I am a huge Pink Floyd fan, but I could honestly take or leave Roger Waters. His solo music does not excite me, and his attitude in general towards people turns me off. He claims he is all about love, yet a month ago he did an interview where he said that he is "twice the musician [deceased bandmate] Rick ever was." The guy has no respect for anyone but himself, and he stands by his political beliefs. This country had endured a lot of controversial live productions in its history. But when Republicans are able to shut down rock shows because the performer outwardly criticizes the president, then it is almost time to kiss those rights you hold so dear goodbye.
To understand what I am talking about, you need to read this:
http://www.videomuzic.eu/nassau-county-to-cancel-a-roger-waters/?lang=en
To clarify, Nassau County is not a political hotbed. It is actually divided in its allegiance to the Republican and Democratic parties. However, the Nassau County legislator looking to stop this show is Republican. As of now, the shows are scheduled to go on and Waters intends to play them. But the county is working towards using an archaic law that is rarely invoked to shut down these rock shows. For a minute there, I had to make sure this wasn't the mid-1950s.
I am getting fed up with people allowing their political beliefs to become the forced doctrine for my life. The Republicans in Nassau County could care less about Waters' beliefs in the Middle East (which is the basis of using this obscure law). They just don't want to see their hero Trump's name blasted all over a large wall of lights with the word "pig" next to it.
Your political beliefs are not more important than the Constitution. Your political beliefs are not more important than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Waters has several shows scheduled throughout New York State, and this obscure state law could be brought up to affect all of those shows. This country is still run by old, white guys who hate anything that goes against their political and religious beliefs. In other words, this country is run by the very people our Founding Fathers feared when they created the structure of this country over 200 years ago.
Roger Waters might be the only performer blasting Trump on a huge LED wall during sold out concerts, but he is far from the only celebrity giving negative opinions about Trump. Should we throw Alec Baldwin in jail for his spot-on Trump impression? How about every single celebrity who decides to respond to Trump's sometimes inane tweets? More people see those responses than could ever fit into a Roger Waters concert venue. Do we find archaic and inane laws to censor those people too?
This is getting out of hand. If you are Republican and believe in what Trump is doing, then encourage Trump to stop picking petty Twitter battles with celebrities and get to the job of running the country. If you love your country and support your president, then you really should have no problem with any performer speaking their mind in any format. After all, those same rights that allow you to openly threaten the lives of those performers because of their displays also protect the rights of the performers to say what they want to say. You cannot have it just one way.
I am tired of this. I want Trump out of office simply because he puts the focus on everything except the issues Americans face. I don't care about Trump and his problems with Ah-Nold. I could care less what Trump thinks of Alec Baldwin, and I definitely don't live my life based on Trump's daily tweets - as a lot of people seem to do.
This goes for the other side of the fence as well. Stop taking every little thing Trump does and trying to turn it into a national security matter. The guy is clueless, but he is allowed to make mistakes. Not everything Trump says or does deserves hours of airtime on the 24-hour "news" networks. If the "news" networks tried to hold Trump's feet to the fire on real issues instead of inciting him to say something stupid on Twitter because he knows he will make headlines, then maybe he would focus back on his job and not the media.
This is getting old. Let Roger Waters play. He is not hurting anyone. He is actually less harmful than protesters in the streets because he is confining it to an arena. Stop being hateful. Stop being stupid. Can we please put some intelligence back into the American narrative? Because if we don't, the day is coming where we won't have the freedom to dictate that narrative anymore.
George N Root III is a Lockport resident who is tired of the petty nonsense permeating politics. Follow him on Twitter @georgenroot3, or send him a message at georgenroot3@gmail.com.