Prog and Politics

Music CAN be rated objectively, and about what was said:

For me the perfect piece is The Musical Box, if I had to stand before a judge I would honestly swear it's the perfect musical piece, probably Sweetnighter will also swear it's Close to the Edge and maybe the Judge will believe Strangers in the Night or any Frank Siinatra song is the perfect piece of music. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY SUBJECTIVE.

They think that would be the music part that they LIKE MOST. However, this is different from being the best musical piece!

Addressing points 1,2,3,7:

These are things normally associated with our labour party(socialist) in the Uk and socialist governments throughout Europe!.

So are associated with the Social Christian Party of my country and all around theworld.

Addressing 4,5,8,10

Irrelevant-Pol Pot and Stalin were maniacs and would have done the same thing regardless of their political persuasion.Cuba's human rights record is bad-so is USA's.
10-how many dont-the vast majority imo.

I'm only proving youthat until tooday there's no Communist/Socialist perfect state, not even close to perfection.

9.Are all the citizens of these countries treated fairly and equitably? No.

No, but in the Socialist Paradises the treatment is even worst, the problem is that Amnesty International and the Civil Roghts Associations are left oriented and are very bland with the Socialist/Communist countries.

6.South American politics are not my forte and it seems to me that political upheaval is the norm there.Are you suggesting that Velazo is the same as Tony Blair or Bill Clinton?

Never, Velazco send our country 50 years to the past, he banned the englishteaching in the schools, prohibited Rock & Roll, went against Religion freedom, destroyed our agriculture, Industry, Fishing Industry and media, but the way he was a socialist.

You are using only the worst examples to prove your point-so yes,your argument is very subjective.

Why, because ypou don't like them?

Iván

Joren wrote:

There is no such thing as the best musical piece

Prove it!!!

Iván

i'm a pretty left wing guy. i'm a member of what brits might know as the S.W.P.. in Canada it's called the I.S.

This is really tangent, but appropriate to this thread.

I recently got IQ's Dark Matter, their 2004 release. In the second section of "Harvest of Souls", there is some Anti-American political commentary. For those who have the record, what do you think of this? Here's the segment:

The sky lights up above America
The world is lost but loves America
When the eyes of children see the ones left standing
Then the rest begin to finally understand
The hand of god defends America
And who would not defend America?
We've got right on our side, we're in the pole position
So praise the Lord and raise the ammunition high
Raise it high

Hide where you can
We will shoot you where you stand


Personally, as an American I find this section a little agitating, but I believe that the band has the right to voice its opinion. Would anybody argue that the whole song has a running theme of Anti-Americanism? Haven't listened enough to it yet to say myself if this is true or not.

I know there's a similar discussion about this in the featured CD section but I wanted to have a conversation focused more on this part of the album instead of the entire album.

Having listened to the track in its entirety, I think IQ are presenting the dramatic swing in international opinions about America post 9/11. There was a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and support that transcended national and ideological boundaries - remember the headline 'Aujourd'hui nous sommes tous Americains'?  As the US military/industrial complex flexed its muscles and the nature of the US response became clear, this became replaced by a widespread (though not universal) unease, which persists to this day. I think IQs lyric captures this neatly.

The implication that this is anti American probably stems from the current president's reduction of complex international issues to a Manichean 'You're either for us, or against us'. It is possible, as many including IQ have done, to be critical of the present administration and its policies while still having a profound respect for America and the American culture and people. After all, if Rock and Roll hadn't been invented, this forum would not exist.