That is the point, it's a continuation of woke tyranny: you're either with us or against us and you risk your career / cancellation / public shaming and bullying, doxxing and simple physical intimidation and violence if you're against us.
Luckily Metallica and most others don't give a fuck about those people anymore.
Hamas rapes children. You guys love those dudes. People like you are fucking hypocrites. You don’t give a shit about children. The Epstein shit is just something you and your liberal echo chamber keep in your pockets to try and rub in people’s faces that don’t align with your narratives.
Fuck hamas, and fuck anyone who hurts children and innocent civilians.
See how easy that is?
If you took 30 seconds to google hamas you would know they are a terrorist organization condemned by the majority of the Palestinian people.
That’s like lumping you or your neighbour in with the KKK because you both believe in Catholicism.
But I don’t expect anyone who thinks caring about the Epstein files is a liberal echo chamber narrative to have the ability to read anything longer than a tweet, or to digest anything more complex than the story line in an episode of paw patrol.
Sometimes I worry that I may be one do those people who thinks they are somewhat intelligent, but actually I’m just to dumb to know. Then I interact with people like you and I feel much better about myself 😎
No, it’s because Metallica used to not be scared to speak up to corporate interests, and now they are. This should be obvious unless you are too young.
Fuck politics! I mean, I can't stand it. It drives me crazy. And there's politics within music; the business side a lot of times really, really bothers me. I like playing music. We were asked to play, and I said, 'OK. I wanna play. There's a lot of people that are gonna be watching that show.' . . . I don't like talking politics.
We've steered away from all that, we've had numerous letters asking us to play for this cause, that cause. We're a musical band, not really into political shit.
When people talk about Metallica being good, they're talking about the 80s, before they sold their souls and started making radio-friendly rock, suing kids for downloading music and cheering on the CIA torturing random goat herders with their music.
I don't think anyone is surprised that Metallica has continued their trend of sucking. It's still worth pointing out that they're hollow shells of their former selves and that their younger selves, who made their best music, would have disagreed with their current stance.
And when eventually James comes out as a card carrying republican (which ffs everyone has known James' politics for a long time) he and the whole band will be crucified because that's not the "correct belief"
People want Metallica to stop being hypocrites and sellouts. Their early songs were anti war, anti corruption, and now they’re like “we don’t want to take sides”
What they said is "we're not going to lecture you." Not everybody goes to a concert to be pumped into a frenzy about the current world political situation.
I get the impression they prefer to let the music do the talking instead of the kind of empty lip service and land acknowledgements that interrupt the set. Idk I prefer this myself, I'm here for a concert not a campaign rally or a uni lecture.
Curious…. Why not just play the music then? Why make the comment no one asked for or needed?
What’s worse? Speaking up for those who can’t? Or complaining about those who are speaking up?
Isn’t it a jab more at people who decide they wanna communicate about injustice?
If he didn’t wanna make the jab he could have said “you know where we stand by listening to the music”
Making the jab invites the criticisms (because he is being critical himself) doesn’t it?
Ehhh I think a single sentence is pretty different from "LOUD POLITICAL STATEMENT".... (wait for applause, please clap Jeb Bush energy) rinse and repeat for several minutes
Not really, because one is an actual political opinion/stance. Tge other is a clarification that they aren't going to be doing that exact thing, because this is about your entertainment and not about pushing the band's opinions on fans needlessly.
Like I'm genuinely curious are you stupid? Or do you just hate people who don't fellate you after you say the most bog standard political statement?
There is a massive difference between playing a piece of art, and letting people form their own opinions on what that art says, even if there is a consensus opinion. And picking up a bullhorn to shout at people what you want them to think.
Them playing Creeping Death is what it says on the tin for your ticket. James Herfields opinion on Middle Eastern conflicts is not.
Nah, it’s just that if more people in power actually stood up against the ones committing corrupt and evil actions, then the world would actually change for the better instead of having this defeatist viewpoint where it doesn’t matter what we do and everything sucks anyway
Metallica isn’t in power. Nobody gives a fuck what they think except for people too stupid to think for themselves. We should be grateful when celebrities stay silent because it frees up room in stupid heads for novel thought.
