All That Remains’ Phil Labonte Responds To Backlash Regarding His Tom Morello Comments
All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte certainly received a lot of backlash (and support) following his assertion that Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello is a “a communist and a fool“. The comments arose in the wake of this op-ed piece that Morello recently wrote in which he criticized Republican U.S. Vice Presidential hopeful, Paul Ryan.
Labonte has now issued the following statement regarding the comments he made about Morello:
“Ok, so here we go. I’m taking the time to write this to clarify my 140 character comment on Tom Morello‘s piece in Rolling Stone. I’ve caught a lot of heat over my remarks about it. Mostly from the metal blogs or individuals pointing out that he went to Harvard and I didn’t, so he must be right and I must be an idiot. Well I would submit to the left (the most vocal, angry and vitriolic about my comment) that GWB and Bill O’Reilly both went to Harvard. Does that make them infallible and brilliant? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Let me start by stating I do not support Romney/Ryan in the upcoming election. I am not a republican. I do not support statism. I know it’s hard for the far left and the far right to understand, but it’s true. I am called a “liberal” by the far right for my opinion on drug policy, gay marriage, immigration, etc. I am called a “right wing nut” by the far left for my opinion on gun rights and fiscal policy. That myopic and lazy view of “right” and “left” is what I am staunchly against. On to the point.
I’ve never met Tom Morello so my comments were in no way meant to be a personal attack on his character. Though I do believe his political opinions are incoherent and foolish, I also believe he has good intentions. I said he’s a communist because I believe I have heard him call himself a communist. I have seen him wear a hat that said “COMMIE” on it in photos.
If I am incorrect and my recollections are inaccurate and he is simply a socialist, then I would offer my apology. Regardless, that remark wasn’t intended to be an insult as so many people have portrayed it. It was a comment on what I believe his political ideology is, and again, if I am incorrect, I am sorry. But I don’t retract the core of my statement.
I’m gonna quote Tom‘s piece. “I wonder what Ryan’s favorite Rage song is… is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production?” That one sentence speaks volumes about his perspective. He is advocating theft and the initiation of violence against a minority by the majority. That is immoral. Now I understand he is focusing his rage on “The 1%” and because of the minority in question, it’s socially acceptable to demonize them and call for theft and violence against them.
But that doesn’t change the fact that he is calling for violence against, and seizure of the property of, a minority. In the piece he calls for “a more humane and just planet”. Is aggression and theft justice? Unequivocally no. It is my perspective as a libertarian, the best way to limit the power and influence of “The 1%” is to limit the power of government to influence society via legislation. If you have no favors to sell, you will have no one trying to buy favors. One may not share my libertarian views, but none the less, it is hard to reconcile advocating violence as somehow morally correct.
He talks about covering “fuck the police” and wonders if that is one of Ryan’s favorites. Yet he would need a powerful government who would use the police to force people into submission to further his agenda. His perspective and agendas could not be achieved any other way. This makes no sense.
He condemns US imperialism, and I agree on this point, but then later in the piece he whimsically hopes that Paul Ryan is a mole who would “Throw US military support behind the Zapatistas”.
Is that NOT a contradiction? He would condemn US intervention in one area of the world, but support it in another? Never mind the fact that constitutionally, not even the president, let alone the vice president, has the authority to do this. Again this makes no sense.
In closing, if Tom’s perspective was not simply looking to use the force of government to further his own political predilections, I would retract my statement and offer a full apology. But I don’t believe any of the things he is advocating could be achieved without the force of government.
Government is violence. Using violence to coerce is immoral. Tom’s perspective therefore is advocating violence and aggression, disguised as peace and unity. This is immoral and I’m not sorry for pointing that out.”
COMMENTS
Well said
I’m on the Phil / Tom bandwagon for 2016.
“Government is violence”??? I’m so sick of all these conspiracy-theorists who think the government is eeeeeevil and trying to enslave the masses! oh the humanity! I’m also sick of musicians speaking out on their politics, although if either of these guys get a free pass its Morello, considering that was kinda the point of Rage. And quite frankly, US intervention in the problems facing other parts of the world should be decided situationally, not just “oh we helped them now we’re obligated to help everyone” or “we didn’t help them, so we can’t help you.” Thats retarded. Also, I’m not a huge Morello fan or some shit, so thats not why i felt the need to comment. And in closing, i would like to say that All That Remains is totally shitty.
right on.
I suppose it wasn’t governments that plunged the Earth into 2 world wars. Nor was it governments that developed nuclear weapons, and starved millions in Russia and China in the last century.
His point is valid, and it’s a perspective on things worth looking into.
