Monday, July 12, 2010

Interruption as Intervention: Why I Fucked with Chuck

Yesterday, as I found myself deep in a sea of Williamsburg hipsters awaiting a "Pool Party" concert at East River State Park, a rather unexpected "special guest" was announced by an entirely too enthusiastic emcee for the artfully apathetic aesthetes who dared not display any sentiment beyond irony. I assumed maybe we'd be graced by some luminary of the scene (spending the last five years in Binghamton, NY prevents me from naming whom that might be). 

Imagine my surprise when he announced Senator Chuck Schumer. 

Now, I have a very visceral reaction to some politicians. I'd like to think it comes from the proud populist tradition of publicly shaming the scoundrels of State who rarely face even the most mild rebuke in their pampered existence, yet see fit to unleash misery on working people throughout the world. But maybe it's not so grand as all that. More likely, I was simply overcome by the need to rebuke this vulture.

Schumer is a widely-known hack. He's taken in more money from hedge fund, private equity and securities and investment industries than any other congressperson in either legislative body - a total of over $2.1 million from the financial sector. And Wall Street has been getting a good return on their investments. According to a December 13, 2008 article in The New York Times entitled, "A Champion of Wall Street Reaps Benefits," Schumer was instrumental in securing the $700 billion bailout for his banking buddies, while NY's working class was being decimated by layoffs and foreclosures. They write,
An exceptional fund raiser — a “jackhammer,” someone who knows him says, for whom “ ‘no’ is the first step to ‘yes,’ ” — Mr. Schumer led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last four years, raising a record $240 million while increasing donations from Wall Street by 50 percent. That money helped the Democrats gain power in Congress, elevated Mr. Schumer’s standing in his party and increased the industry’s clout in the capital. But in building support, he has embraced the industry’s free-market, deregulatory agenda more than almost any other Democrat in Congress, even backing some measures now blamed for contributing to the financial crisis.
This is all, of course, totally predictable. A capitalist politician will first and foremost tend to the needs of his greatest benefactors - the good people of Wall Street who see to his re-election every six years. As counter-culture as Chuck might be for "allowing people to pose ironically with him," his presence at the Williamsburg "Pool Party" was probably not so divergent from his generally pro-business stance. With new luxury condos sprouting up around East River State Park, these events - which attract a young, culture-producing populous with expendable income - don't exactly hurt the property values nearly as much as the trash dump that concert organizers claimed was almost put there instead. (The noxious neighbor probably found a different area to collect city refuse where property values were already low). 

Williamsburg is friendly turf for the likes of Chuck. For those unfamiliar, the Washington Post describes the neighborhood in "A Condo Tower Grows in Brooklyn," 

Much has been written about gentrification and its discontents, but in few places has the speed and finality of that transformation been more startling than in Williamsburg, a formerly working-class Brooklyn neighborhood of 180,000 people along the East River. A wall of luxury glass towers is rising for 25 blocks along the "East River Riviera." Wander inland and check out the needle condo towers with three-bedroom places retailing at $1,135,000. Overnight, another preserve of working-class American culture is rendered unaffordable to thousands of families -- and to the hipsters themselves. Want to know the next move? Toll Brothers, the nation's preeminent McMansion builder, has built a new luxe waterfront condo. Its ad features a preppy and distinctly unpierced blonde and the line: "Williamsburg, All Grown Up."
The article quotes CUNY anthropologist Neil Smith, a scholar of gentrification. "We are witnessing the corporate and geographical restructuring of cities -- the wealthy are suburbanizing the center and pushing the poor to the fringes, and it's turbocharge," he argues. This process is familiar to the residents of the West Bank, where Israeli settler expansion - funded by generous U.S. tax breaks  - pushes the indigenous Palestinians into increasingly marginalized ghettos.

Which brings us back to why I fucked with Chuck.