Or maby they care about the people that just want a little escapism from the word. Litteraly everything doesn't have to be about the political agenda you have
Metallica is a boomer metal band(fine... Gen X metal band). They have no power. You, and a lot of Redditors, just get irrationally angry whenever you see someone not enthusiastically supporting your worldview.
Literally just open any mainstream news website or any major social media website (including Reddit) and you’ll see someone crying about Palestine in 5 seconds. It’s the most talked about political topic in the world right now. A couple commenters in a Reddit thread (who clearly care, by the way, otherwise they wouldn’t click on or comment on a thread about this subject) claiming that they don’t care does not mean that nobody here cares. This thread is filled with people clearly on your side expressing the same opinions as you.
Are most people intelligent? The answer is actually yes, but there are different kinds of intelligence, and being social creatures, some of us are not geared towards intellect in a more traditional sense (logic, math, analytical reasoning), and instead towards social intelligence.
Those geared towards social intelligence can read a room and determine what wins them social credit points and what loses them, and they're very good at following that trend.
The problem is they can get so high off of that that they lose sight of other goals or purposes to the interaction, or fail to question if the interaction is worthwhile at all. In this particular case, we are looking at a situation where Metallica basically said "we just wanna play music," and the angry mob is attacking them because checks notes apparently the world will end if Metallica continues providing the literal service they are paid to provide instead of giving us their deep, in-depth political ideology that is bound to isolate at least some fans and make them feel uncomfortable.
Absolutely fuck-all is achieved by hearing Metallica's political opinions, but the social heads don't think in logic like that, they think "what scores me social credit points?"
For them, Metallica opted not to fall in line, they know they can get social credit points by screeching like a banshee about how pRoBlEMaTic Metallica is for not falling in line, so they do. Their chosen echo chamber claps like seals in approval as they voice correct opinion, they get warm fuzzies and feel secure for getting support from their echo chamber, and their social intelligence has done an A+ job at giving them an emotional reward....it just didn't do a very good job at questioning the actual purpose, practicality or demand for the interaction.
The thing is, they are not socially intelligent at all. Anyone not terminally online and able to read the general sentiment of most of the culturally engaged would recognize that for years, that sentiment has been "stop pushing politics in everything. Entertainment especially is meant as an escape from life stress and people have increasingly been on pushing back on artists bringing their politics into focus.
But the left really don't want to acknowledge this, and you see it on many Reddit threads of how anything that differs from the hive opinion is downvoted or dismissed as not activity. They actively push people away from their ideology by being so pushy and annoying about everything; I fail to see any emotional intelligence in explicitly rejecting the notion of building compromise and instead screaming at anyone who isn't already 100% in your camp to get out.
It's perspective. Within their respective, chosen bubble, they are behaving highly effectively. You're right that the same actions can backfire heavily in others, or even in the overwhelming majority. But in their social circle? This is how they score points.
But the left really don't want to acknowledge this, and you see it on many Reddit threads of how anything that differs from the hive opinion is downvoted or dismissed as not activity.
It's actually been shown that around 80% of the online content is made by around 20% of the public, those being the fringe 10% on each side. I initially doubted this, but when you think about it, it makes sense.
The people who live on Twitter, Reddit, or any other social media platform simply outproduce those who do not. They literally have nothing else, so of course they produce more and spend more time crafting narratives.
Likewise, unfortunately, news media loves a bad, drama-filled story, because it gets clicks. Even the moderates who disagree with the opinions voiced will click to feel a sense of horror, moral superiority, or just to get a vibe of the world and what humans are capable of.
Great example: I remember watching a street interview in Pennsylvania regarding who people would vote for in 2024. By far the most dominant opinion was something akin to:
"Trump. I don't really like him and I don't have a lot of hope for him changing anything, but Kamala said she's basically gonna be doing the same thing as Biden, and I see how it's going with Biden and I can't keep this up. So I feel like I don't really have a choice, yknow?"
