Land Of The Free
2001 | Punk
“I say fuck authority, silent majority. -- Raised by the system, now it's time to rise against them. -- We're sick of your treason, sick of your lies. -- Fuck no, we won't listen, we're gonna open your eyes.”
Trivia
- Song reached #38 on the Bilboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
- The song was banned from airplay after September 11, 2001.
- Pennywise formed in 1988 in Hermosa Beach, CA.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
Juggajuggajuggajuggajugga. The mad strumming of angry punk rockers! Be honest with yourself, can you listen to this and not have it stuck in your head? I think not. Sometimes I feel like I turn every other conversation into an anti-public education rant, but bear with me. "Raised by the system; Now it's time to rise against them!" This is public education, which exists to plant the weeds that keep your own mind from flourishing. If information is distributed in a top-down model, you have subjects, or possibly slaves. Just look at the most of history--the state, or the church, or some blend of the two, have always tried to keep a monopoly on knowledge. Even, in some cases, on literacy. The age of the internet has proven problematic, so stuff this "in your face," stuff that can "wake people up," is understandably banned when the regime's plans depend on the magic of public education. Anyway, I'm pumped up now. Time to go find a cheap drum set and get my chops back.
Sherry Voluntary
What can I say about this song but, fuck yeah! I mean, I am not condoning a violent revolution at all, though. Not because it wouldn’t be justified. I think a very strong case can be made that the US government has transgressed every right people have in some way or another. No, on reason, and that is, we have no allies. If you think the neo-con down the street is gonna align with you after a revolution and allow you to live how you see fit, you haven’t been paying attention. Same goes for neo-liberals. They could not allow libertarians in their midst because they would want to also dominate you and make you in their own image. The sad fact is, people who genuinely love freedom are a very small group, and we are alone.
Nicky P
Pennywise might just be my favorite punk band from the 90s named after a clown from a Stephen King novel. I'm not sure there are any other bands in that subset so I'm confident that the statement is true. I waffled on this song before adding it because I'm not sure being anti-authority per-se is a truly libertarian value...but the people being pushed onto us today as authorities truly makes it seem like all authority should be bucked. It feels like all science is pushed by political interests with economic interests behind those. It feels like educators are trying like hell to keep you from thinking and just regurgitating nonsense with a specific agenda. The press? Well they've spent the past two years pushing nonsense on the public and when it was definitively proven nonsense they're parsing every word available to keep pushing a debunked narrative. So who do we accept as an authority? The police? Men paid to rob you and beat you when you resist. Politicians? The guys who pay the robbers we just mentioned. Perhaps the clergy? Those people who buried the sexual assault of minors for decades at least. When You lay it out bare I hate to say it's difficult to trust anyone as an authority. Perhaps the idea that no man can run his life but himself truly carries weight. Authority is something you give to people. I caution you to be sure they deserve it and do your best to protect yourself from false authorities.