# Big Brother is Watching You. **URL:** \ **Category:** PittSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438 "2004-11-17T19:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShalerPunk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/shalerpunk/32/5976_2.png) [@ShalerPunk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ShalerPunk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/1 "2004-11-17T19:50:53Z")
Taken from: [http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04321/412504.stm](http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04321/412504.stm) **Yes, the times they are a changin’** Tuesday, November 16, 2004 By Tony Norman Back in the days when this was a free country, it was possible to sing an antiwar song like “Masters of War” without having to give the Secret Service a second thought. But 41 years after Bob Dylan recorded his elegiac, acoustically spare meditation on the folly of war, the lyrics are still causing trouble with those H.L.Mencken referred to as the “booboisie.” Last week, radio talk shows in Colorado were abuzz over a local punk band’s plans to cover “Masters of War” at a Friday night talent show at Boulder High School. Rumors about the band, which drolly calls itself the Coalition of the Willing, prompted calls to the Secret Service in Denver because of alleged threats against President Bush. The “threat” consisted of the following copyrighted lyrics: "Let me ask you one question / Is your money that good? / Will it buy you forgiveness? / Do you think that it could? / I think you will find / When your death takes its toll / All the money you made / Will never buy back your soul. “And I hope that you die / And your death will come soon / I will follow your casket / In the pale afternoon / And I’ll watch while you’re lowered / Down to your death bed / And I’ll stand over your grave / 'Til I’m sure that you’re dead.” Never mind that the intent of the song was to use a corpse as a metaphor for the Cold War-era U.S. military, people still called talk shows in Boulder insisting that the lyrics were about assassinating George Bush! These days, high school students who call themselves the Coalition of the Willing are assumed to be seditious until proven innocent. Bob Dylan was standing on less controversial ground four decades ago when he wrote what would became the third-most-covered antiwar song in recording history. In “Masters of War,” Dylan was echoing President Eisenhower’s parting words to the country in 1961 – a blunt warning about the military industrial complex and its corrosive effects on American life. Ike’s words were still an important part of the public conversation when Dylan’s song hit the airwaves nearly two years later. But as clever as the lyrics were, they weren’t particularly radical. If anything, Dylan’s observations, though laced with bitterness and poetic license, were a distillation of conventional wisdom: “You fasten the triggers / For the others to fire / Then you sit back and watch / When the death count gets higher / You hide in your mansion / As young people’s blood / Flows out of their bodies / And is buried in the mud.” Decades after the trauma of Vietnam, the public’s attitude toward the military has become less skeptical than it was at the beginning of the Cold War. Since 9/11, most Americans prefer to let the yellow ribbons on their car bumpers debate the issues for them. “Support the Troops” has become shorthand for “Don’t Ask Questions.” In the context of today’s politics, the lyrics to “Masters of War” can’t help but come across as both radical and prophetic. A day before the talent show, the Secret Service paid a visit to Boulder High School and corralled the school’s principal, who quickly vouched for his students’ patriotism. Most of the chatter that had been swirling on talk radio about the band was nonsense, but the Secret Service had to check it out. Rather than risk another second of embarrassment, the agency quickly cleared the band. The next night, the Coalition of the Willing performed before a sold-out crowd of young people who’d gotten a crash course on the threat to their civil liberties. An American flag was the band’s only backdrop, signaling the anarchy in their souls. Though cleared of treason, the C.O.W. must have taken delight in singing the song’s most prescient lyrics: “How much do I know / To talk out of turn? / You might say that I’m young / You might say I’m unlearned / But there’s one thing I know / Though I’m younger than you / Even Jesus would never forgive what you do.” ---
**Author:** ![Gray05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cc9497/32.png) [@Gray05](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gray05)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/2 "2004-11-17T20:15:30Z")
:gives: ---
**Author:** ![ShalerPunk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/shalerpunk/32/5976_2.png) [@ShalerPunk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ShalerPunk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/3 "2004-11-17T20:22:51Z")
> [@Blue4](#): > > :gives: “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.” -Pastor Martin Niemöller ---
**Author:** ![fattyvr6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/977dab/32.png) [@fattyvr6](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fattyvr6)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/4 "2004-11-17T21:44:39Z")
> [@ShalerPunk](#): > > “First they came for the Jews > and I did not speak out > because I was not a Jew. > Then they came for the Communists > and I did not speak out > because I was not a Communist. > Then they came for the trade unionists > and I did not speak out > because I was not a trade unionist. > Then they came for me > and there was no one left > to speak out for me.” > > -Pastor Martin Niemöller :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Darkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@Darkstar](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Darkstar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/5 "2004-11-17T23:48:15Z")
> [@ShalerPunk](#): > > “First they came for the Jews > and I did not speak out > because I was not a Jew. > Then they came for the Communists > and I did not speak out > because I was not a Communist. > Then they came for the trade unionists > and I did not speak out > because I was not a trade unionist. > Then they came for me > and there was no one left > to speak out for me.” > > -Pastor Martin Niemöller thats one of my favorite quotes. my favorite has to be Ben Franklin: They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin \> George W Douche ---
**Author:** ![imported\_showtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@imported\_showtime](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/imported_showtime)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/6 "2004-11-18T05:30:32Z")
patriot act OWNZ all ---
**Author:** ![imported\_showtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@imported\_showtime](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/imported_showtime)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/7 "2004-11-18T05:31:02Z")
> [@showtime](#): > > patriot act OWNZ all ---
**Author:** ![Jeff95TA](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/jeff95ta/32/5935_2.png) [@Jeff95TA](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Jeff95TA)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/8 "2004-11-18T08:27:45Z")
I think you guys are just paranoid. :shaggy: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rookee](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/rookee/32/5972_2.png) [@rookee](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/rookee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/9 "2004-11-18T08:53:47Z")
hehehe or Dennis Miller “Everybody in the world is Hitler. Bush is Hitler, Ashcroft is Hitler, Rumsfeld is Hitler. The only guy who isn’t Hitler is the foreign guy with a mustache dropping people who disagree with him into the wood chipper. He’s not Hitler” ---
**Author:** ![silvrhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvrhand](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/silvrhand)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:09am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/10 "2004-11-18T09:09:06Z")
Ok, Someone stirred up the parents about the band at the high school, which the housewife rumor mill churned up and then all of a sudden it’s a band that is talking about assassinating the President. Then someone calls the FBI/Police/SS which they came down, checked it out and left… You know that’s their job right? ---
**Author:** ![Darkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@Darkstar](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Darkstar)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:31am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/big-brother-is-watching-you/170438/11 "2004-11-18T09:31:32Z")
> [@silvrhand](#): > > Ok, > > Someone stirred up the parents about the band at the high school, which the housewife rumor mill churned up and then all of a sudden it’s a band that is talking about assassinating the President. Then someone calls the FBI/Police/SS which they came down, checked it out and left… You know that’s their job right? Its still a funny story. Just goes to show how stupid/diluted/paranoid people are today.