WFB: A prominent supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was outed Tuesday as a virulent racist who definitely supports lynching.
Pacific Standard, an insightful social justice magazine run out of Santa Barbara, California, published an article Monday complaining that “Country Hits Increasingly Objectify Women And Glorify Whiteness,” based on a study by Mississippi State professor of sociology Braden Leap.
“[Beginning] in the 1990s, more hit songs contained ‘allusions to idyllic pasts.’ That sort of nostalgia has obvious racial undertones, made overt in 2003’s ‘Beer for My Horses,’ in which Toby Keith and Willie Nelson ‘reminisce about when public lynchings were commonplace,’ as Leap puts it,” the Standard wrote.
That excerpt caught the eye of respected CUNY professor Angus Johnston, who went on a tweet thread arguing that the song was definitely about lynching.
This is actually WORSE than it sounds, and I’m not sure how I never heard of it before—a 2003 Willie Nelson/Toby Keith song about how great lynching was. https://t.co/Vvxe9enZDC
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) May 7, 2019
“Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he done
Take all the rope in Texas find a tall oak tree,
Round up all them bad boys hang them high in the street
For all the people to see”— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) May 7, 2019
“We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
Too much corruption, and crime in the streets
It’s time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send ’em all to their maker and he’ll settle ’em down
You can bet he’ll set ’em down”— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) May 7, 2019
Angus is in turn repeating the opinion of respected journalist Max Blumenthal—in turn the son of respected former Washington Post journalist Sydney Blumenthal—who fumed in 2008 when Keith played the song on The Colbert Report that “Colbert’s studio audience clapped to the beat, blithely unaware that they were swaying to a racially tinged, explicitly pro-lynching anthem.”
While written by Keith, the song “Beer For My Horses” is also sung by Willie Nelson, who became a major and public supporter of Beto O’Rourke during his 2018 Texas Senate race. Then-Congressman O’Rourke even appeared onstage alongside Nelson. Never once did O’Rourke repudiate Nelson’s unequivocal support for lynching. more here
Why is lynching racist? Lynching is the finest form of social justice.
Never heard it.
Will look in the old vinyl bin.
Phantly Roy Bean, an American saloon keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself “The Law West of the Pecos”. According to legend, he held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas.
PS: Tall Trees still haunt that desert at night.
AW JEEZ!!!….Now I have song, titles, song lyrics, movie quotes, random conversations, high school, jr. high school, elementary school, college conversations rattling around my head….I need a Phrenologist with good teeth, a nice rack and money to burn…
“Nelson supporters can of course muster arguments for why the song “Beer For My Horses” is not an apologetic for racist extrajudicial murder…But are they college professors? I don’t think so. On balance, it’s clear the song is a celebration of lynching and O’Rourke is an accessory to racism for failing to denounce it.”
This thread is about what a ridiculous ponce Alex Griswold is, right? Because this Nelson guy is definitely not a racist. Not based on this butterball Griswold’s hysteria, anyway.
But I do enjoy the Blue on Blue.
I knew I could feel better…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9HyOMV5h0
Perhaps Beto needs to play some Snoop Dog at his rallies? You know, classics like “Bitches ain’t shit” and Hoes,money and clout”. Those fabulous tunes of yesteryear will bring a tear to your eye, as you reminisce about the old old days.
Aren’t the racist the ones who leap to the conclusion that “bad boys” and “gangsters” are automatically people of color?
Chance, ^^ EXACTLY! I took it as it is written; “bad boys” are murders, thieves and traitors – no matter their color!
@ Chance
When I hear “gangsters,” I think of Italians. Like, Al Capone. 😳