I have found that a little velcro chin strap helps keep the tin foil straight. If you need some, you can take it from my polished white Nikes. I might even have an extra few quarters for those galactic toll roads you can you borrow.

You’ve got a point about the invite to the White House and I absolutely respect the woman you’re talking about. She was on Real Time with Bill Maher a few weeks ago and was amazing. But I also think it’s a different kind of courage we’re talking about here. It takes a totally different set of cajones to face down death to speak your mind than it does to stand up on national television and tell the world in song that you think the President is full of bullshit. The United States is pretty much one of the only countries in the world where you can do that with relative impunity; so I think it’s important that some of our citizens (artists, especially) keep pushing that envelope even to the point where it harms their public image and causes future doors to slam in their face (which it no doubt will in Bright Eyes case just as it did to Bob Dylan which forced him to constantly reinvent himself artistically).

I think we’re talking about the difference between political courage and artistic courage, both of which are necessary to have a flourishing society.

It takes no balls at all to sing a song like that in America. Most Americans don’t even know what a ball looks like much less what to do with one if they ever found it.

When this young man starts getting credible death threats for his singing, then he might be said to have some balls. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the President invite him to the White House to sing. Wonder if he’d have the balls to sing it there?

Thanks for the comment. I checked out your link and while I respect your opinion, I am not moved by the whole zionism/anti-semitism movement. I believe that type of mentality is exactly what humanity is being called to rise above and that doing so is the only action that will save our species.

Again, I respect your right to believe what you want to believe but political arguments containing what I perceive to be racism and xenophobia just don’t move me.

Thanks for taking the time to add to the discussion.