The aforementioned grievances seem trivial to what the good senator said just weeks ago, in the aftermath of Israel's massacre of humanitarian activists aboard the Free Gaza flotilla.





" And to me, since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go, makes sense." - Schumer
Only a monster could see the human devastation of Gaza, the suffering of siege, blockade, bombardment and humiliation, and declare - in full sincerity - that the best approach is to strangle them further. Beyond the sheer depravity of it, Schumer should also be aware that it calls for collective punishment of a civilian population, a breach of international law and a crime against humanity. What chutzpah.


So, when Schumer took the stage, I had only one option to prevent the gag reflex from choking me to death. And that was to yell at him. And then yell at him some more. The adrenaline prevented anything particularly articulate but I managed to get the most important parts out. Free Gaza. End the blockade. Strangling a people is a war crime. 


Clearly flustered, Chuck first tried to shush me, a task made more difficulty by his mic cutting in and out.  A few people in the crowd - anxious for an uninterrupted Schumer opening act - managed to hurl a few shut-the-fuck-ups my way over their stifling apathy. Realizing I would not relent, Schumer finished with something along the lines of, "This is not about politics. It's about enjoying our freedom." He hurried off stage.


With such a high per capita volume of smart phones, I expected someone to take a video, or at least blog about it and my desire for a you-tube-able moment trumped my instinct to ignore the entire scene. While full video is still yet to be found, some internet denizens caught hold of the confrontation. In various posts and comments on Brooklyn Vegan and Sentimentalist Mag, I've been called a "debbie downer," "fat," inciting a "political heckle fest" and - much to the chagrin of the staff of Vestal Parkway's Cost Cutters (can't beat $10 wednesdays) - of having a "bad haircut."


More seriously, interrupting criminals of U.S. and Israeli imperialism has been gaining ground of late among solidarity activists, and while it falls short of a movement strategy, I am inspired by its bravery in confronting demons. This is not because of some crypto-fascist hatred of the first admendment and its blessings of liberty, but because the very politicians who stand behind the bill of rights also position themselves well-above democratic accountability essential to any actual exercise of such a right.  Schumer, whose stamp of approval is on every piece of legislation transferring a new batch of weapons to Isarel and providing ideological cover when Israel employs those weapons on Palestinians, is never confronted for his barbarity. The media, in its well-documented subservience to imperial power, asks few relevant questions. And the people, should they be so roused, find the channels of communication to major politicians blocked by insurmountable obstacles. No such problem exists for bankers and CEOs, of course, who always have a friendly ear with Chuck.




So what came of all this? One solidarity-fist from a comrade in the crowd, a few boos and one really pissed off concert organizer whose day was apparently ruined by the Senator's hurt feelings (as she told me before flipping me off and calling me a "little shit"). But I can rest easy knowing I made Chuck's day just that much worse, as he's done for so many others throughout the world.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that this all came right before Xiu Xiu took the stage. While they didn't play their true patriotic classics like "Support Our Troops" (below), I wonder how Chuck feels about opening for them. In any case, it's hard to be a "debbie downer" when you're waiting on Xiu Xiu (not exactly the feel good band of the summer). Jamie Stewart, your politics seem righteous, but where was the love yesterday?

29 comments:

  1. Andrew, it was a free event, Chuck Schumer's speech was perfunctory and idiotic, and the obvious hypocrisy of the Williamsburg scene is as self-evident as shooting fish in a barrel. Was yelling at him really the best way to respond to the situation? Unless it was a viscerally emotional outburst, in which I'll be more sympathetic, but the rationalizing is kinda lame. Anyway, isn't participation in a state-funded event endorsement of said state's policies, so you're as much reinforcing the problem by being there as anyone else. As much as I understand your anger ( and share it, especially when it comes to "economically strangling" Gaza, though the Flotilla is a totally different story), I think that there are better ways to handle politicians than trying to drown them out with your own heckling.

