Freedom Is A State Of Mind
2001 | Electronic
“I don't cry when a Gangster dies cause he probably deserved it. -- They run around with a bag and a gun and they god damn fuck with everyone. -- Enforce rules made by fools, violence and fear their tools. -- They dress to impress thinking fear is respect and they leave us powerless."
Trivia
- Brothers, Spike and Brad Xavier were on tour in the band Humble Gods when the idea for corporate avenger formed, circa 1995.
- The 'Taxes are Stealing' EP, band appeared to consist of eight members, including Pakelika of The Kottonmouth Kings, nameless members of 20 Dead Flower Children & No Doubt.
- Suburban Noise records was a subsidiary of Koch Entertainment, an Austrian record label focusing on German folk music.
- The group is of Native American descent & claimed to be trying to create a spiritual awakening.
- Led a campaign to get all bibles in the US printed with a disclaimer on them.
- The group is incredibly hard to pigeonhole politically because they have both liberal and libertarian tendencies that seem to contradict.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
Do the people that control the police have them "on a short leash?" Maybe in some cases. I quite enjoy the spirit of the song, but I think police brutality is hardly the consequence of a short leash. It seems ot me if you create "law followers" and "law enforcers" who are immune to legal backlash, all we are seeing in the modern era is the playing out of these incentives in real time. When you create two classes of people, there is going to be conflict. My position as I would ordinarily state it is that protection services should be privatized. But that's not quite true--privatizing protection services suggests that police actually "protect and serve," which is demonstrably false. Whether it's drug smuggling scandals in Florida, refusing to go in to save children under fire, or killing people and dogs seemingly without a care in the world, I think the police have demonstrated we can't give them a free pass.
Sherry Voluntary
This anti-police brutality song, has a sarcastic little chorus,
“ I don’t fault the police, cause the people that run got ‘um on a short leash. I don’t fault the police, cause the people that run, they defy and they decease”
This is the call of the Great American Bluebacker. Any time some monstrous thing is done by the police the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins. “They shouldn’t have run,” “That’s what you get when you break the law, it’s not the cops fault, they’re just doing their job!” “Blame the politicians for making the law, not the cops!” These people are a big part of the reason we are living in a police state. They can’t even see it and by some fantastic feat of mental flexibility, have equalized freedom and obedience to their masters. I like how this song goes straight from this chorus to then teaching exactly why that Bluebacker mentality is complete and utter authoritarian drivel.
Nicky P
I'll not belabor this one. It's pretty damned on the nose. Cops are gangsters. They rule with fear and mistake it as respect. Mic Drop.