Give it time, let the news spin it, and suddenly instead of this being majority jaded, pessimistic voters feeling "forced" to make that choice, suddenly it's all MAGAts who love Trump and support him in everything he does no matter what.
I also think this is very visible with the "Blue Wall." Go look up voting stats on the Blue wall and it has flipped it's allegiance every election without fail since 2016. The Blue Wall isn't loyal to anyone, it's clearly just pissed. Those are Americans who feel like they aren't being heard, so whenever they don't feel heard, they oust whoever's in power, be they red or blue.
Even now, Trump is cutting deals with Russia to get cheaper gas. This is actually hurting his numbers and contradicts the idea that most Americans will just blindly support him, but that hurts people's narrative where they feel like the brave hero fighting the big bad and the masses of idiots, so we just look the other way on that.
But again, look at the mainstream media and how sites like reddit choose to depict politics, and it's all MAGAts and purple-haired woke feminazis. Nobody ever depicts either voter as the moderate who hates BOTH candidates and just feels forced to make a choice, despite the fact that independent voters are the fasting growing voting bloc. ALL the stats support that most people do not like Trump nor the DNC, and yet we frequently depict everyone as one of two extremes.
It's unfortunately something that arises because the exact people that shouldn't be forming and spouting opinions are the exact people most likely to, while the news media is more than happy to give those takes legitimacy for some clicks and views.
I'm curious if you've ever been diagnosed with ASPD. I'm trying to get better at recognizing diagnosed sociopaths and you write like one so I was wondering.
Your assumption that empathy is a tactic and not a reaction. Your whole thing about "social credit points.' You seem to be annoyed that other people are having emotions that you are not.
Yeah, exactly. Stuff like that. Trying to pretend that because you didn't say the word 'empathy' that your whole diatribe wasn't a screed against supposed performative empathy. It's cool though, you're clearly not diagnosed which was my question.
Could it be possible that what's instead going on is you are resorting to lobbing thinly-veiled insults at me because I made a comment you disagree with, and your entire framing is just some elaborate rationalization to try and justify you behaving like a twat?
Maybe I just don’t want to give my time or money to someone I think is a piece of shit. Crazy concept, I know. Nobody’s obligated to support an artist, and criticizing someone isn’t the same as trying to cancel them. Funny how the people screaming about freedom of expression suddenly have a problem when someone expresses an opinion they don’t like.
Cancel culture has been around since the dawn of time. If you say something to oiss off/alienate your audience/fans they stop coming and you stop making money. This isn't some new "woke" concept, it's just how the world works.
Lol keep pretending this kind of silly internet outrage shit will have even the remotest impact on metallica concert ticket sales. The real world doesn't run on performative virtue signaling. It runs on actual illegal protests that don't play by the rules. You're not changing the world from the stage of a paid concert.
Nope, it's absolutely real and does affect people's lives. It's just not affecting this specific band's ticket sales, they are far too big for that. They will still be getting plenty of toxic hate mail, widespread criticism in clickbait outrage slow news day "journalism" publications, people being rude online in any space they might occupy etc.
Two things can be true, you don't have to treat these as mutually exclusive absolutes. Also cancel culture doesn't only affect media personalities, you can be cancelled as a private employee or even as an underaged student. "Not real" my ass dude.
Again if you do something bad enough that your employer determines keeping you on would be damaging to the business, that is the consequences of your actions. The concept of being fired for behaving poorly in the community is also not new. Get a grip.
This implies top down power structures are moral paragons of judgement. An awful lot of trust put in authority figures and corporate oversight no? Do you feel this way about other political issues that corporate entities engage with?
And? Charitable donations don’t make someone immune to criticism. They’re also potentially tax deductible, so let’s not act like there’s never a financial incentive. Donating money is great, but it doesn’t automatically excuse refusing to use your actual voice and influence to stand up for something. You can acknowledge the good they’ve done while still criticizing hetfield’s remarks. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. Why is that such a difficult concept?
