There has been some conjecture on our boards that Eddie has toned down his politics, based largely on the fact that we've heard very few political themes in our Backspacer previews. It appears from this posting on Grunge Report, that he has not. I do, however, find it odd that as disatisfied as the Grunge Report author is with Eddie's heavy handed politics, he didn't think twice about pushing a few of his own political viewpoints.
But why does Eddie have so much faith in Obama? It’s fucking stupid. The economy is fucked and Obama driving up the debt and devaluing the dollar, moving more troops to Afghanistan, and nationalizing totally fucked companies will kill the economy. We need to let the economy rebuild itself, we live in a Capitalist country. We need business owners running these companies rather than the government, who obviously have no economical sense.
Here's what Ed had to say on repubblica.it. The translation is rough, but I think the spirit is in tact.
"We must strengthen the concept that art can be a form of nonviolent protest," he insists. "The cliche has it that we artists are part of a sort of Hollywood elite, protected species, which should keep away from political squabbles, do not express their point of view, ignoring his education in humanities and give a damn about world problems. But we we do not live in Hollywood, but in fucking Seattle, salt and pay taxes have the right to express an opinion. This taught me the music I grew up with and the novels I read. This I learned from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Neil Young. From the Clancy Brothers and the Irish music: pieces of history framed in a song. Do not say that we are not allowed to do so, because our work is just that. The Democrats called the Boss, Ben Harper , James Taylor and the Dixie Chicks to support Vote for Change. Who has played for the Republicans? A pair of worn-country & western singers that Bush was holding the leash. "
The discussion continues here.