‘some governments did some bad stuff, therefore they must all be bad’
-rikshawhoward & phil labonte
its not governments, its people.
governments don’t kill people, people kill people.
lol i tried to cancel my first one cuz i thought the second one was funny. fail.
Wasn’t it Govt that sent aid to Japan, Haiti, Chile, when they had trouble? Put men into space, on the moon, found cures for various diseases, continues to fund research for future technologies, gives out loans so u can go to school or start a business, saved the jews from world wide extermination, freed the slaves in the US, helps keep other Govts in check, keeps the crazies off the streets, lets you petition it, submit laws for consideration, etc. Yeah Govt sure sucks man.
@zomgpapi…some valid points. it could be argued although in many cases not necessarily proven that government also contributed to the terribly poor economic situations pre-crises in all of those regions, has been funneling billions of dollars into a space program that doesn’t appear to yield any results that doesn’t require any checks as far as where its funding is allocated, spends billions on manufacturing methods to weaponize diseases (some of which it allegedly helped to create), spends most of the funds allocated for further advances in the militarization of benign technology, closes more schools than it opens due to restrictions on educational results that it doesn’t provide the funding to help achieve, did not in fact enter the war when it found out Jews were being murdered, in actuality waited until a third party (NOT Germany) acted THEM before they entered the war, and it could likewise be argued that this war was the direct result of post-WWI sanctions placed on Germany by the aforementioned government in the first place, did not give a flying fuck about slaves whatsoever, but was in fact (after years of indecision and fence sitting) a calculated decision to end state cessation so the US couldn’t be conquered by a third party in a divided state, let hundreds of thousands of clinically insane people wander the streets homeless due to the deinstitutionalization of the majority of it’s sanitariums – many of whom are former war veterans – flexes its military muscles at everything EXCEPT legitimate threats (North Korea, for example), does not in fact listen to the majority of the peoples’ requests or petitions, evidenced by a 12% public approval rating as of 2012…does that cover everything? yeah…fucking government Rules.
You would think people posting on a metal website would be more awake than this. Don’t worry. The government didn’t pass the NDAA or make the IRS involved with our healthcare. Nothing to see here. I implore you, as a human being to human being, please wake the fuck up. The government is NOT your friend.
Maybe its just the mind control chip they implanted in my brain when i was in the hospital nursery, but i don’t believe there is some grand conspiracy to enslave the human race going on here. And i’m not saying i’m governments biggest fan, but as Americans, we bitch an awful lot about a government that doesn’t interfere with our lives THAT MUCH. In some countries, people don’t even have the freedom that you and I have to be sitting at our home computer typing this shit right now.
No, it’s called groups of people that get together to pass these things and it’s up to other groups of people…….like yourself to counter it. No one is stopping you or people that think like you from submitting your own bills for consideration. That’s what voting is for, and the majority get there way.
Frankie–I may not agree with you, but well said. Perhaps you should change your name Frankie Is A Half Douche.
@Cody : likewise, as far as i’m concerned, even if us commenters disagree, we are still some type of “metalhead”, and therefor, you are all cool in my book, lol. some debates on the PRP get pretty heated, but at the end of the day i hope we can all be brothers in some way in the fight against shitty music! ———— And i cannot/will not change my name, as it is in direct reference to fuckface Frankie Palmeri of the shit stain of a band known as Emmure
but yes in real life i am a half-douche. maybe even 60/40.
Phil Lobonte struggles so hard to sound intelligent, logical or at least autodidactal, but has failed to do so.
All that remains is that Labonte is a sad piece of doublespeaking excrement .
ATR succeeds at writing their style get over it.
“English, motherfucker, do you speak it?”
Actually his point was well stated and challenged the issues poignantly. You, like myself, just really wanted his statement to be a trainwreck of half baked decrees. Know when your guitar God has been showed up and call it a life.
If you don’t believe government is violence, try not paying your taxes and see what happens. Government maintains its very existence by holding a monopoly on the use of violent force.
Labonte believes in the simple principles of nonagression and voluntaryism. You can marry whoever you want, put whatever chemicals you want in your own body, run a business, whatever, so long as you do not initiate violence against someone else, as the State does on a continual basis.
Uh, you’ll rightfully go to jail for not paying your way in society.
I don’t believe government is “violence”. And it may very well be operated by more corrupt people than good people, but there is no big scheme to have us all ball-and-chained, building pyramids and shit. And honestly, i don’t think this guy is an idiot. I just think saying “government is violence” is a truly, truly idiotic thing for someone to say, and it makes zero sense. I actually find it refreshing to hear someone come out and say that they sorta straddle that line between the left and right. He should speak up more about his beliefs on immigration and human equality, and less about how he’s a conspiracy nut.
