'When did politics become the new rock 'n' roll?'

Irish Daily Mirror

20 hours ago

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right - here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
The 1970s Gerry Rafferty classic got a new lease of life when it was later used in the soundtrack for Reservoir Dogs. Now I find myself humming his Stealers Wheel hit, amid the culture war of world politics today.
Whether it's the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Ukraine war, Trump's America or global immigration, my ears are burned off listening to the extremes of both.
Headers in keffiyeh scarves are in one ear, going on about Zionists; and in the other ear, the gung-ho pro-Israels who see criticism of the horrors in Gaza as anti-Semitism. Then there's the people blaming everything on the "forr-roight" (member population: 2) and others pointing the finger at refugees.
I never thought geopolitics would be the new rock 'n' roll, but you must now pick a side on international affairs. You're either with us, or agin us.
When did we get so opinionated? So certain in the rightness of our opinion? We're increasingly divided into hostile groups, each one convinced of its own righteousness. How do you know you're right?
It may seem an ironic question, from a columnist. But any view I present is only the researched conclusion I've arrived at. I may be wrong. It's just one opinion to consider, and agree or disagree, as applicable.
Those in the music industry were always political and so now they've fully embraced this choosing of sides, which also serves as a form of identity.
I'd prefer if they took the LCD Soundsystem approach: shut up and play the hits, but it's more a case of the Rolling Stones - you can't always get what you want.
But there is obviously an audience in it. There's a renewed appreciation for the outspoken Morrissey in the post-woke world, judging by the packed house in the 3Arena last Saturday. I was just relieved he didn't make me watch two hours of graphic animal vivisection videos, like he did the last time I saw him there, when all I wanted was to hear Suedehead.
Meanwhile, for now, Kneecap are bigger than ever since the Brits charged band member Liam hAnnaidh for terrorism offences after waving a Hezbollah flag on stage.
They're on the Glastonbury line-up and will play the festival at the end of the month. It could well be their Wolfe Tones at Electric Picnic moment, with a clamour to see the band that now have the official cachet of rebellion.
Lately, the likes of U2 and Radiohead are in the news more for talking about genocide - or not talking about genocide - than they are about their new album.
I felt both Bono and Thom Yorke struck the right chord in their views on Israel in recent interviews.
But their efforts to find the middle ground left them open to scorn from either side, who refuse anything outside their rigid ideology.
Yorke summed up my own view, saying: "I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped. Their excuse of self-defence has long since worn thin".
He also condemned Hamas asking: "Why did Hamas choose the truly horrific acts of October 7? I believe Hamas chooses to hide behind the suffering of its people, in an equally cynical fashion, for its own purposes."
I must be getting on. Because I relate to Bono on all this. He told Brendan O'Connor on RTE Radio One: "It's strange, this competitive empathy that's going around. 'I feel this wound more than you,' and 'my emergency is more important than your emergency'. Outrage.
"When I was younger, I had a lot of rage. But as I got older, I demanded more of myself.
"I looked towards outcomes. And so, I became that most boring of all things… fighting with, working with, both sides."