    On a side note, Why?, Fang Island, and Xiu Xiu/Deerhoof kicked some serious ass, no? I wish they'd made Unknown Pleasures more their own, but oh well.

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  2. To be honest, I'm not sure I've found a better way to handle politicians. Interestingly enough, I had been phoning Schumer's office since he spoke of the strangulation, mostly being ignored, every once and a while getting a vapid intern on the phone explain to me that the Senator takes terrorism seriously (to which I responded that the Senator should then also condemn the Israeli government). I have no delusions of grandeur that Chuck would take my calls, but certainly "contacting your representative" is what we're often told is the better way.

    emotional outburst? yes. but, though i kind of wrote this off at the beginning of the post, I do really believe in a rabble-rousing populist tradition of calling out the crap.

    not so sure i take the stand that participating in a state-funded event is endorsing all the state's policies. i'd happily accept govt healthcare, but i could do without the war. i like state parks. i don't like chuck schumer. call me nuanced.

    p.s. definitely super faithful to the joy division album, but i wasn't terribly familiar with it in the first place, so it was a good introduction. WHY? was really interesting, though something about them rubbed me the wrong way. only caught a bit of fang island...

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  3. shmuck schumer? who is not thinking it?

    yes do your part to ruin his day, have a back bone even if you are in williamsBUTT, say something rather than not

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  4. my snarky schumer comments were censored by brooklyn vegan. tons of pro-schumer comments left up there of course, also on twitter (and on the same day when schumer announced he was going after alcoholic energy drinks such as w'burg staple sparks). sad but not surprising how easily this demographic (which we're told is supposedly more ironic and self-aware) can be turned into supporters of some shitty political shill or corporation by being thrown some bread and circuses (or energy drinks and indie bands in this case). hey i love a free concert too but that doesnt mean i have to swallow the other shit they're selling me.

    'it's not about politics', what crap.. i saw schumer last year too at the pride parade, right along with the israeli consulate and shrek the musical. think he cares as much about honoring the stonewall riots as much as he cares about experimental noise rock. who knows if he even believes the stuff he said about gaza or if it was just to please the roomful of orthodox jews he was speaking to. "they dont believe in the torah", pure pandering.

    good show besides all that. still love deerhoof and xiu xiu despite their war crimes lovin' opening act. i remember seeing dead prez do a free show in harlem sponsored by city of ny, snapple, and wachovia. 'pimp the system', as they say.

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  5. Yeah, I don't think most of the audience cared about the political implications, nor do I particularly think there were any, at least not to Schumer's immediate speech. Yes, Schumer will pander to the OU( Orthodox Union) by presenting the most openly hostile remarks towards Gazans he can get away with, yes, he would undoubtedly march in the Salute to Israel Parade, and of course, being a NY politician, he has profited big time off of the gentrification seen across the city. I can understand the anger at those things, but the concert wasn't an open-forum for political debate, it was a free concert heavily funded and allowed through state funding, much of which was probably approved by Schumer himself. Most of the audience was and is politically apathetic towards Schumer's stances, and I'm not sure I can fault them for it on a bright Sunday afternoon in the heat of the Summer, waiting for bands they came to here play to come on.

    Calling out the crap is good, I agree with it, but I also believe in effective political action. And one person booing and heckling a representative whose presence on stage is contingent upon the band they came to see perform actually performing is just going to bolster support for that representative finishing what he has to say and getting the hell off of the stage, which is what everyone, Schumer supporter or not, wanted in the first place.

    Personally ,as someone from New York, I hate the gentrification that's been allowed to devastate the city and transform it into a theme park, but I don't particularly associate Schumer's views on Israel with the views which actually fall under his direct purview, which I don't really like in any case. Still, phoning up his office and bothering an intern when you know you're never going to get through using your rhetoric really doesn't strike me as a good use of political activism. It's therapeutic definitely, but I just think that there are better ways to get through, like focusing your language on a particular issue, avoiding pejoratives that automatically will disqualify being listened to, and in general, creating confrontations when such confrontations are possible and winnable, not in venues where you will be perceived as either an aggressor or irrelevant. Still, I applaud the bravery(even if I'm not entirely certain the efficacy or purpose) of the action.

