The phenomenon of #MetalGate expands as social justice warriors (SJWs) find themselves on the defensive, so they have retaliated with their favorite accusation: “There’s no issue here!” They want you to believe that #MetalGate was drummed up in response to “just two lines” in a SPIN article.
In their spin (no pun intended) metalheads and #GamerGate veterans formulated this whole situation out of pure hype, despite these being only a few of the articles written to try to shepherd metal into bowing down, becoming sociable, adopting the dominant paradigm of its age, and in other words becoming like everything else in media and music in its endorsement of an agenda favored by some people but not most metal fans: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. These are just a sampling of the many articles written about metal and how it is either bad and terrible because it is not PC, or how now that it has become focused on “social issues” — generally something only grindcore bands do — that it is OK for normal, soft, fluffy and well-intentioned people to like it, but only the good bands with the right opinions. You know, the opinions like those of the 1960s bands that metal rebelled against in the first place!
Now let’s look at those “just two lines” again:
Metal is still dogged by the issues that arise from its deep-seated conservative values, but thanks to an increase in conversations about racism, politics, and feminism, those on the right side of history have gained solid ground.
Two-line statements have launched wars, ended careers and brought down economies. The question is the content of those lines, and in those words the writer tells us that metal is conservative, conservative is bad, and thus metal is bad, and that metal is on “the wrong side of history” if it does not start immediately making its focus creating propaganda (and let’s be fair: preachy lyrics are propaganda) about “racism, politics, and feminism.” This assumes that metal has not addressed these issues in the past and found another way of addressing the underlying issues. When the writer at SPIN says that metal needs to adopt these issues, she means that metal needs to preach the dogma she agrees with and abandon its own take on these issues. For political fanatics, framing of the issues is everything, and they frame those issues so that their conclusions are the only ones you can reach.
What we have here, as in #GamerGate, is a small group of people who — being inclined toward media and pop music — have infiltrated the metal scene and are trying to use it to preach their own propaganda. Metal already has its own way of addressing all these issues. We do not need to be bullied into agreeing with this small group of SJWs who contribute nothing but commentary and support only the “new” metal bands which are most emphatically not the classics of the genre, nor in the views of many of us anywhere near the quality of the classics. But these bands have the “right” opinions, you see, and for these fanatics, that is all that matters. Their latest attempts to minimize #MetalGate are just an attempt to distract and deflect from that reality, but they have picked the wrong group to attack, because metalheads specialize in unpleasant realities that socially pretentious people would like to avoid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oZCZicsuHc
Tags: hipsters, metalgate, modern metal, propaganda
Goatcraft has been vocal about metalgate and said “keep metal dangerous”
Someone should ask him how creating Final Fantasy music contributes to that.
Only from below can one appreciate the realm of the koala. For it was written at first sparrow’s fart: not the bouncing of the kangaroo, nor the dangling of the koala, are anywhere as heavenly as the limited wallaby in awe of the limitless heights and the kingdoms therein above his furry head.
:o haha! this is great
Final Fantasy games have pretty great music. Your blood sugar must be low, that’s why you made such a grouchy-ass comment. *hands you some eucalyptus stalks*
Yet another attempt (and a weak one at that) by this corrupted society to upheave anything with values rooted in times prior to the hippie generation.
Well said Cory,
I think what’s happened here is one of the SJW horde dipped their toe in the water and realized it’s freezing cold and going to be rather uncomfortable. They claim it’s a non-issue because they ran away almost immediately. To me, the point of #MetalGate is not because there is a vast SJW collussion in media pertaining to the metal genre but rather is a preemptive call to arms after everything we’ve seen in #GamerGate.
Those of us who are actually diverse and open to differing opinions, even the nasty ones, are learning to put a stop to such nonsense before it has a chance to flourish and become a major issue. In turn, if the SJW’s decide to come at us we will already be prepared. They must know we’re waiting for them.
At any rate I want to invite everyone, including the author and his friends to join my Facebook group #MetalGate Band. I want it to be a hub for all of us to discuss the genre we love so much and also keep an eye out for anything that may give credence to the #MetalGate movement. Link below!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetalGateBand/
Anyone who uses the phrase “wrong side of history” needs to fuck off and stop being such a narcissist. I don’t care what side of the political spectrum you’re on.
Why is all of this stuff happening now? Cultural Marxist endgame? It would be nice if that whole movement finally reared its ugly head and was summarily decapitated.
Gender and race have really never been issues, with the exception of fringe “groups,” until they were brought up by these SJW jerks. Black dude likes Incantation? Big deal, he gets the music, and we don’t need socially conscious songs about race. No one cares about your sex and gender as long as there’s a mutual love and understanding of the music. They just create issues from nothing to make it look like their cause is adding meaning to their banal existence.
I still have no idea what they wish to accomplish here. Every sanctimonious authoritarian that tried to fuck metal up, no matter what “wing” they are, have been destroyed so far and they used more direct methods and were backed by stronger institutions. They will try to destroy us by trying to infiltrate us, after we figure out that they know nothing about the history and themes of the music (metal should be more supporting of homosexuals (oops, I seem to be forgetting that Rob Halford one of the biggest icons in metal is gay, my bad), metal should start exploring political themes (War Pigs? Black Sabbath? Haha, that’s occult music for manchildren, I listen to true thinking man’s metal with true social themes like Gojira)) and call them faggots, poseurs, whatever, they’ll resort to shaming tactics which won’t fly because metal is a genre that doesn’t seek acceptance and doesn’t get their feelings hurt by the words of sheep and the expectations of the herd.
