight!" Some choice words from the article:

Then there's Sarah Palin, who, egged on by other intellectually malnourished "real Americans," has said so many startlingly stupid things in the last few days, the comedic furnaces won't be cooling down any time soon! She's a dynamo of dumbassity! An inferno of idiocy! Yes, Ms. Palin, 2012 is almost in your grasp!

Just when America really needs to get to work and move forward, some of the dimmest bulbs in the country decide it's time to turn on and lead the race to the bottom. You silly grown-ups! The future is hilarious and very problematic, thanks to you. Cheer up! I'll do my best to track your epic, very public nosedive.

Check out the editorial here. Some of his previous writing can be found here.

Henry Rollins (53 comments)

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

Cos (February 9, 2010)

I remember listening to Henry on the eve of the 2004 election. He talked about seeing a rally and counter rally. The Kerry rally was quiet, peaceful, generally hopeful, while the counter rally was filled with screaming men in ties and signs. Henry remarked "They're going to win this thing because they WANT it more" which is precisely what scares me about the Palin crowd.

1+ Reply

victim (February 9, 2010)

I was at a Biden rally in 08, actually during the Fest that year. Most of the kids struck me as pretty out of it. I ended up getting kicked out for making anti-Obama signs. I hung out with a bunch of Naderites on the sidelines for a while.

psychosis_cheer (February 9, 2010)

umm right wing?? The Tea Party was started by republicans , dems, libertarians and independents. Hell the most of the first Tea Party people were Hillary Clinton supporters who felt there voice was being shutdown. Also just because Sarah Palin is speaking at a rally should not be just the focus of their movement. Many gay rights activists and leaders are also speaking at these rallies as are equal rights activists and constitutionalists. I'm not a full supporter of this group but I've been to 3 rallies just to talk to people and get their views of what they see is wrong with the country. It always seems to be a very diverse group of people that are just upset over big government. I've been to many different political party meetings Socialist, Black Panther, Communist and other rallies to see their views and try to understand them better. Really what it comes down to that I have

show rest of comment

10+ Replies

preston (February 9, 2010)

cheers.

xthispoisonwellx (February 9, 2010)

well goooooood for you!

victim (February 9, 2010)

I don't totally agree becasue much of the Teabagger movement is reactionary as hell, but you're damn right that there is an untapped outrage that the politicos are trying to ignore in their desperation to pretend that their political system isn't bordering on obsolete/vestigial.

The Left could sure as shit take some lessons from this. For one thing, yelling at banks and shaking your fist at Congress = great idea

How old are you to have been at some of these rallys?

psychosis_cheer (February 9, 2010)

Im 31, I have had the displeasure of seeing the extreme's of political groups since I was about 12. I lived in the Southern part of the US for a good portion of my youth and was subjected to the crap that the racist Democrats at the time were saying. To my formidable teenage years living in So. California where I learned about Liberal Democrats and their Ideals. All the way to now when I hear extreme right wing ideals and racists talk from people from the NW can be. Going to different rallies and a variety of groups meetings is just interesting in the way people perceive their own opinions as facts. I find that just listening is an experience in itself, no debating just listening. Its amazing by just listening how hypocritical all sides can be.

victim (February 9, 2010)

Definitely. But the thing is, the United States is so locked into a middle class worldview, that railing against this kind of hypocrisy ends up just being a kind of sport for personal recreation

Gotta have a serious talk on a national basis sometime..short of that, its just wheels-spinning

Its not just the hypocrisy, its the venality, the ignorance, the lack of self-awareness

returnofdebs (February 9, 2010)

god damn it. i replied to the wrong comment.

what do you mean by "middle class worldview"?

milesqtoast (February 9, 2010)

but is it really still/going to be that way? Seems like the righties are claiming it as their own.

victim (February 9, 2010)

Its a stilted hard right movement, no question but don't mistake the underlying outrage that actually spans every demographic in the United States. Its very real and IS going to channel itself in one way or another.

The Left needs its own teabag movement, no joke

psychosis_cheer (February 9, 2010)

I don't know I think its seen as a right wing movement by itself but it only became that way when Fox News and the 9-12 project became involved. The Tea Party movement was happening a few months before they got involved. I can agree that is probably has changed to more of a conservative movement in backing, where as they are kinda still running around like chickens with their heads cutoff similar to the independant party after what Ross Perot tried to do in the 90's.