    Not to start a whole separate music discussion, but Why? are great, but definitely hipster-oriented. I really liked their set, I met Yoni Wolf( lead singer with Jew-hawk) after the show and he is a pretty nice guy.

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  6. the sunday afternoon young day enjoyers hate being made to squirm, hate being interrupted, and have effective personal defenses for dealing with things that interrupt the happy hip world. it's like an immune system.(indeed over there a free opportunity to feel superior to somebody and judge them for making you uncomfortable maybe is like christmas? "bad haircut" is fun to accuse people of)

    aside from making schumer feel that much less welcome, i say it's very important to be annoying, obnoxious, unpleasant, debbie downer with the enjoyers of freedom. of course it won't provoke thought. of course it will alienate individuals from your very valid points.

    in that way it's not strictly "productive" to be uh uncouth. but i think it is no longer the time for sticking only to things that are achievements. anger and dissatisfaction and disapproval should be more like a miasma?- even if people's immune system filter it out and write you off, the introduction of that negativity, mean as it maybe is, in the end is meaningful and important even if it just solidifies individual people's conclusion "fuck politics".

    don't let the atmosphere stay happy, stay without conflict, even if the conflict is (as it will be) "neutralized" by people or read as super dumb.
    the situation is rare when anyone anymore can successfully play polite games of "speaking their language," trying to manipulate how people will react to conflicts or even to your points: it's stronger to be sincere especially if that means being rude and incomprehensible.

    heckling does not have any kind of instant good effect (anyway it doesn't sound like you thought it did!) but it definitely has effects.

    not heckling in a chuck situation also is a choice.
    (i think a worse choice. politely debating, too, even on the few occasions when it's actually possible, is often a worse choice!!)

    ugh i wrote a long comment

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  7. All very nice and well, Lulu, but it sounds like a whole lot of poetics and not enough actually delineating what heckling accomplishes. I don't care about the hip-young concert goers, during Chuck's speech I was lying in the grass with friends. It's a choice to listen also, and I just think that some environments are not a place to bring politics in, even if the event-planners have arranged it that way. One of these places is a day meant for having fun, even if you and anyone with a brain can point out all the ways that the day could not be fun. Negativity as you describe it sounds awfully close to masturbatory self-indulgence. Once again, the "miasma" you describe could really just be a projection of your own self-importance. Not ascribing that to you, Andrew, just in general. So what if Chuck Schumer had a bad day, the dude continues to be Senator and to make the decisions which offend, I think that you just garnered a lot more support for the guy, and this from a crowd who postures as politically apathetic( although as you rightly point out, their sentiments are often complacently status quo).

    Once again, being rude and incomprehensible, often has the effect of being just that, being perceived as that, and generally being further marginalized. If that's your aim, all well and good, if you're about being heard and changing policy, or even society, then you're just tooting your own horn in a crowd full of people whose lives are already very much about that anyway.

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  8. I have to stop using "once again," sorry.

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  9. delineating with fine focus is misguided when an action does something ambiguous and unpredictable but definitely real (if not convinced, just watch when awkward situations do unfold, especially in a crowd)

    at risk of, certainly, self-important masturbation--yet another level of hip hip defensive self-invention, & superiority--to say something is different than to say nothing (both are actions) even if acting like an idiot. (which i do not imagine heckling chuck schumer looked like)

    people want to sit around and have fun in a space meant for that- it's very important to not be afraid to address politicians and politics in any space, especially ones not meant for it, in which case you are necessarily rude and obnoxious. "some places are just not the place" does not convince me at all. particularly in that park, on that day, in that event, politics are already "in" the situation certainly--but of course it will not be pretty if you point it out.