A tax deduction is not as beneficial as you might think. Take $1,000 and donate it. Which lowers my taxable income from as a random example $100,000 to $99,000 or keep that $1,000 and pay whatever my tax rate is on that $1K which for example at 40% you pay $400 of that $1K and keep $600. Which means you make $99,600 instead of $99,000. I would rather keep $600 than lose $1K
Who said anything about blindly adopting a celebrity’s opinions? There’s a difference between telling people what to think and expressing what you believe in. People are perfectly capable of hearing an opinion and forming their own conclusions. By your logic, musicians shouldn’t write songs about war, injustice, religion, or anything remotely controversial because that might influence somebody. Do you even listen to the music, or just the instruments?
I don't think anybody would say anything if Metallica didn't say anything. Honestly, Idk why people thought Metallica was metal after the whole Napster thing. Basically sellouts since the early 2000s
The Napster thing was more valid than people think. Bands make money from album and merch sales. Albums sales these days are basically dead because of streaming and you can see how negatively its effected the music industry
Then they shouldn’t have tossed their conviction into the toilet after telling their fans at early concerts to record their concerts and spread them around.
Well Metallica won, Napster failed and now bands don't get paid legally now! They didn't hate streaming, they hated "pirating" which now streaming is a legal and bands still don't get paid. Considering that they aren't protesting Spotify shows that a)it was never about artists and b)they are a bunch of corpo sellouts.
The, 'napster thing' affected people's lives, it wasn't some abstract. One of the accused, dragged through the courts for years.. She worked as a maid, single mom.. was still trying to sort out her legal affairs as late as 2017. So that she wouldn't have a financial sledgehammer hanging over her for the rest of her working life.
Bands only make a small percentage from album sales, most of that money goes to the record company (which was why the industry went so hard against Napster). Bands have always made most of their money from touring, streaming isn't really taking much away from them even though the overall numbers are smaller.
Were you alive when Napster happened? I don’t know where people got the idea that album sales were where most bands made money. Record contracts paid absolute peanuts to bands until they had enough clout to negotiate better rates. Songwriters had a statutory rate of like 1.5%, and the writers almost always got paid more than the bands. Merch was always the cornerstone of a band’s finances, touring was always second. Album sales were always low revenue and diminishing returns. Ticket sales were a much bigger business and that’s why TicketMaster was the next target.
Nope, but they wouldn't have seen a single red cent more if Napster got banned. They were potesting for their corporate overlords. Thus, making them sellouts. I don't work for free, but I would sell out my company for a peanut butter sandwich
Why would I be a fan of a big company stealing other people's arts and IP? Napster made no money off of other people's stuff, AI companies do. I take it you are though since you seem to be a big fan of companies fucking over artists, songwriters, producers, and most other people in creative industries.
They were pirating music. Just like all pirated stuff, it never hurts the artists. At worst, you never have people listen to music and they would never be a fan. Best case, they become a fan, got to a concert and get merch which does significantly more for a band than album sales. Also, if they cared at all, they would be protesting Spotify and all streaming since it fucks over more artists than Napster ever could dream of, but they don't because they never gave a shit. Their corpo handlers told them to protest so they did. It was never about artists, never about music. They were sellouts. That's the end of the discussion. If you can't see that, there is no point in talking any more
Back then artists got advances on record sales. Record sales paid back the advances. Pirating made it so ARTISTS couldn’t pay back advances. You were directly taking money out of their pockets by pirating and not buying the album (if you would have bought the album instead of pirating)
This should get upvoted to the top. Are we so desperate for things to get outraged about that now we are aggrieved because Metallica isn't political enough? My goodness, no wonder we can't elect a decent politician. Talk about focusing on all the wrong things.
"Dear Americans, you have important elections coming up soon, focus on that please instead on whether Shane Gillis is evil for joking about women wearing revealing clothes at the gym and an old man being grumpy about political speeches during live shows"
Culture wars are a distraction from the class war pushed largely by bots and trolls.
People just want a reason to shit on someone famous. Is every music artist an educated and informed political commentator? Are we supposed to listen to their opinions just because they are famous?