I pay my way in society. I also pay for a number of girls at work who have kids that they can’t afford to take care of. But hey, no worries, they get free school because of it and I still owe $10K.
Chemicals don’t stay in your body, you know. When you excrete, many of them end up in the environment and in the water and food supply. That can easily be viewed as violence against others.
Think about how many estrogens, pseudoestrogens and endocrine disruptors we put into our bodies these days… birth control, prozak, bisphenol A, pthalates, parabens, oxybenzone, PCBs, etc. All of these end up out in the environment through human waste. It has been shown that these chemicals are causing reproductive problems in fish and amphibians. PCBs (which are highly toxic) are showing up in fatty foods meant for human consumption. To say that people can put whatever chemicals they want in their body without harming others displays a lack of knowledge about ecology. Until we have better waste filtration systems (which would, of course, be installed and managed by a socialized government program), this will continue to be a problem. Is that really your idea of civil liberty?
Another diatribe mentioning the coercive use of violence that fails to mention corporations, multinational ones more specifically, that extract wealth, destroy ecosystems and indigenous lives and cultures, and pays it’s workers wages that are below the standard of living, and then some.
Anytime I have conversations w/ Libertarians, they get some things right, yet seem to be myopic themselves because they are ignorant to the lies, and straight-up morally corrupt behavior (and often directly, or indirectly, murderous – look up what happens when indigenous people try to protect their landbases) of the “business side” of this business-state collusion we are currently all living in.
Enjoy Coca Cola…as American as apple fucking pie.
Meanwhile, Tom Morello is still wondering, “who the fuck is Phil Labonte?”
Damn right Trademarked Shark, damn right.
What government is depends entirely upon context. To simply call it ‘violence,’ from an intellectual standpoint, is ridiculous.
I did a bit of research and determined that ATR sucks. Typical nonsensical ‘screamoshittylipringeddipshit’ bullshit. I put them into my Emmure pile of shitty bands that THEPRP.COM plugs for profit of course. Money makes the world go round right?
Bring the carnage! This band stinks and you are too embarrassed to admit it. Horrible, pathetic Hot Topic culture scene kids worship this noise. Stop the insanity!!!! Buy a Led Zeppelin record. Peace.
sorry ATR the bad press is now the coolguy2424 way of all of our views ZiNG
LOL, how about you buy a Sabbath record and talk shit before dropping Led “Greatest Hits” Zeppelin.
Zeppelin u bafoon! Zeppelin 110% over Sabbath.
Article: Singer from All That Remains discussing his views on Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist
Argument: Led Zeppelin vs. Black Sabbath
dafuq?
Yup. Zeppelin KO first round, first minute. All day, everyday. Greatest rock band ever to hit the stage.
^ Truth. I love Sabbath as much as the next head, but Zeppelin is in their own category as far as rock music goes. That said, Black Sabbath are without a doubt the true founders of heavy metal. I hate when people say that Zeppelin was the first metal band. Just ain’t true.
Yeah, Volume 4 vs. IV. Now that is the question. Both bands are masters of their own realities. I do prefer ‘Snowblind’ over ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in all honesty.
hey fuck BOTH of you guys…neil fucking young.
I’ve seen ATR, I’ve seen Phil with KSE, I’ve seen The Nightwatchman, and I hope to fly out to wherever the hell Rage plays their next show – I’m a fan of all parties involved. I am a fan of some of what Phil says, and I am a fan of some of what Tom says. He is right in that you don’t have to be just A or B – you can be a mixture of the two or C if you want to. If he would’ve come out with this piece instead of a tweet I don’t think a lot of people would be jumping on him – he does make some valid points.
TLDR. Did he call anyone a faggot?
tldread into you avatar…….
Maybe this is his way of saying Tom “Brian Fair’d” his ol lady.
Government is violence. Using violence to coerce is immoral.
Do we believe that he’s referencing Tolstoy? Or that he’s just an idiot?
I’m going with idiot.
Harvard or not, Morello is – whether you agree with him or not – a well-spoken individual who will still be relevant in years to come. Labonte sounds like an idiot with half-baked ideas and (oh by the way) makes music that will be long forgotten a decade from now.
people have to know who you are to forget what you did.
Libertarians are statists too. Anyone who believes that a central government should have some level of control over a population is a statist. By definition, anarchists are the only people who are not statists. If you are not a statist, your political views are at the far left of the political spectrum.
I can’t take someone seriously who doesn’t understand the words they use. The funniest part is that Phil sounds like a Communist and he doesn’t even realize it. According to Marx, the godfather of Communism, the ultimate goal of Communism is a stateless society.
Agorism.
Look it up.
