Sliptrick reached out to me asking if I’d be interested in answering questions for a book about freedom of speech by a website called Heavy Music Network. I’m not sure when it’ll be published or in what form. I don’t know who Heavy Music Network is, but some of their images are pretty dope.
Here are the questions & my answers. -B
HMA: As a creative person and given the current political climate. What are your thoughts on free speech?
Free speech is probably the foundational human right. It is that on which all others are built upon. If you take it away, all the rest will disappear. Throughout history, speech was controlled in order to control people as resources. As slaves. In The Cheese and the Worms, a peasant farmer didn’t believe in God, which undermined the authority of the Catholic Church to own the land he farmed and paid tribute to. He only really kept barely enough to feed his family by law. The church punished him, humiliated him by forcing him to wear a bright red shirt at all times marking him as a heretic, and ultimately, imprisoned him until he died. It's a true story. Speech is a threat to illegitimacy, especially illegitimacy in power.
HMA: Would you say that freedom of speech is really essentially freedom of thought?
It’s more than freedom of thought. Under a tyrannical regime, for instance, you would of course be free to think anything you like, yet unable to express yourself to your full potential. A part of you would be imprisoned or restrained. It is true that talking can sometimes clarify your thoughts. But conflating the two is misguided.
It would be more proper to say that freedom of speech is like a freedom of movement. For instance if there was debate over “freedom to walk” or “freedom to see.” There has never been a government that curbed “freedom to see” or “freedom to use your arms.” Speech is more like moving than thinking. Speech is what manifests your thoughts as reality.
But it’s even more than that. It is one of the few things humans can do that animals cannot do. To restrict freedom of speech is to dehumanize. Restriction of speech is a fundamental building block of dehumanization, or perhaps its smallest divisible unit. Needless to say, I am against restriction of speech.
HMA: Works of art often depict world events and analyse social, cultural and political issues. Are metal music and art spearheading this, without compromising on political correctness, hate speech and censorship?
Generally speaking, I would not say that it is spearheading anything at the moment. It is a culture that has historically embraced freedom of speech, thought, and a willingness to offend and disgust. But at the moment, I don’t see it. I have personally received more support from random religious people than people in any metal scenes around me. These are the sorts of people who would have been against heavy music in the 90s. The metalheads are nowhere to be seen. I don’t know what they’re doing.
HMA: Considering metal ways of expression and content i.e. death metal, black metal, porn-grind, anti-religion, etc. Isn’t the case that if it wasn’t for freedom of speech, we would not have the ability to experience and essentially have the ability to create, share, sell, distribute the music that we support and love?
Yes, that’s a rather obvious thing to observe, isn’t it? The sad fact is, metal fans are going to lose heavy metal. Cowardice reaps but one reward.
HMA: Is there a line to be drawn between what is permissible and what isn’t? And what kind of people would you have to police it?
A line? People can draw their own lines. I am not a statist by preference, and I don’t believe in statist policies. Perhaps in a free society you might have a venue that only plays a certain genre of music, or something like the better business bureau that has a list of “approved” music. But that’s different from going out of your way to prevent artists from making their art, or from imprisoning or dehumanizing people for their statements. And that’s not even addressing those who make ironic statements which parodize a given perspective. People can no longer distinguish between parody and authenticity anymore. It’s truly pathetic. As pathetic as someone who can’t distinguish between shit and food.
HMA: In your country, do you have political or religious restrictions on free speech?
Yes. I live in the United States.