I agree the Lefties need to have something to get behind also to help educate others what they believe and how it can improve the country. Like both sides are saying here for the past 10 years "Trust us." is just BS. The American people need facts not opinions or faulty mathematical ideals that just become more opinions in the eyes of those they are trying to convince.

victim (February 9, 2010)

The thing about the Left is, its not what anybody believes that matters. Its about real conditions and who is talking about them. Joblessness, homelessness, social decay etc

And the question is who is talking about it. Not Democrats or Republicans. Not anybody, honestly. So thats our opening right now.

That and a rethink of who is the "base" for the Left -- what used to be called the lumpen somewhat derisively, has evolved into something more/different that has to be addressed on its own basis. But I don't know how it all plays out. I just know we need to get started.

ramblinboyofpleasure (February 10, 2010)

All that doesn't matter to the two parties who are gonna occupy power from now on, Dems and Republicans over there and Labour and Conservatives in Britain. It really does boil down to being in power and perhaps money as well!

lookingforcorpses (February 9, 2010)

I feel the lefties did. And he's in the White House now and has shown his true colors.

victim (February 9, 2010)

The liberals did you mean. Almost nowhere else in the world are liberals even remotely associated with the left.

lookingforcorpses (February 9, 2010)

Do you differentiate here in the US?

victim (February 9, 2010)

well there is a big difference but it tends to get glossed over in popular discussion

returnofdebs (February 9, 2010)

you need to explain "middle class worldview". i don't want to comment without clarification.

Banger (February 9, 2010)

Of course it's right wing. They're advocating fiscal conservatism, but conveniently only opposing things like the jobs stimulus and health care reform and TARP (but only in 2009, not in 2008) and every other thing that the Dems have done since Obama came into office. Where were the tea parties when government was growing larger under Bush? When the deficit was ballooning due to tax cuts and wars we couldn't pay for under Bush? When individual freedoms were intruded upon by the Patriot Act? No, it's only when the Dems come into power that these patriots suddenly show up. Tea party candidates aren't appearing in Democratic primaries but Republican primaries, and from the start they have been courting and have been courted by conservative politicians and conservative news outlets. There might be some social liberals at these events, but most of the people I've seen are pro-gun, pro-life, an

show rest of comment

Hasheesh (February 9, 2010)

It is possible that you are right, but it is also possible that somebody didn't have the idea and the resources to put together a movement like this until 2008.

Banger (February 9, 2010)

Ideas and resources to put together a movement? I thought it was grassroots, a spontaneous uprising.

People have been gathering to protest things since the days of Wat Tyler. Probably even before then. And it has been an American tradition since, well, since before the Boston Tea Party. This is nothing new. To say that this wasn't possible before 2008 ignores centuries of civil protest.

DoucheyMcFcuken (February 9, 2010)

dumbassity. That word is fucktabulous. It is as amazing as metricfuckton. I love it.

Idiocy Inferno would make a good band name.

chadreligion (February 9, 2010)

These are the people behind the Sarah Palin 2012 camp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRqcfqiXCX0

no shit

4+ Replies

runneruprecords (February 9, 2010)

it's like looking into an ideological time machine, 400 in the past! einstein was wrong, rewrite the textbooks!

jawbreakersuckssucks (February 9, 2010)

Wow. That just scared me into a fetal position under my desk.

Amirika, you iz pritty stoopid in them parts.

3puttbogey (February 9, 2010)

ok whenever this video surfaces, it makes me embarassed to be from ohio. you must understand, however, that these are just country bumpkin rednecks, at a sarah palin rally. i'm sure these type of people support her in every state.

ZachLeg (February 9, 2010)

sickening

ninjagun (February 9, 2010)

The fact that a group of thinly veiled racists with loud mouths and nothing to contribute are being treated as a legitimate political organization by our mainstream media is disgusting. The major news networks know that these people are fringe lunatics, but they also know they are great for ratings. Make no mistake, you do not watch the news when you turn on your television. You're watching intentionally provocative statements made to get ratings so they can sell you more drugs for illnesses created around some corporate board room. Ever wonder why the robots that read you the news ask provocative teaser questions like, "Is there a new terrorist threat?" right before commercial break? I just scream at the tv, "Make a declaritive statement you fuck!" That's what the news is supposed to do. It's supposed to give factual data so people can make informed decisions. Instead the

show rest of comment

5+ Replies

victim (February 9, 2010)

I had a counselor tell me that if someone thinks they have "issues", they probably do. And you definitely have issues.

ninjagun (February 9, 2010)

Spend a little time in South Georgia and you'll have issues too.

victim (February 9, 2010)

Does north central florida count?

