Goat wrote:
Oh, there'd be plenty of complaints about pro-Stalinist lyrics, people bringing up the Holodomor, massacres of Polish intellectuals etc. Let's face it, ethnic cleansing is reprehensible whoever carries it out, but just because there's a war on is no excuse to round up large numbers of a certain people and shoot them, whether we're speaking of the Ukrainians doing it or the Soviets. Murderous fuckery sums it up pretty well for me, and yes, historically it's not such a great deal, but it's the efforts of bands like Drudkh to glorify such actions whilst sweeping the details under the carpet that rankles with me.
There would be complaints, but as many as when the NS card is thrown on the table? And if we cut it down to a battle of the ideologies, why is it that a band touting communist ideas is often seen in a more favourable (here meaning less likely to be attacked/cause controversy) than a band touting NS ideas or even making reference to them (realising that the ideas themselves are not dependant upon hatred)? I think the answer is pretty obvious, but also something to consider when people are answering this thread.
As for the case of Drudkh and Blood In Our Wells, again I'd still think that its something that needs to be taken into context. Yes, there is a glorification of such acts, but there is also the understanding that some people tend to see the ends as justifying the means. Some my not even take that into consideration, and simply see it as the support of movement that attempted to defend Ukrainian interests. What I mean by taking it into its proper context, in part, is that we can sit here comfortably and talk about these atrocities through reading a text book or doing a quick search on the internet, but none of us have been in any such situation. I really do think modern people, particularly those of us often plugged into the internet or whatever other gadget out there, have lost touch with life to the extent that we often talk about events as individuals completely removed from life and what life means in a time or place where we can't stand back as completely outside observers. Every nation has their heroes from politicians like the late Ted Kennedy, to Michael Jackson, to military leaders to athletes to the woman next door, and the reality is that many of these heroes' acts are swept under the carpet for the sake of heroism. We would have no national heroes if we didn't override some detail.
The interesting thing about Drudkh that very few others really do is, though, is that they really do give us a glimpse of a nations history whether in war, religion or art. Just look at the lyrics and the number of occasions they use examples of national poetry in their lyrics. Compare them even to the countless "viking" bands out there that continue to sing about the same things that never really delve further into mythology and history than what's popularly known. To me they are doing quite a good job of at least representing where they come from, and giving many outside listeners a taste of something they otherwise wouldn't have known much about. Whether you agree with the glorifying or not, the band should at least be commended for the degree to which their pride and desire to write about their nation's history goes considering the countless bands that simply sing about Perun or Svarog ten million times and call themselves a slavonic heathen band.
