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10 Feb, 12 tweets, 3 min read
It pains me that Roger Waters was undeniably Pink Floyd's strongest songwriter because he probably has the worst politics of any rock star, at least now that Cat Stevens has calmed down a bit. This is a shocking thread, not surprising but still incredibly grim.
Don't try telling me Syd was the best, by the way, that won't wash. He was the main writer on one classic but flawed album, whereas Waters carried them through a decade and a half of smash hits.
I can see the genius of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, but I don't actually enjoy listening to it very much. It's very dated, and has a kind of cloying quality I don't get along with.
It gets lost because the album itself is so overplayed and everyone talks about the amazing production, but Dark Side does actually say some very profound things about the human experience.
That's a very good point. Four blokey blokes, bloking around defending their rapist mate, blokily.
I find Eno's politics dismaying, but he's more clueless and ignorant than anything. Waters is an actively nasty piece of work.
It really should have been over for Roger Waters the second he took it into his head to project a Magen David onto a giant pig at one of his gigs. After that, no venue should have booked him ever again.
Oh, and they're all white, too, which is lovely considering they devoted so much time to denying war crimes against Syrians.
Clapton has probably said worse things, but he doesn't devote his whole life to campaigning for terrible causes, he just sounds off from time to time. Waters has inarguably done more real world damage.
In fact, you could even argue that Clapton perversely did some good by inspiring Rock Against Racism, whereas nobody outside the usual suspects seems to give a toss about Waters' provocations.
I don't think being "the bloke in the Corrs" quite elevates you to rock star status. He's more or less just a random Twitter crank these days.
I suppose it's the old John Lennon problem, really. Can I still enjoy my favourite Beatles songs now I know he habitually hit women? The answer is: yes, I can, more or less. Who was it observed that Heaven's only musical genius is Elgar and perhaps one other person?

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More from @portraitinflesh

Tom Doran Profile picture
11 Feb
Had cause to revisit this piece I wrote for the @Independent in 2012 on how I deal with suicidal ideation. Since then, I've found a more stable medication regime and dealt with some of my issues, so I no longer experience such catastrophic troughs. independent.co.uk/voices/comment…
That doesn't mean I don't get suicidal thoughts, they're just more abstract. When I get piled onto by far left Twitter over some of my unwise past tweets, for instance, the thought of ending it all instantly occurs, but not with enough reality to start going through with it.
I'm also a coward: when my thoughts get as far as picturing myself taking a load of pills or lying down on a railway track, I stop short and snap out of it. I suppose that in itself shows it's not as bad as it could be, if I were truly suicidal, the means wouldn't be a deterrent.
Read 8 tweets
Tom Doran Profile picture
11 Feb
It's sounding like the impeachment trial is becoming a rolling political - and moral - catastrophe for Republicans. They'll still vote to acquit him, they've no choice, but their whole movement will be exposed as the crypto-fascist nihilist enterprise it is.
I say "crypto-fascist", as Dave Spart-like a term as it is, because calling the GOP straightforwardly fascist always starts arguments.
But it's all there, isn't it? The flags, the racism, the ultra-nationalism, the leader worship, the promises to rescue the country from traitors and deliver a brave new era of national renewal. There aren't uniforms, but then this is a more individualistic age than the 1930s.
Read 7 tweets
Tom Doran Profile picture
11 Feb
You can tell how bad it is by the fact we all instantly know who @ReactiveRich means by "he".
He keeps saying "no quarter", as if he's in a fight to the death. We already have one Maajid Nawaz, we don't need another.
Read 4 tweets
Tom Doran Profile picture
10 Feb
OK, I'm done with Oz K*t*rj* now. I'm not saying I'll never RT him again when he's right, but the respect is gone. If you can't see that men using "fishy" to mean "womanly" is extremely problematic, then you're blinded by your own misogyny.
His logic seems to be that it can't be misogynist because it's applied to drag queens, not women. So if I call someone's outfit "a bit g*ppo", that isn't antiziganist because I'm not applying it to an actual Romani person?
"Don't Jew me on the interest rate", etc. etc. etc.
Read 4 tweets
Tom Doran Profile picture
10 Feb
Isn't this more or less the opposite of what was supposed to happen?
What was supposed to happen was that Merkel opening the gates for migrants would lead to a huge far right surge in the short term and create a voter base for left-wing parties in the longer term. Neither appears to be happening.
Right, Canada too. There are examples all over the world of immigrant communities being successfully assimilated and embracing traditional values, which is why the hysterical reaction to the influx of the mid-2010s was so weird.
Read 4 tweets
Tom Doran Profile picture
10 Feb
This is true. However, for what it's worth, I thought Sarkar's thread dealing with David Baddiel's characterisation of her views was thoughtful, productive and also went out of its way to discourage a pile-on, which felt like progress to me.
Very few people are totally irredeemable. I'd like it if @AyoCaesar and Owen Jones dealt a lot more forthrightly with their history of offending the Jewish community, but it's still wrong to put them in the same category as someone like Ken Loach, who is genuinely unteachable.
Like I say, I do think @AyoCaesar has points to address. But it's a start.
Read 4 tweets

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