Why only politics? Should we ask musicians what they think caused the Late Bronze Age collapse? Or maybe what they think is the reason for the missing mass in galaxies? Thoughts on Riemann Hypothesis? I'd like to hear what Adele thinks about Haber-Bosch catalyst pathways.
You’re missing the point- Metallica made a political statement here, and THAT opens them up to criticism. I can pay attention to this for a moment and then also focus on elected representatives. But I’m very much allowed to go up in arms when a metal band tries to say that their metal show is only for “forgetting about all the outside shit”.
Like- as a musician- I’m more offended about that than anything. Metal is meant to confront, to antagonize, and to draw out an argument. It’s meant to re-contextualize the world, not to forget that the world exists.
Idk who these NPC’s are that demand that every artist engage in politics. Nobody’s mind has ever been changed by this bullshit (nor should they, it’s a fucking band). They either want them to say what they already agree with so they can clap or say something they disagree with so they can have an excuse to hate them
How disgusting using a term like NPC to describe people. Just say that you don't understand humanity and are so isolated on Reddit and video games that you can't even think of how people could be different from you.
We didn’t start this criticism, they did. If they just kept playing their songs- like they suggest others ought to- then they wouldn’t be brought up just like the last 20 years.
They said “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullshit, OK? We are here...no bullshit...we're here to forget about all the outside shit, OK?"
They said this at a METAL concert. Metal isn’t about being on the sidelines. One doesn’t scream because they’re complacent. Those thrashing chords are meant to MOVE you.
They’re fundamentally misrepresenting their own craft and telling us to shut our brains off and eat whatever they shove in our mouths.
If I didn’t care about what they had to say (which I don’t) I would stop listening to their music (which I did). If you don’t care what they have to say, why defend them?
Seriously, if he'd just left out the "like some other entertainers", I wouldn't give a fuck. But the dismissive attitude to those performers who do choose to use their platform to speak to greater issues probably means I won't be buying any more Metallica tickets. And if you think other bands should just shut up and play their songs, then take your own advice and do just that.
I think the issue was that James specifically stood up on stage and made the statement about their shows "not being political, we're just here to have a good time" which is fine, nobody's asking for your opinion, but then he decided to trash other musicians for doing so "we're not here to influence you with our opinion like other's do" yada yada like fine, you want to keep making your millions and turn a blind eye, that's fine. But why judge other's who want to get involved?
That I think is why people are so upset... Instead of just keep playing music, he tried to put himself above others.
Were people asking for Metallica to say something before he made that statement at his concert? His concert video was the first time I'd seen anything about all this
You know why you didn't think about their beliefs? Because they made a point of not trying to shove them down people's throats. You know, the whole point of the statement that's a problem now, but wasn't for decades leading up to this.
Sure, but no one was asking for their political opinions, so who was screaming "your silence is deafening" at them like the other commenter posted. Just like the person he responded to said, we wouldn't even be talking about them if they said nothing
Literally a controversy they brought on themselves
So, again, they made a statement about a frankly disturbing trend where celebrities take a very public and preachy stance on politics. That doesn't mean that someone had to ask them about it. Their statement is in line with literally decades of previous statements, but it's only a problem now, why exactly? If you can't come up with a legitimate reason why it's a problem now and wasn't say, 5 years ago, maybe the outrage is manufactured 🤷♂️
No, the statement was explicitly calling out the musicians that have very recently made it part of their very public persona to stand out for something. This isn't the same as their previous statement, this was a direct call out to other musicians. Not just a statement of non-politicalness. And obviously from your comment you make it clear you don't like people standing up for Gaza and the rest as musicians, but you're trying to pretend that you're the normal one.
Because Metallica opened their concert by complaining how everyone is too political with their concerts. They waded into the the conversation to throw shade and invited the response: criticism.
If they had actually just stayed quiet and stayed out of the conversation, then we wouldn't be talking about it. Like every other band we're not talking about.
No one cared until James opened his mouth and stuck his foot in there. This is on James, not some social justice champions from Reddit. James caused this.
