Uh-oh

[Weltall]

Everybody is as selfish and greedy as you think. Yeesh, the guys from RATM the machine were activists and supported many of those groups before they started making music...de la Rocha and Morello especially. When you're already selling millions of records and making tonnes of money, I doubt that there are many out there who will donate years of their lives to supporting organizations just to sell a few thousands more records and see a couple of more bucks. Not everybody out there has a voice, and people like Rage Against the Machine can provide one.

Bono of U2 does an incredible amount of work for the public outside of his people. Would you say that he's doing that just to sell more records?

Both of these points can be summed up easily. See, Rage is an activist band... supposedly, anyway. They HAVE to support all these oddball liberal causes, otherwise, they have no point. If they didn't at least superficially support these causes, even the most brain-fried teenagers would have to say "okay, this is bullshit." Their support of oddball causes is nothing more than a means to legitimize their so-called 'message'. After all, actions speak louder than words, and if you're going to make music about being modern-day Leninist thugs, you better support some groups that practice the same ridiculous philosophies you do if you desire any credibility. It's a publicity stunt, in the end, just like all the benefit concerts and shit. Publicity and photo-ops and hey, they look like good, caring millionaires in the process! Bonus!

U2 does not have to do that. Bono is a hardcore activist, though I don't care about much of what he rambles on about. However, while him and the band participate in causes, they are not built around those causes the way Rage claims to be. Rage is a voice for all the post-modern teenage morons of America who are immature enough to hate the system, but U2 is simply a group of musicians who are given to get political from time to time but aren't totally consumed by it, as many of their songs have no political messages at all. But in the end, yes, though Bono seems quite sincere about what he does, in the end, it's a publicity stunt. Bono looks like a good, caring man with too much money and too much time on his hands.

This is the beauty of capitalism, it can be ruthlessly exploited even by those who swear to destroy it. Of course, it's the fools who mindlessly throw their money and loyalty at them that are exploited by the capitalist system, which in turn is being greedily manipulated by people whose claim to fame is their hatred of the very system. Anyway, like I said, if Rage and bands like them were sincerely anti-capitalist, they wouldn't whore themselves out to massive record conglomerates and merchandising corporations who charge $20 for their stylish logo on a three-dollar tee-shirt, backpack, wallets, breakfast cereals, videogames, action figures, dick rings and matching purses. They would make enough money to cover their activities and earn a living. But greed latches its claws even in the egalitarians, and I find that hilarious.

Bands like Rage are very, very smart. They have a good scam going on, and you're one of several million suckers. Isn't that funny? :)