Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello Squares Off With His Detractors On Social Media: "Democrats Are War Criminals. Republicans Are War Criminals."

On paper, the advent of the internet and social media should have theoretically served as a bridge for bringing humanity together, enriching our lives with the world’s knowledge in our pockets, while subverting the strangleholds of influence exercised by legacy and state media.

Unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case, as we instead find ourselves locked in a new golden age of weaponized misinformation and division. Truth remains obfuscated, be it by bad actors or greedy and manipulative algorithms. Instant gratification and tribalism has superseded actively seeking out accurate information and critical thinking, and society remains placated by drip-feed hits of digital dopamine.

Given their decades of fierce political stance and various protests, Rage Against The Machine‘s ideals should be quite clear. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted outfit found themselves the target of a misinformation campaign from anti-vaxxers and right-wing conspiracy theorists.

While the band’s well-documented history of activism and anti-imperialist, anti-racist & anti-war stances, plus their dalliances with the principles of communism are nothing new, the ignorance of some of their critics still has made for some rather amusing interactions online.

Back in 2012, Republican politician Paul Ryan identified himself as a fan of the band’s music. The irony of that situation was obviously immense, with the group’s influential guitarist Tom Morello later penning an op-ed on the matter, decrying Ryan as “the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades.”

Despite that public excoriation and decades of Rage Against The Machine literally wearing their political affiliations on their sleeve, there’s been no shortage of fans of the band’s music who have followed in Ryan‘s footsteps.

Sure, there’s an argument to be made regarding the group’s political ideals being in direct conflict with the financial success that capitalism has brought them via their music career. But it’d be hard to deny that the band’s political stances and controversial views haven’t always been at the forefront of their craft.

Regardless, the ignorance persists. Thus, Morello recently fed the trolls on his social media. The below post made yesterday, November 03rd, seemingly serving as the fuel for the fire that followed:

“Never ceases to amaze me how many folks who’ve heard RATM are in Paul Ryan mode, having literally ZERO understanding of anything that band was about and even less understanding where any of us might stand on contemporary issues. Recently was talking to a couple at a restaurant who were big fans of “Killing In The Name”.

The nice lady said, “I love that song. It helped me rage against my parents and later against the jab!” I said, “Ma’am that song is about racist cops who often behave like the Ku Klux Klan in service of historical white supremacy and are boot licking lackeys and thugs of the racist capitalist ruling class.” She sat there chewing and blinking, chewing and blinking.”

In a separate exchange that followed soon after, a user on social media commented to Morello:

“God forbid people misunderstood it was against authorities forcing you get the vaccine to go to your concert or fly or work.

That was ok, awesome use of authority.

You really understand what to rage about.”

Morello replied directly:

“Perfect example right here. No sir, no one was required to be vaccinated to attend or buy a ticket to any RATM show ever. Feel free to check with any of the tens of thousands who attended. Blinded by presumptive bias and misinformation what other sacred tenets of your world view and opinions are perhaps based on total falsities?”

Morello has previously at length shot down the narrative that the band enforced COVID-19 vaccinations to attend their short-lived 2022 reunion tour, at one point telling an individual on social media, “RATM has played 19 shows in the last 13 years and ZERO of those shows have required vax.

However, misconceptions regarding that trek and the muddled circumstances of the quarantine that delayed the tour from its originally planned 2020 launch have seen the band continually accused of ‘raging for the machine.’

A recent resurgence of the group’s 2000 Democratic National Convention protest live performance also saw renewed accusations of the band being labeled as having left-wing bias, however, as Morello clarified once again this past July, “We played a protest AGAINST the convention. You guys are so stupid.” Despite the continued allegations of political bias, amid that very set the band’s vocalist Zack de la Rocha can be heard stating:

“Our democracy has been hijacked! Our electoral freedoms in this country are over so long as it’s controlled by corporations! We are not going to allow these streets to be taken over by the Democrats or the Republicans!”

Yesterday’s various exchanges involving Morello on his X account however still saw him fend off a wave of accusations regarding his political endorsements and more, with some choice replies available below:

“My stance on the “war machine” has been unwavering since I was a teenager: Every US President in my lifetime has been a war criminal by the standards of the post WWII Geneva Conventions and if there was any justice in this world they would be treated as such and answer for those crimes. Again, when you just make stuff up based on bias and misinformation you’ll likely embarrass yourself.”

“My dude. As a day gig for two years in the 80’s I was Scheduling Secretary for Democratic US Senator Alan Cranston. While fairly progressive on many issues I saw first hand how oligarch money controls and criminally shapes politics and policy. No one’s eyes are more open than mine on this topic.

Democrats are war criminals. Republicans are war criminals. While I do always vote because racists and the ruling class don’t want me to, I believe that real change comes from creating an irresistible force from below—working and fighting before, during and after and election at the grassroots regardless of who wins, not just crossing your fingers and begging elites for crumbs.

The ONLY candidate I have EVER publicly or privately endorsed was Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist who’s son was killed in the Iraq War. She’s was a true badass. Please pass this info along to the legions of misinformed chodes who have a similar perspective to your own.”

Speaking further on the matter, Morello offered: