Jello Biafra.....America: The New Soviet Union?

[Cascadian]

Has anybody heard this? If any of you have never heard Jello Biafra's spoken word performances you really ought to check them out. There is one topic he speaks about that really stuck out for me. It is that America has become the new Soviet Union. There is a website where you can download that and his other stuff though it will cost you 0.79 cents or you can always go to Kazaa as well. Here are the websites...


http://www.mordamrecords.com/item/3080

http://www.kazaa.com


It's called "The New Soviet Union" by Jello Biafra. Highly recommended. Let us know what you thought it.

John

[expatriot]

1. there's a name i haven't heard in awhile!

good ol' jello... i love him... what did he call the US? "the united snakes of..." it starts with a D or something.

[Interrobang]

2. He makes some good points...

...although I think his "fall of Rome" metaphor is better. Ever read Rudyard Kipling's poem about the Picts? (The one that starts "We are the little folk we/Too little to love or to hate"?) We the rest of the world are the Picts now...

[StaggerLee]

3. Done wonderfully by Billy Bragg

On William Bloke

:D

[ScotTissue]

4. What were his points?

At least I can go to the grocery store and buy toilet paper without waiting on line.

[Interrobang]

5. Oh, just the stuff about...

...the army of aging, cynical functionaries, and the government having the power to spy on any of its citizens, the climate of fear, the sagging infrastructure, that kind of thing. I could go and dig it out, but I can't be arsed.

Thanks for the tip about the Billy Bragg album, but I know the song already, and besides, Kipling is better read anyway.

[mike_c]

6. Jello rocks....

eom. Not much of a contribution, just MHO.

[inthecorneroverhere]

7. Too whacky for me

This is the kind of stuff that turns lots of middle-of-the-roaders off.

Talk to people about their jobs, how they're doing at making a living, the deficit, the war etc. Talk to people in real terms, not flaky terms.

Puh-leeeze!

[Interrobang]

9. If you don't like it...

Don't listen to it! You're not the kind of person Biafra's talking to anyway, if you can't appreciate his humour (and yes, most of his spoken-word stuff is intended as at least marginal humour) and/or his point of view. I don't agree with him 100% by any means, but I still enjoy listening to him. He's a radical idealogue, and he knows it. Some of us aren't "middle of the road" and have no wish to be there. Biafra's also not actively in politics, although he did get nominated by the NY Green Party as a Presidential candidate in 2000. (He didn't want to do it, really, and bowed out to Nader.) He's hardly, in any case, affecting most people or the centrists among us.

You sound as if you don't know what he means by America as the New Soviet Union, which has very little to do with that old Evil Empire nonsense, and is certainly not a value judgement, as you seem to be implying. That monologue mentioned by the parent poster has to do mostly with similarities in things like eroded civil liberties, having a corrupt government that says one thing and does another, crumbling infrastructure, expanded law enforcement powers, and that sort of thing. His "fall of Rome" metaphor is also apt, because the US does have a decadent society that focuses the hoi polloi's attention on garish spectacles to distract them from the eroding conditions at home, while at the same time waging wars and occupations all over the world. (Tell me what other country has military bases in more than 100 separate sovereign nations?) However, you must realize that he's speaking metaphorically, not literally, and he's making comparisons based on certain points of congruence.

Again, not for everyone. Thanks for playing!

[Ein]

8. Jello is cool.

Have a few of his SW CD's and worship the DK catalogue.

My favorites of his are:

If You Like Tipper, You'll Love... - from "Become the Media"
&
Running For Mayor - from "I Blow Minds for a Living"

[Cascadian]

10. Don't forget Jello ran for mayor of San Francisco in 1979.

In the election, Jello came in fourth out of a field of 10 people. His running also forced a run-off election between Dianne Feinstein and Quinton Kopp. He had a wild but great platform. He wanted business people to wear clown costumes, wanted police officers to run in elections for their positions. He also wanted to place Dan White statues in parks so people could throw tomatoes at them. There was some other things in his platform that were cool I thought but I cannot go into all of them. I hope Jello does run for office somewhere again. Maybe he should go against Feinstein when she is up for reelection again for Senator in California! Who in California wants to see Feinstein gone and would vote for Biafra?

John

[Ein]

12. He wanted to ban SUV's within San Fran. city limits.

And he blew Diane Fiensteins leaves for publicity.

[LuCifer]

11. VOTE JELLO!

If only! The DK's still rock, still relevant, still awesome. Jello is one of the few who ain't no sell out!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Lu Cifer, I'm due for my holliday in Cambodia...