Anyway... You may or may not know that I'm a big fan of Linkin Park. This past weekend, Dish Network - my satellite provider - has been showing an hour long show, featuring Alice in Chains and Linkin Park from Sonisphere over in England.
I was particularly interested in the flags in the audience. There were a couple of Mexican flags, a Welsh flag, and even the Stars and Bars - the old Southern Confederate flag.
And then in one corner were two flags which caught my attention. It was a South African flag - the new one, and then right below it, was the old Rhodesian flag.
In many ways, the new South African flag represents a triumph over the older flag, and it's associated apartheid regime. The old Rhodesian flag may carry some of the same sentiments of the old South African flag though. Although I guess based on the problems with the ensuing regime, and it's destruction of the country, perhaps the older flag symbolizes something better.
I thought that was interesting.
One of the songs Linkin Park performed was Crawling, but right is it began, Mike Shinoda rapped out the lyrics to Hands Held High.
It was excellent.
I'll past the lyrics below, as well as a youtube clip of Hand Held High.
Two quick thoughts before I do though...
First... There is a better way to honor our countries finest young men and women, than sending them to die in the desert in the name of a corrupt government. George Bush, Dick Cheney, and all of those who benefited financially and politically from this conflict... You have blood on your hands.
Second... To all those like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck who seem to glory in the might of the US military and somehow tie patriotism in with their deaths... In the words of Bill Mahr. "We love our troops the way Michael Vick loves his dogs."
"Hands Held High"
Turn my mic up louder I got to say something
Light weights step to the side when we come in
Feel it in your chest the syllables get pumping
People on the street they panic and start running
Words on loose leaf sheet complete coming
I jump in my mind and summon the rhyme, I'm dumping
Healing the blind I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drum and
Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
Fuck that I wanna see some fists pumping
Risk something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
Cause I'm sick of being treated like I have before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for
Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater the rich and abandon poor
Like they understand you in the back of the jet
When you can't put gas in your tank
These fuckers are laughing their way to the bank and cashing the cheque
Asking you to have compassion and have some respect
For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In their living room laughing like "what did he say?"
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
In my living room watching but I am not laughing
Cause when it gets tense I know what might happen
World is cold the bold men take action
Have to react or get blown into fractions
Ten years old it's something to see
Another kid my age drugged under a jeep
Taken and bound and found later under a tree
I wonder if he had thought the next one could be me
Do you see the soldiers they're out today
They brush the dust from bullet proof vests away
It's ironic at times like this you pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There's bombs in the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, your clothes
My dad he's got a lot of fear I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine
On the back, he hand-wrote a quote inside
When the rich wage war it's the poor who die
Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
both scared and angry like "what did he say?"
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
With hands held high into the sky so blue,
As the ocean opens up to swallow you.
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