Bruce Cockburn has lost his way

It's instructive to see this sort of an example. It is very difficult for someone in an imperialist country like Canada to get everything right on international and solidarity issues, even someone who has demonstrated such enlightenment on solidarity issues in the past, such as Cockburn. 

One must be involved in the struggle, and fighting the enemy, there is no other way. This is also true when it comes to addressing racism or sexism in our society, and a whole host of other issues.

He is a "devout" Christian, so he is simply doing his part for the Crusade.

I'd like to see a longer rendition of Cockburn's ideas outlining why he supports remaining in Afghanistan.

I don't agree with Cockburn's position but as a long-time fan i'd like to hear a more elaborate articulation of it.

Caissa wrote:

I don't agree with Cockburn's position but as a long-time fan i'd like to hear a more elaborate articulation of it.

Here you go, Caissa:

[url=http://www.myspace.com/officialbrucecockburn][color=blue]Bruce Cockburn's Myspace page[/color][/url]

There's a link called "Send Message", which should reach him. Let us know if he has anything interesting to say beyond "personal reasons".

 

Jingles wrote:

He is a "devout" Christian, so he is simply doing his part for the Crusade.

Would you say this about a devout Muslim in relation to the jihad? There are progressive Christians you know.

As for Cockburn, I cannot understand why people support staying there. It is so obviously a waste of time, resources and lives.

Cockburn may be getting soft with age - he's no Pete Seeger, for example, but that's okay; not all of us can be Pete Seeger. I haven't bought a Cockburn album in thirty years, and his very early albums didn't show much political insight - they were just music for music's sake, so I guess I'll hold on to them, because his singing and guitar work was exquisite back then. I've never heard If I Had A Rocket Launcher , that's how long it's been since I've bought a Cockburn album.  

If Cockburn is getting soft, then so am I. For almost 60 years, I said I would never join a political party. Now, as I am about to turn 60 in a few weeks, I've gone and taken out a membership in the federal NDP. Why? Because I've come to the conclusion, very late in life,  that, for me, there really is no federal progressive alternative.   

radiorahim wrote:

Over the years Cockburn has taken good positions on a wide variety of issues.   We should recognize that but also recognize that he's taking a stupid position on this particular issue.

The hardest issues to take a courageous position on are the ones that you yourself are ultimately responsible for (or your country, your society, your government). But they're also the most crucial and defining issues. It's not good enough to say, "well I didn't vote for ...", if in fact you're supporting (or remaining silent about) what they're doing wrong.

I have little respect (for example) for a Canadian that condemns the U.S. treatment of its minorities, its workers, its poor, its invasion of Iraq, etc., but doesn't say anything about what Canada is doing.

Cockburn's stand on Afghanistan, therefore, seems to me far more important than protesting  something the U.S. may have done in Central America.

It's something to do with the mote and the beam.

 

Doug wrote:

Why? Since when does an artist have to be politically perfect for you to enjoy them? Besides, he's already had your money.

How could I possibly enjoy listening to an artist who has turned into a complete shithead (and I'm not putting Cockburn in that category)?

ETA: Paul McCartney is a shithead I can't listen to anymore. In fact I haven't been able to listen to him for years. I trashed my McCartney's greatest hits cassette because he pissed me off so much.

M. Spector wrote:

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/09/10/bruce-cockburn.html]Add Bruce Cockburn to the list of artists who have gone over to the dark side[/url]

Quote:

Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn is known as much for his political activism as he is for his music.

His song, [i]If I Had a Rocket Launcher[/i], was written after he visited Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked before and after his visit by Guatemalan military helicopters.

Cockburn, who has made 30 albums and has had countless hits, visited another war zone this week: Afghanistan. And the conflict involves a member of his own family. His brother, Capt. John Cockburn, is a doctor serving with the Canadian Forces at Kandahar Airfield.

"I was very curious. I have my own reasons aside from national pride and the love I feel for these people," said Cockburn, 64, who has a long history of being outspoken about human rights....

Ottawa-born Cockburn has travelled to many countries, including Iraq and Mozambique, and written songs on political subjects ranging from the International Monetary Fund to landmines....

