God, I hate Anniversaries. Writers without imagination look at their today in history section of Yahoo and decide to interpret that history for their own means. These are the type of people that try to tell you that Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is indicative of his opposition to affirmative action.
My friend just sent me an editorial from the American Spectator of all places about John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon. Its author Greg Gutfield just couldn’t resist the 30th Anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols to relate a drunken conversation he had with Lydon and thus portray him as a big fan of the Iraq War.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12092
Gutfield’s article must be read for laughs, especially his final shot across the bow of commen sense, “Johnny Rotten — the thinking Sex Pistol, as opposed to the nihilistic Sid Vicious — is really nothing more than a louder and more musically talented Reagan.”
Oh, really!
Gutfield points out how drunk he was when he talked to Lydon constantly. One shouldn’t talk to John Lydon when they are drunk. He’s liable to tell you anything and laugh uproariously at your ignorance the second you walk away.
Let’s sample a few of Lydon’s quotes and see how much he really sounds like Ronald Reagan.
Lydon on abortion:
“It ain’t about morals because it’s immoral to bring a kid into the world and not give a toss about it.”
Lydon on Iraq:
Q:I assume you were against the war in Iraq.
Lydon: Before you kill anybody you’d better have a bloody good reason. And that nonsense [about WMD] wasn’t good enough. And so they’re War Criminals. These are dangerous words I speak, [but] I’m not ashamed to say what’s right. People have died because of these two cunts.
Lydon on America, which Gutfield claims Johnny loves just as much as Reagan did.
Lydon: Yeah, I do like the people here. You’re easier going in many ways. Except the foo-foo. The more wealthy the people become here, the more conservative and more dangerous. That’s an odd thing, but the poorer classes are absolutely fine by me.
Remember how Reagan reinstilled our national pride?
Lydon: I think national pride leads to nothing but wars and hates.
Gutfield sees Lydon mock Democrats and decides that he’s clearly a republican when, in actuality, he hates both political parties:
Lydon: They’re all out for the same greed. And it’s all about power and position, isn’t it?
Here’s some more fun Gutfield, “I am probably nuts — but I always sort of thought that the punk movement made Ronald Reagan more than a bit possible.”
Yes, indeed, Greg, you are nuts!
Does any of the above sound Reaganesque to any of you?
I wonder how Ronald Reagan would feel about this Lydon statement: “All my best friends are black, gay, Irish or criminals.”
If it’s any consolation to Gutfield, Johnny Ramone was a well known right winger.
So read Gutfield’s article and laugh out loud, but please don’t tell him that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of the release of “Rock the Casbah,” because that song doesn’t mean what those people think it means either.