    people who want to do something must carefully navigate between potentially being damaging--being a self-righteous jerk--through not sufficiently thoughtful action (an important component for such damage is often a narrow, off-the-mark interpretation of what one's actions mean: i do not interpret the action in the post this way, but others might) and the less obvious potential damage done by being passive while waiting too discriminatingly (?)(often, from paralysis rather than actual thoughtfulness) for the right situation to "act"

    i say have a backbone, in a crowd a person will always be subverted and misunderstood, that's how it works, but that on its own is too silly to be a deterrent: don't just stand there, do something even if its results can't be pinpointed or predicted. but you're quite right, self-indulgence is a pretty real danger when you open your mouth

    have you heard? somebody rounded up all the canadian geese in prospect park and euthanized them. allegedly to keep them from interfering with aircraft at laguardia.

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  10. Adam,

    what you did, sounds awesome. I wish I was there, I would have joined in. Most people arent aware of reality and thats what makes it so easy for people like Schumer to succeed.

    Maybe a few people at the concert will wonder 'what was that guy screaming about' and learn about the crimes our govt. committs/supports while hiding behind civility.

    100K people dead in Iraq, 4 million people without a state for 60 years. These are things hipsters should know.

    Glad you spoke up, you da man.

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  11. Who says heckling does no good? It brought me here to visit your blog and congratulate you. Tit for tat, if someone claims to speak for the public and manages to abuse your intelligence, retaliatory vitriol is perfectly justifiable.+

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  12. So the folks at Brooklyn Vegan go bananas every time they catch you with a hotdog, and now they've got their panties in a knot because someone's spoiled *their* fun?

    Paul Werner

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  13. You mean that Xiu Xiu and everyone else (one fist aside) just left you to take your stand all alone, as if you were a a crazy freak for being angry at a mass murderer? I don't think this episode is counterproductive, but if it were, that's only because the crowd was content to passively side with Schumer and all the disgusting things he is responsible for, instead of taking the opportunity you gave them to teach him a lesson.

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  14. I don't think it's a matter of "being content," I think context is very important here, and when you're a single heckler in a crowd who wants to see a band contingent upon some politician finishing his PR opportunity speech, you're not going to be very popular.

    That and Schumer is the politician responsible for allowing the concerts to continue at the East River State Park (with the added help of further corporate sponsorship of course) and the speech he was giving was pretty standard boilerplate self-congratulation. I mean if he was making the speech he gave to the OU at that park, most people would probably have booed him also, including myself, but as it was, most people were content to let him finish his stupid speech, so Xiu Xiu/Deerhoof could come on, which isn't unreasonable.

    Talk of "teach(ing) him a lesson" is especially ridiculous, as I'm sure that the Senator has moved on to bigger and worse things than being interrupted at a PR opportunity. As it stands, the crowd will usually be more sympathetic to the interrupted than the interrupter. So it seems that as a spontaneous emotional outburst, it was effective in that you got to get your feelings out and maybe get a little bit of PR for your blog( Mondoweiss covered it I see, let's see if Max Blumenthal picks up on it), but as an effective political action, it didn't do much, really.

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  15. I 100% support you for heckling this rotten scumbag. I would also encourage everyone else to scream at him at the next possible time. Thank you for acting on your sense of justice.

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  16. You want context, yuppieboy, I'll give you context. Schumer is well known for refusing to meet with any group he's not going to profit from. Recently a group of full-time college students camped out in front of his office to try to get him to loosen up on their immigration status - only to see him drive away.

    Not only was this concert the right venue to confront the creep - it was the only venue. And, Andrew, by using your Williamsburg whiteboy privilege to get Schumer precisely where he thought he could be safe, you did a service to all of those without that "privilege." You told the creep he isn't safe anywhere, mene, mene tekel, etc.

    Now that's class.