Yah, it’s a form of anarchy.
He sure does focus a lot on the violence aspect, given it was only something that he inferred from a single line of what Tom said.
That said, he actually does make some valid points, but I think they’re pointless all the same. I didn’t take Tom’s rant to be an informative outline of his political stances so much him elaborately saying, “How do I feel about Paul Ryan? Fuck that guy.” Especially when it comes to the “favorite Rage song” bit and final paragraphs which Phil is mostly reacting to.
The sad thing is, most left wingers have no idea why they are left wingers and have not idea what it means to support it.
You seem really smart. Please explain to me what it means to support left-wing ideology. I would like to know where I went wrong in life.
I just thought that I should vote for the people who have a respect for history, sociology, economics and science, as opposed to those who make policy decisions based on the Bible and Atlas Shrugged.
i’ve probably pointed this out before…but you Might be one of my favorite people on here.
Aw, thanks man. I just try to call out bullshit when I see it.
Ultimate Bromance courtesy of thePRP
There’s not much that I hate more than Ayn Rand, but she has the right idea about libertarians: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_campus_libertarians
anyone know where i can find a picture of Phil in his Brotherhood of Steel armor?
I had no idea so many Americans on here were conservative, Phil is still an idiot, and the world is still round, not flat btw.
People on here seem to have some skewed views of Libertarians. In a nutshell, Libertarians are Constitutionalists meaning that they believe this country should be ran according to the Constitution. You guys know? It’s that document that was written by our countries founding fathers? Yeah…..
BTW, I can’t stand All that Remains.
Yep, let’s try to govern a country living in a much more complex modern society based on a rather old document which was written before most of this technology even existed (and during a time where genocide and slavery were considered acceptable). May as well live by the bible while you’re at it.
Well said, Frog.
was that…the infallible document that only considered african americans ro be 2/3s of a person and didn’t consider non-white, non-land owners to be People? if so…a great read, that.
That’s just not true. To the degree that the Constitution followed Libertarian principles (and, to a degree, it did) there may be some ideological overlap, but what I find – in practice, in America today – is that modern-day American Constitutionalists and Libertarians are unified mainly in their ignorance. Ignorance of history, ignorance of the philosophical bases for these two schools of thoughts, and ignorant of how modern-day developments should be affecting that philosophy. But, mostly, ignorant of history.
Which is super-ironic, since these folks always hail the past as their touchstone. They basically paid attention through elementary school history, and they think that makes them aware.
the one they put together a system for revising and amending?
So anybody here read all this while listening to Sunflower Dead?
I made it to about 2 minutes in and had to turn that shit off.
The GOVERNMENT made the internet, all of you are using the internet.
…i thought Al Gore made the internet. did Al Gore not make the internet? i distinctly remember hearing something about Al Gore making the internet…
Al Gore is the government.
so wait…mathematically speaking…doesn’t that make Al Gore = Violence? see, this is why i took Consumer math and not trigonometry in high school…
I just googled “violence” and all i got were pictures of Al Gore.
for having the last name ‘Gore’ …not a terrible exciting guy, all things considered.
If the State hadn’t been taking away a percentage of everyone’s wealth so much over time, the so-called evil businesses would have had more capital to invest in coming up with what came to be known as the Internet (or something even better of which we can’t perceive).
Awesome, too bad we wouldn’t have roads to drive on, schools to attend, or health services available.
If the state hadn’t been taking a percentage of everyone’s wealth, we wouldn’t have built this little thing called civilization.
There might be a reason why every developed nation on the planet taxes their citizens and businesses. This tax-free anarchist utopia you lust for sounds an awful lot like Somalia.
Ah, like clockwork comes the classic “but who will build the roads?” argument. Because apparently only governments can provide roads and schools.
So your solution is to have every road a paid toll road and every school a public school? Yes, I’d much rather pay more for services the government currently provides, excellent point. You sir are Mr. Economics.
*private school
It’s a federal vs local argument. That’s where a lot of the misunderstanding of arguments against taxation come from.
Poon did not specify federal or local taxes when making his argument. It wouldn’t have mattered anyways because both forms serve a valuable purpose.
And poon, are you suggesting that all the businesses in the nation will willfully pool their money to provide things like school, police, scientific and technological research, roads, airports, etc. for the greater good? Will these virtuous corporations protect our land, air, water, food and drugs out of the goodness of their hearts too? History says they won’t.
I often claim that the Republicans are trying to take this country back to the 1930′s. I’m starting to realize that the Libertarians would prefer to take us back to the fucking 1850′s.
Bunch of geniuses here at theprp, who’da thunk it?
i guess the boys are a little bit more Ted Nugent than Tom Morello…
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