oops...place the text in the wrong place. here it is
to understand the meaning of the song, you have to understand some of the history of punk and the cultural environment that surrounded the dead kennedys.
Punk was a reaction against the spaced-out hippie culture that was rampant in middle to upper-class youth and college students during the 60s and (somewhat) 70s. Bored from their spoiled lives, they saw less fortunate life styles, such as those in ghettos and third-world countries, as more real and "soulful." The movement promoted "living as one" and "getting things done" by rallying against american authority. Though the hippie movement brought some good (women's rights, civil rights), the movement also encouraged unrealistic escapism and utopianism. DK came from San Francisco, the epicenter of the hippie movement.
Specifically, this song was a brilliantly-written reaction against the ignorance of first-world youth who think they know everything. Jello tells the ignorant, spoiled youth to move to communist cambodia to "live as one" (only to loose their individual identity and freedom of speech) and "get things done" (by living on a bowl of rice and slaving in the killing fields) in order to bring their romanticized outlook on the world back to reality. What these 60s hippies needed is some re-education back into reality.
Not to mention the hippies had pretty much gutted actual political resistance, considering that being enlightened was the real revolution. . . . much of the reason for punk was actually a reaction against this complacency, using tactics of shock first developed by the Situationalists during the much less flower-powery student rebellions in Paris '68.
Not to mention the hippies had pretty much gutted actual political resistance, considering that being enlightened was the real revolution. . . . much of the reason for punk was actually a reaction against this complacency, using tactics of shock first developed by the Situationalists during the much less flower-powery student rebellions in Paris '68.
Excellent analysis. Actually, the first three or four posts are really on target, I think, concerning what JB had in mind. I like your socio-cultural analysis. I think where people need to be careful is thinking that JB (as the first poster seems to suggest) was essentially trashing liberalism and promoting rampant free market capitalism because the song focuses on how a "Marxist revolution" (which obviously Pol Pot's murderous regime was not) can be twisted into the justification for the horrendous acts of murder and brutality. The song is a brilliant critique of Pol Pol's insanely bloody leadership as it...
Excellent analysis. Actually, the first three or four posts are really on target, I think, concerning what JB had in mind. I like your socio-cultural analysis. I think where people need to be careful is thinking that JB (as the first poster seems to suggest) was essentially trashing liberalism and promoting rampant free market capitalism because the song focuses on how a "Marxist revolution" (which obviously Pol Pot's murderous regime was not) can be twisted into the justification for the horrendous acts of murder and brutality. The song is a brilliant critique of Pol Pol's insanely bloody leadership as it is a hilarious poke at the wealthy liberal college students of the late 70s and early 80s. (The song was perfectly released in 1980, when so many things swung right in this country--some of which was positive, but much of which translated supporting regimes as bad as Pol Pot's in the name of "freedom," such as teaching the Contras how to disembowel pregnant women in front of "left leaning" towns to teach them who they must support in the next election. The CIA did this and countless other atrocious things in the 1980s after supposedly having been reigned in by the Carter administration's new CIA regulations.)
This is a song warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and how leftist education systems are glorifying revolution without warning of the real life consequences.
This is a song warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and how leftist education systems are glorifying revolution without warning of the real life consequences.
Remember communism and fascism are both left wing ideologies that focus on COLLECTIVISM.
Remember communism and fascism are both left wing ideologies that focus on COLLECTIVISM.
Punk was about INDIVIDUALISM. The sworn enemy of both communism and fascism alike.
Punk was about INDIVIDUALISM. The sworn enemy of both communism and fascism alike.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
oops...place the text in the wrong place. here it is
to understand the meaning of the song, you have to understand some of the history of punk and the cultural environment that surrounded the dead kennedys.
Punk was a reaction against the spaced-out hippie culture that was rampant in middle to upper-class youth and college students during the 60s and (somewhat) 70s. Bored from their spoiled lives, they saw less fortunate life styles, such as those in ghettos and third-world countries, as more real and "soulful." The movement promoted "living as one" and "getting things done" by rallying against american authority. Though the hippie movement brought some good (women's rights, civil rights), the movement also encouraged unrealistic escapism and utopianism. DK came from San Francisco, the epicenter of the hippie movement.
Specifically, this song was a brilliantly-written reaction against the ignorance of first-world youth who think they know everything. Jello tells the ignorant, spoiled youth to move to communist cambodia to "live as one" (only to loose their individual identity and freedom of speech) and "get things done" (by living on a bowl of rice and slaving in the killing fields) in order to bring their romanticized outlook on the world back to reality. What these 60s hippies needed is some re-education back into reality.
Not to mention the hippies had pretty much gutted actual political resistance, considering that being enlightened was the real revolution. . . . much of the reason for punk was actually a reaction against this complacency, using tactics of shock first developed by the Situationalists during the much less flower-powery student rebellions in Paris '68.
Not to mention the hippies had pretty much gutted actual political resistance, considering that being enlightened was the real revolution. . . . much of the reason for punk was actually a reaction against this complacency, using tactics of shock first developed by the Situationalists during the much less flower-powery student rebellions in Paris '68.
Excellent analysis. Actually, the first three or four posts are really on target, I think, concerning what JB had in mind. I like your socio-cultural analysis. I think where people need to be careful is thinking that JB (as the first poster seems to suggest) was essentially trashing liberalism and promoting rampant free market capitalism because the song focuses on how a "Marxist revolution" (which obviously Pol Pot's murderous regime was not) can be twisted into the justification for the horrendous acts of murder and brutality. The song is a brilliant critique of Pol Pol's insanely bloody leadership as it...
Excellent analysis. Actually, the first three or four posts are really on target, I think, concerning what JB had in mind. I like your socio-cultural analysis. I think where people need to be careful is thinking that JB (as the first poster seems to suggest) was essentially trashing liberalism and promoting rampant free market capitalism because the song focuses on how a "Marxist revolution" (which obviously Pol Pot's murderous regime was not) can be twisted into the justification for the horrendous acts of murder and brutality. The song is a brilliant critique of Pol Pol's insanely bloody leadership as it is a hilarious poke at the wealthy liberal college students of the late 70s and early 80s. (The song was perfectly released in 1980, when so many things swung right in this country--some of which was positive, but much of which translated supporting regimes as bad as Pol Pot's in the name of "freedom," such as teaching the Contras how to disembowel pregnant women in front of "left leaning" towns to teach them who they must support in the next election. The CIA did this and countless other atrocious things in the 1980s after supposedly having been reigned in by the Carter administration's new CIA regulations.)
@jtothed1031
@jtothed1031
This is a song warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and how leftist education systems are glorifying revolution without warning of the real life consequences.
This is a song warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and how leftist education systems are glorifying revolution without warning of the real life consequences.
Remember communism and fascism are both left wing ideologies that focus on COLLECTIVISM.
Remember communism and fascism are both left wing ideologies that focus on COLLECTIVISM.
Punk was about INDIVIDUALISM. The sworn enemy of both communism and fascism alike.
Punk was about INDIVIDUALISM. The sworn enemy of both communism and fascism alike.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.
@jtothed1031 The Dead Kennedies were criticizing authoritarian military regimes, not communism. That's why they criticize the US, USSR, China etc, but not places that peacefully adopted communism like Chile.