Tag: charlotte

The Dead’s for everybody. If a thing is truly beautiful, then it must be available to all.

I have had enough, Enthusiasts: of nasty fuckwits with nastier grammar; of petty clamoring for status; shit, maybe of America and that hurts the most. You know I love me some America.

Of course I do, right? When has America ever closed her doors, heart, arms, legs to me? America makes my lunch in the morning and writes my name on the paper bag; she usually writes a note, too, and tosses in some candy and a handful of second chances.

America loves giving me second chances.

Technically, on paper, according to Hoyle: I’m a minority. But, if we’re honest, if you have to be a minority, then “American Jew” is the one to go with. Tutsis? Druze? Copts? Navajo? Those are minorities, too, and those poor fuckers get it in the ass with curling irons regularly. There will be no pogroms in Boca.

As I’ve said, these latest burst pimples of cruelty erupting in North Carolina and Mississippi and other places are not about bathrooms and, quite frankly, anyone who brings up bathrooms can be excluded from the conversation. (Though it should be noted that certain Southerners have historically perverse obsession with who uses what toilet.) The Mississippi law, for one, allows landlords to turn away prospective tenants because they’re gay or transgendered.

“You can’t live here, faggot. What are you gonna do about it?”

That’s the law. That’s the law these mean little fuckers passed and just to make it worse, they blamed it on Jesus. He said “How you treat the least among you is how you treated me,” and there’s no way to square that with what these states have done in His name.

The mean fuckers used to win all the time, and they still do sometimes, but you don’t have to let them. Fight back. Fight dirty. Just fight.

Cancel the fucking show.

There is a delightful and slow-motion shitstorm trickling in on Twitter, where logging on lowers your IQ by 35 points: another one of those dopey Change.org petitions has been started to get Dead & Company to cancel their Charlotte show, as Bruce did his Greenboro show. Naturally, people misread things and have begun reporting that the show is already cancelled. I am stopping myself from deliberately adding to the chaos, but only just.

Don’t misconstrue my linking to the petition as an endorsement: TotD maintains a strict “No Petition” policy. A petition is the weakest of sauce; if you want to involved in politics, then run for office or blow up a dam.  Signing some goofbrain’s clipboard outside a supermarket isn’t helping anyone, and especially not on the innertubes, where all petitions are secretly started by 4chan.

Furthermore, petitioning an artist is abhorrent. You can buy your ticket, or you can stay home; you don’t get a vote. TotD will not be signing this petition.

This leaves the question at hand, and I’ll quote:

We call upon members of Dead & Company to stand in solidarity with all those in North Carolina who oppose the discrimination and hate placed into law in the form of HB2 also known as the “bathroom law” We ask that you Please cancel your appearance in Charlotte, NC on June 10th, 2016 to show that you will not tolerate codifying hate and fear of the LGBT community. This law not only affects bathrooms but a host of other issues such as workplace discrimination. Stand against prejudice and bigotry!

[Sic]

Let us take as an assumption that the members of Dead & Company are against the bill in principle (Billy’s impromptu celebration of gay marriage at the Santa Clara show comes to mind). HB2 would not be let backstage, nor would it be added to Oteil’s Instagram feed.

And let us take as a second assumption that had Bruce not cancelled his show, then we would not be here, but whether you agree with his stance or not, Bruce’s action drew a moral line in the sand over this law.

So, here we are: should D&C cancel? Let’s look at the arguments against:

• “I agree with the law because I don’t want a man in a dress eating my infant daughter in a bathroom.”

That is a stupid argument and I’ll just move on.

• “Instead of cancelling, Dead & Company should come and spread love and positivity.”

Maaaaan.

• “Leave politics out of it.”

North Carolina’s sales tax is 4.75% and applies to concert tickets. The PNC Music Pavilion holds 19,500 and tickets average around $120. (This is a complete estimation based on looking at the Live Nation website for two minutes; if anything, it’s on the low side.) That equals $111,000 in revenue for the county and state governments, and this is of course before you add in the taxes from shirts and posters and food and VIP access and hotel rooms. If my math is off, then please correct me, but I could see a quarter million being collected by North Carolina fairly easily, and that much money is inherently political.

• “What about other states with bad laws?”

This is an argument for more direct action, not less. Therefore, I support it: there’s a number of states we need to stop coddling.

• “But I wanted to go.”

Sorry about that.

Having answered the cons, we now examine the pro side of the argument: this law is a hateful sin of a document, designed to shit just a little more on the powerless; and a lie of a thing, cassocked in dread and fevered visions of daughters and wives (never simply “women” which should give you a clue) being attacked in bathrooms by cartoon drag queens.

In reality, transgendered folks get attacked, not the other way around, never the other way around.

And this law makes it just a little bit tougher. It’s the last kick in the ribs to the guy already lying on the sidewalk; the people who passed this law cannot be reasoned with, because no reasonable person would pass this law. Men (and this was mostly done by men) who claim imagined religious persecution to strip others of rights cannot be dealt with: they must be opposed and if withholding business–as Bruce and other such as PayPal have already done–is your only weapon, then that weapon must be deployed.

The law is not about bathrooms. The law is about who gets to be a human being.

That’s my opinion, anyway, for what it’s worth. Feel free to call me an asshole in the Comment Section.