This reminds me of that VICE article where a writer’s feelings were hurt after a bunch of metalheads called Deafheaven non-metal, after which he said that metalheads are “elitist jerks” that are defending music like Inquisition, because they look like they don’t wash their hair and wear weird black clothes and facepaint rather than acceptable, sporty clothes and ironic Hitlerjugend hairdos, so you shouldn’t associate with the former because they look like losers. Now, even though Inquisition’s quality dipped I’d rather listen to their discography non-stop for a week than even listen to a minute of Deafheaven’s whining about how some random bitch has a bigger house than Hitlerjugendman.
After they see that their non-efforts to “make metal grow up” have failed, all of those “long-time metalhead” writers will “grow out” of metal and listen to “real, sensible, acceptable” music like Kanye West and Taylor Swift. The same will happen to their supporters, which will compose of fedora-blessed basement dwellers who watch girls’ cartoons, hipsters and authoritarian cultural Marxists, they’ll just move on to cheesy Japanese videogame soundtracks (no offense to Japanese videogame soundtracks that aren’t cheesy) or hippie music.
That being said, I’m not saying that this is a non-issue. Well, it is, but we still can’t grow complacent. We have to learn from history, since those people obviously didn’t.
There are always groups of people trying to force their agenda onto you. Most of them are religious. The Temperance Movement wanted to make life miserable for people in England and America.
SJWs are chronically offended Victorians.
The SJW will win. They have take down the entire US(and Europe) with their BS, and as a subset of those cultures, it is inevitable that metal culture will also fall to their attacks. They will bury us with $$ by promoting bands that are “on message” in the corporate media. Kids will look up to these politically correct rockstars and in time, it will be the only game in town. The real question here is, why does the establishment move in lockstep on these fronts? It’s almost as if there is a hidden coordinating force….
Lol, nah couldn’t be.. ;)
There’s no hidden coordinating force. It’s just the dominant moral and ideological paradigm of our times. A cultural elite develops a world outlook based on a combination of guilt, crusader zeal, and scorn for otherness, and tries to ram it down everyone else’s throat. In this case, ironically enough, the cultural elite is white upper-middle class young people with access to (what passes for) education, telling the rest of us that we’re not diverse enough (hilarious when you actually look at the impressively international genealogy of metal bands).
Exactly. No need for shadowy figures; it’s just what most people find convenient to believe.
People can act in coordinated fashion spontaneously.
I believe in micro-conspiracies but I have a harder time with huge,
long ranging conspiracies. It’s shared cultural values that make almost all journalists move in the same direction.
The french thinker Laurent Ozon has called the media “troupes d’occupation mentales” = “occupying army of the mind”.
If someone shows up at a show or a record store or fucking t-shirt stand trying to push this nonsense – they will get a ride in an ambulance. This is not going to happen.
“If someone shows up at a show or a record store or fucking t-shirt stand trying to push this nonsense – they will get a ride in an ambulance. This is not going to happen.”
Fucking right. I’m sorry, but for at least the last five years, this entire genre of music and its devotees overall have descended to the level of self-loathing and insecurity that I would normally reserve for fans of Sunny Day Real Estate. This mindset of course is ripe for the type of mental abuse the SJW crowd seeks to inflict upon everyone within shouting distance. Fuck that. There is absolutely no need to debate these people. Metalheads do not — or at least should not — see themselves as special snowflakes, so we can’t argue with these untermenschen on those terms. Who gives a shit if we “misgender” people or if our beliefs are “problematic” to some idiot on Tumblr? We are aggressive, assertive, and unapologetic. Let them and everyone else out there see it. I’m reminded of some of my favorite lyrics:
BLASTING OUR WAY THROUGH THE BOUNDARIES OF HELL
NO ONE CAN STOP US TONIGHT
WE TAKE ON THE WORLD WITH HATRED INSIDE
MAYHEM THE REASON WE FIGHT
Grow a pair, metal. Stand your fucking ground.
left the following in the comments section of a god awful article about the need for intersectional transfluidity in metal:
http://shamelessnavelgazing.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/lord-mantis-transmisogyny-and-questions-of-intent/comment-page-1/#comment-147
I implore any traditional black metal head reading this article and those like it:
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can reason with the social justice crowd. When you see someone who uses trigger warnings in a non ironic way, run away. If you interact with such a social justice warrior you can expect gross dishonesty in your dealings. Understand that such dishohesty is totally normal for the social justice warrior and they they don’t feel bad about being dishonest with people holding “unreconstructed” views.
You can expect to be quoted out of context.
You can expect the wildest rumors to be relayed, as long as they paint you, oh unreconstructed one, in an unfavorable light.
You can expect sophistry.
You can expect passive aggressiveness.
While you may make some effort to see where your sjw adversary is comin from, know that the sjw will make no effort whatsoever to see where you’re coming from.
Does your interlocutor care a lot about ableism, privilege and transphobia ? Do not engage. Do not apologize. They’re not looking for a conversation. They just want to see you submit.