Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wow Oy Vey Maria! Rick Santorum on the Evils of Rock ... and Academia ... and Protestants ... and ...
Posted by Jack Silverman on Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 4:44 PM
It's becoming increasingly clear that Rick Santorum is not only very conservative, but in fact bat-shit crazy. And now, we find out that he feels rock 'n' roll is the work of Satan. And he really means Satan. As in the dude with the horns.
At this 2008 speech at Ave Maria University, he first rambles on about about how Satan has taken over academia — "They were in fact, smarter than everybody else! They could come up with something new and different. Pursue new truths!" Horrors! New ideas! New truths!
Next up, mainstream Protestantism, which he says is in a shambles after being taken over by Satan. And — surprise! — he gives Catholics a pass.
Then, at about 3:15, he says:
The corruption of culture, the corruption of manners, the corruption of decency is now on display whether it's the NBA, at a rock concert, or on a movie screen.
This is some of craziest, most unhinged rambling I've heard out of a major presidential candidate in my lifetime. Yowza! You owe it to yourself to listen to the whole thing. Incredible.
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
we made ourselves a big moving target. what was the turning point? Andy Jackson perhaps or U.S. Grant? I'd love to get Santorum on post-structuralism or "carnival" logic in the narrative theories of Bahktin. the Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic is a shambles. The Cat'licks or the Jews (who read French theorists and probably watch movies with subtitles), the rock 'n' roll. people in political life get elected by ordinary folks, who do not read books or listen to Radiohead? Ben Folds perhaps, he is a good lad and just plays piano. I'm attempting to summarize. the man is wacky!
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Anyone who's surprised by this kind of speech obviously didn't grow up in the Bible Belt. Satan and the evils of rock 'n' roll were ideas that were thrown around pretty regularly where I came from. I don't agree with it, but I'm not surprised.
Given Santorum's religious beliefs, it's hard to imagine him having any other view of mainstream rock, which is largely hedonistic and leaves God out of its worldview for the most part. Are you especially surprised that a rock concert is one of the places where he sees decadence? It seems inevitable to me.
Goddless rock concerts like U2, seen here bringing their hedonism to Vanderbilt stadium. (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL63D…). What about the desperately immoral Paul Simon, at the Ryman (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB70…). Gratefully, Satan does not have his sights set on Canada, so Rush is ok: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF18….
@The Daily Vinyl: Lest we forget backmasking records. No wonder vinyl has seen a boost these days.
@Pete, Laura:
No, his views on rock don't surprise me. But some of the other stuff he says in this rambling manifesto is pretty shocking for the leading Republican candidate. Honestly, I hung this post on the rock angle just because this is Cream. But the stuff he says about academia and Protestantism etc. is the really insane part. I know the right has loved to rail on academia, but the whole "Satan has taken over our universities" — meant in quite a literal sense — is pretty fucking over-the-top insane.
Rick Santorum is the church lady from SNL, minus the dance moves. Let's hope Rick becomes the republican nominee. His extreme views put him on the bizzarro radical fringe of society - and atop the polls for the presidency in today's GOP. I wonder what ol' Mitt Romney likes to rock out to on his ipod - Lawrence Welk, maybe? Poking fun at the GOP prez candiates is easy, but to me, it's still the republican rockers - like Gene Simmons, Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, and Santorum's newest cheerleader, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth - that are the most gross. I'm not exactly sure just what Dave Mustaine and Rick Santorum have in common, but it's probably not the amounts of heroin they've individually ingested. Seems like a lot of the aging hair metal guys are trending conservative these days - which is yet another reason to avoid them at all costs.
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