Maybe people just want some entertainment without having every stupid inch of the political shitshow that is reality being shoved down our throats every moment. Maybe Walmart should start hanging Free Palestine banners out the front of their stores
They won't, they're part of the problem. "Everything is political" means we can't have a moment of respite? or do we have to constantly have all of our attention fixed on it always? It's tedious, and tiring, and it's making everyone hostile. I love tuning (need to, for sanity) it out for a while, and if some artist started trying to tell me what my political position was supposed to be, then they would very quickly cease to be an artists who's art I engage, unless the original draw was specifically for the politics of it all, but art and music is for creativity, which is one of the last bastions of the freedom to be a little non-linear for a moment.
Im also ok if they dont do that. Im sick of hearing everyones opinion on everything. Why should a singer be expected to be a professional on global conflict and politics? We've let politics drip jnto every subject and its honestly ruining everything.
We all know of the horrors of the world that continue why would i need a rocker to throw in their take.
This is the equivalent of slapping on a filter on a facebook image to show you care about black lives, or are anti war, etc. Its meaningless nonsense that only feeds your ego as you blindly march to your sides demands. Id rather actual action personally.
They have a great charity out there doing wonders... god knows its more then you've ever done for the world Imango. If anything you have only made things worse as you type on your child slavery phone. But sure metallica big bad because they dont spend more concert time telling us what we already know.
Taking my kids and dogs out into the woods isn't political, it’s purposeful living, you cheesy-crusted belly goblin. Volunteering locally isn't political, it’s actually caring for people.
This culture of "everything is political" is just a trap. It turns every human interaction into a battleground so we stay angry, isolated, and distracted. Corporate media and political elites rely on us screaming at each other over nonsense online so we never turn around and demand actual accountability or real systemic change.
Talking shit on social media isn't activism; it's just pushing their slop for them. If you want real change, stop taking the bait, get off the keyboard, and go do something that actually matters in the real world.
It's not even that they WANT them to express any kind of political opinion. I mean, I'm sure some do, but that's not why everyone is up in arms.
Metallica could have just played their music.
The way they contrasted themselves against people who have spoken out recently, they pitted themselves against the stance of other performers. "Influence you with their bullshit."
That's the problem, by pretending they were NOT here to be political, they took a firm political stance. Which, frankly, looks like they're trying to pander to the right (understandable, I'd wager most people who actually like Metallica these days are) instead of just shutting up and playing which would have gotten the result they CLAIM to want.
I'm not condemning them to pandering to one side, I'm just saying, let's not pretend like they aren't.
Yeah I love Metallica as a music fan but these people are obviously brain fried from the decades of their lifestyles. They're not exactly the people you want on your side of the moral compass to prove a point.
It’s desperate because there are monstrosities occurring right now. Children are being burned alive. Every celebrity voice unfortunately matters. It brings more awareness and pushes for change.
I dont think people cared about their political opinion until they decided to call people out who speak about theirs at concerts. That is hypocritical. That’s what people are on about.
ITs the opposite thing, unfortunately....they cannot stand the existence of people who might think something different than they do.
See...because they have all the information, and their opinion is the right one at all times.
And that's why they're better people than their opponents and enemies. Being better starts with saying all the right things. IT also ends there, no one is expecting Ms. Rachel to go hold a picket sign in Gaza, its enough that she uses her internet clout performing for children, her target audience and why Reddit is so familiar with her...to say the things they think. As we all know, words speak louder than actions. Being a good person just means saying the right things when you're asked.
Also, this is nothing like being Holier than thou in the last century for the former social order. Totally different in fact. I mean, the behavior is the exact same...and the results of it. But now the "right" people are being silenced and closeted and so forth.
I grew up with the former "holier than thou" social order. They made musicians put stickers on cassettes and CD's about explicit content. Looking for that sticker was how I would shop for new artists.
I grew up with it too. You're right...stickers are nothing like trigger and content warnings at the start of movies and shows. WARNING: Tobacco use is depicted in the following.
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u/taylordevin69 9h ago
Why is anyone desperate for metallicas political opinion do you need them to tell you how to think