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  17. Paul, I'm an unemployed college student, who has little to no money, forcing me to subsist mostly on cheap food and free concerts to maintain my sanity during the heat of the NY summer. I never said I supported Chuck Schumer, nor do I. I was just pointing out that a self-congratulatory pow-wow without taking into account the effect of the action is irresponsible and unrealistic. What's perceived as a confrontation here is really little more than an annoyance on his part and cheers of support drowning out Andrew's heckling. Honestly, I've already made too much of this, I again applaud Andrew's bravery, I just think that labeling it a tactic is premature, that's all.

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  18. You say you don't agree with Andrew's tactics because they piss off people? Well, in the first place I don't see that you've got the experience as an organizer to make that call, though at least you might have read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals before sounding off. In the second place, pissing off folks like you is the best thing Andrew could do. Like 90% of us, you want to have your cake and eat it,too. (The other 10% just want to have their cake, and mine, and yours.) You don't want to be the starving student, you want to have been the starving student, and if you play your cards right you won't be some day, and here comes some troublemaker to tell you to get off the fence and risk it all. I'd be pissed, too. As it happens I jumped off that fence a long time ago. It's a pretty giddy feeling, and that's the real reason I'm so proud of Andrew, like when your kid brother has his first real romance. Not that he was "successful," but that he took the leap. Be well.

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  19. Paul, it's presumptuous condescending attitudes like yours that prevent organization in the first place. Because no one wants to be around somebody who thinks they have figured it all out and will then tell you so. I disagreed with Andrew's tactics because they didn't accomplish anything, simply put, other than to make the crowd more sympathetic to the Senator. That's all.

    Honestly, Paul, I want to be in a world where people don't use intimidation and so-called experience to bully other people around. I don't know if I don't want to be the starving student, in fact you would have to know someone pretty well to make that presumption. Since you're happy to assume that I am willing to sell myself to ensure happiness, and think that you, in whatever profession you've chosen, are completely free of that charge, I'm pretty sure you've just built yourself a guard tower instead of a fence, and are now happily taking prisoners. I wish you the worst.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. That's what twists your titties, ain't it? The awareness that you're just another two-dimensional twit come to 'have his stab' at New York City - as predictable as the next rock band. As to your pathetically naive hope to "not live in a world of intimidation," sorry bud, you're in that world already. Wake up.

    You used to be so amused
    At Napoleon in rags
    And the language that he used
    Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
    You ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose
    You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal.

    (Pretty good, uh? That was the Xiuxiu of the West Village).

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  22. Paul, I was born and raised in New York City and I have no intention of staying in New York, please, you're making a fool of yourself, and insulting Bob Dylan while you're at it( it's "when you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose" and besides I'm hardly Edie Sedgewick), just stop. As to my hope, I was referring mainly to people like you, people who have the choice to be conscientious but choose to be horrible. I made no claims to originality and certainly don't see any coming from you, so what I really want now is to stop this little flame war on Andrew and Adam's blog and continue living my life without the nagging awareness that people like you exist. Go prove the absolutely obvious somewhere else.

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  23. And clean up your mess when you leave. I'm not your mother.

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  24. Oh Paul, imports like you always leave much more of a mess than a native ever could. Goodbye.

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  25. http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=549

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  26. shit i just wrote a really light hearted reaction to this which safari deleted

    its understandable to say that today's youth scene- 'indie' thats what were talking about? lacks a purpose to do good and is more an arrogant cultural factory .. yes but i think u are forgetting that this unconscious part or whateve ru wanna call it.. is their power and theres something good about that because u can t really say theyre all just zombies.

    i would like to see in ur analyses a closer look at the difference of context. because violent overthrow jus doesnt go anywhere.

    is it really apathy if it is unconscious?
    well i don't think most any1 who benefits or wants to benefit from this will ever say yes..
    many of the artists know at least that much question and their songs are full of this question..they can still ask it
    i can eat ice cream and enjoy ice cream because its fucking delicious

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