'All hope is gone'

2008-08-20 08:47

Chris Roper

Well, I didn't see this one coming. Yet again, Satanic music is blamed for some poor psychotic kid going on a rampage. In the case of the Krugersdorp sword killing, we have a quote from "Community leader, Pierre Eksteen, who is in charge of a school support network for children."

He "told reporters outside the deserted school grounds that Satanic music was probably the cause of the attack.

"He came here camouflaged as the guys from Slipknot. We know the wrong kind of music, and drugs have bad effects. Young people need to be informed of the effects of bad Satanic music," said Eksteen."

And this is what Chris Roper said, in a rare non-televised interview: "With community leaders as dumb as this, it's no wonder kids go crazy. Dysfunctional kids will always find a reason to be screw-ups. Charles Manson claimed to kill for God, and George Bush does it for Democracy. Satan does not in fact write music, although he does on the odd occasion do backup vocals for Celine Dion."

Also, the idea of a kid camouflaging himself by putting on a horrible mask and dressing in black is slightly counter-intuitive. Surely he'd have been better off dressing as, for example, a community leader? I mean, even I'd notice a guy with a demon mask, and I live in Cape Town.

This is tragedy, and I don't want to be too satirical about it, but come on - surely we can understand that kids turn to nu-metal and punk because their lives are screwed up, rather than the obvious fallacy that they become sociopaths because of the music?

Making things worse

I'm not saying that listening to bands like Slipknot can't exacerbate the problem, because it does, in the same way that watching a Quentin Tarantino movie, reading the Old Testament, becoming a fan of a Dutch soccer team, or joining the ANC Youth League are all the same grist to the mill if you happen to be an arsehole looking for a reason to destroy. But none of those things in themselves should be banned (except maybe the ANC Youth League... no, not even them.)

Here are some Slipknot lyrics for you, from Disasterpiece, just so you know what sort of thing we're dealing with.

"I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound/I wanna push my face in and feel the swoon/ I wanna dig inside, find a little bit of me/ Cuz the line gets crossed when you don't come clean."

Now you might think they're pretty outrageous sentiments, and you'd be right. But they're also pretty standard for any blockbuster movie nowadays, so what you gonna do? You're the ones sending your children off to take in some popcorn and gratuitous violence every Saturday, not Slipknot.

The answer is hinted at in another Slipknot song, called All hope is gone.

"The state of the nation - violation!/ A broken promise is as good as a lie./ The hell is humongous, the Devil's among us/ And we will burn because we won't unite!/ We won't witness anymore freedom. / Where is anybody? Do we need 'em?/ I would rather fight/ than let another die./ We're the problem/ but we're also the solution/ All hope is gone."

After the Columbine High School shootings, they tried to lay the blame on musicians like Marilyn Manson. When they asked Manson (who cancelled three concerts in memoriam of the tragedy), what he would have said to the two killers, his answer was: "Nothing. I would have listened, because no one else did."

That's it right there, as trite as it is. I don't want to paint killers as poor misunderstood victims. While there might be reasons for their choices, there are no excuses. If you've killed someone, you're a killer. But we need to face the fact that we're the ones creating our problems, not some American band peddling the same violence as Saturday morning cartoons.

Chris Roper is not a fan of Slipknot. Go to www.chrisroper.co.za to leave a comment.

(Lyrics sourced from fan sites, so there might be a word or two out of place.)

And bonus lyrics from The Boomtown Rats' I don't like Mondays.

"And school's out early and soon we'll be learning / And the lesson today is how to die./ And then the bullhorn crackles/ And the captain crackles/ With the problems and the hows and whys./ And he can see no reasons/ 'Cause there are no reasons/ What reason do you need to die?"

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