[b]"It's a long discussion on whether we should be in Afghanistan - whether anyone should be in Afghanistan," he said thoughtfully.

"But since we are, and since we've gone this far, I don't think it's appropriate to leave at this stage.

"Certainly I have not had the idea that anyone I have talked to among these soldiers is hiding anything or been trying to slant things to a particular point of view," he said. "They believe in what they do and are witnesses to what they are doing, and I have to accept the truth in what they're telling me."...

Cockburn drew wild applause when he sang [i]If I Had a Rocket Launcher[/i], which prompted the commander of Task Force Kandahar, Gen. Jonathan Vance, to temporarily present him with a rocket launcher.[/b]

[IMG]http://i1.tinypic.com/2880bk3.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1.tinypic.com/2880bk3.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1.tinypic.com/2880bk3.gif[/IMG]

 

To you, perhaps, he's gone over to the dark side. But to him, he's just entertaining the troops irregardless of how he feels about the war. This is the same thing that Henry Rollins has also done, and he also visited Iran as well. One does not have to praise the war while entertaining millitary personel.

Rock for Public Services

 

Repeat after me... Honeymoon Suite, Trooper, April Wine, Kim Mitchell good... Bruce Cockburn bad...

 

The 80's are officially over!

M. Spector wrote:

That's incredibly disingenuous. Why would anyone who opposes the war voluntarily give comfort and cheer to those who are fighting it? Why would Cockburn say "I don't think it's appropriate to leave at this stage" when everyone to the left of Peter McKay says we should get out? Why would Cockburn sing an openly aggressive song (Rocket Launcher) to the aggressors in Afghanistan (who rewarded him with wild applause)? Why did Cockburn talk about his "national pride" and his "love" of the troops, while visiting a country where those troops are at war?

You can tell as many lies as you like to yourself to avoid facing the obvious, but don't try to pass them off onto us.

 

Buddy, they are lies to you, but not to me. The troops are human beings first and foremost, and even if one disagrees with the role they are playing, that does not mean you can't treat them in a civil manner. That's the thing that Henry Rollins is sticking to, and I guess that's also what Bruce is sticking to as well. How you see it is your affair.

I am not sure but I do not think that Seeger has ever performed for American troops in a country they were occupying.  Pete like most American liberals believes in the American mythology of it being a democratic light of freedom only off track a bit.  Cockburn in the past seemed to get the whole american empire thing and it is disappointing to see he can't see the afghan villagers being bombed by drones as the same as Nicaraguans or Guatemalans being oppressed in the 80's and 90's. 

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 I've never "deified" Seeger.

I was responding to Boom Boom's comment and suggesting that if we're going to use Afghanistan as a lens, maybe Seeger wasn't the best example because he's not perfect either and that we shouldn't necessarily write people off because of one act we disagree with. Obviously you have other political bones to pick with Seeger - fair enough. Perhaps the word "deify" was a bit too strong but the point I was making is one that is often made on babble - the left sometimes can't help but eat its own.

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 I do not think that Seeger has ever performed for American troops in a country they were occupying

That is a valid distinction. We often draw the line in different places. 

Jingles wrote:

Quote:

The troops are human beings first and foremost, and even if one disagrees with the role they are playing, that does not mean you can't treat them in a civil manner.

Isn't that what they said when Reagan visited the graves of the SS? After all, Karl Jäger was just a guy who loved his kids.

 

Bruce Cockburn is no Joey Ramone.

Jingles wrote:

Okay, I retract my Godwin.

[i]revised[/i]

 

Quote:
The troops are human beings first and foremost, and even if one disagrees with the role they are playing, that does not mean you can't treat them in a civil manner.

 

Isn't that what the right wing said about the Marines who raped and torched Abeer Qassim al-Janab? After all, they were just good, honest church going kids who had a rough time?

 

 

What about the times that the Scorpions preformed in front of Red Army troops? What about the time the Red Army came to Toronto to perform, and the only protest against them were from the Eastern European immigrants whose land were trod underfoot by them? I'm sure they were good, honest men who the leadership had made into murders. Or did you not notice that they had invaded Afghanistan?