Fresnoska (February 9, 2010)

I've been to a few tea party meetings, met some of the people and they were far from being "bigoted assholes." I could draw up the same conclusion about extreme members on the left and generalize. It's the mainstream media, who when they can stop sucking Obama's cock, will focus on the fringe members of the tea party, and how racist the group as a whole is. Every group including liberals and the left have fringe members which cast a negative light, yet we hardly hear about that. Just them dumb ol' teabaggers......And I love how liberals are supposed to be all PC and are against name calling, yet refer to tea party members as teabaggers just because they don't share the same narrow world view.....

lookingforcorpses (February 9, 2010)

Absolutely. There's a very very very small portion of the tea party people who could be consider "racist," however, that's how the entire group is being portrayed now.

victim (February 9, 2010)

umm, pretty sure they took the teabagger name for themselves

And I'd throw these yutzes in jail first chance I got, so I might not be the one to talk to

eran_zombis (February 9, 2010)

As I'm sure you've seen - "People who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama." Tom Tancredo, opening speech at the Tea Party Convention. So I would disagree with you that it's a media mischaracterization that is portraying them as bigoted.

lookingforcorpses (February 9, 2010)

Ummmmm. wow.

Phantom_maggot (February 9, 2010)

I don't care how diverse the people are there, if the group is using Sarah Palin as their keynote speaker that is 'nuff said about the organization.

IanIsSuperRad (February 9, 2010)

http://dontclickthis.whatingods.name/obama-protest.png

mike_killroad (February 9, 2010)

[Politically informed statement]

I don't really feel like writing/ranting.

telegraphrocks (February 9, 2010)

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

Deytukurjeeeebs!

Oved (February 9, 2010)

"We're Gonna Have a Tea Party Tonight!"

You got to give it up for Oscar Wilde-like wordplay that good.

1+ Reply

ramblinboyofpleasure (February 10, 2010)

Playing on one of his songs which never asked to be drawn on Oscar Wilde anyway.

lushj (February 9, 2010)

You go, Hank!

P.S.- To anyone saying that the Tea Parties aren't reactionary right in nature- I have some wonderful bridges to sell you. Sure all of them cross the sinful San Francisco Bay, but if you buy them & blow them up then Real Americans will be safe from Gommorah-By-The-Bay!

raveneffect (February 9, 2010)

Calling the tea party movement a purely right wing cause is like saying every left leaning American blindly voted for Obama. Unfortunately the tea parties were quickly hijacked by FOX News, so of course now its seen as a neocon movement. Not even trying to defend what the tea parties originally stood for, but its unfair to quickly label something like this. Plus, does anyone really give a shit what Rollins has to say anymore?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd2tg8gxCDU

I rest my case.

thearmpitofnj (February 9, 2010)

remember DISSENT the highest form of patriotic. cant believe none of you smarty pants caught that one.

1+ Reply

ravenagainst (February 9, 2010)

Way to make the joke obvious

Coons (February 10, 2010)

Fact: Tea parties are not just a right wing deal.

Opinion: We can't have a perfect society, but the government right now is going too far to make one and it's not going to work.

2+ Replies

Coons (February 10, 2010)

..and the country is going deeper and deeper into debt because of it.

RoyStorey (February 15, 2010)

replace "fact" with "myth" and i'd agree!!!

sweetpunkrock (February 10, 2010)

Why is it so awesome when the left hold rallies and protests but when right wingers do the same thing its racist and unpatriotic? If you don't agree with what these guys ares saying, great, I personally don't either on most issues. But they need to have the right to put their message out there.

chadillac (February 12, 2010)

Henry Rollins is the coolest guy he knows.

weegmc (February 14, 2010)

Whether you agree with the Tea party shit or not, Rollins is a clown. His writings and his spoken word borders on the moronic.

Features

Exclusive Streams

see more streams

Newest Reviews

see more reviews

Punknews.org Team

Other Places to Go

Punknews.org Flickr Pool

View All Photos