Two rock stars headed down different roads the other week. Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys attacked with a bass an innocent fan he had invited on stage and Michelle Shocked bravely stood at the center of the gay rights capital of the world and said"I disagree". Or something like that.
In this day and age you have to watch youself, one way or the other… this is not to say that Schocked offering the Evangelical Christian position that "God hates fags" so clumsily that homosexuals, for whom her lesbian past has made her an icon of sorts, took serious umbrage and her tour had to be cancelled after seven out of nine clubs refused to allow her to perform.
Whatever my ambivalence about thought crimes maybe, I do essentially agree with Michael Fennelly who said: "You're free to hold all the unpopular thoughts you like, and, in this country, you're free to voice them in the public square. even if you're the KKK. and club owners, promoters and the public are free to say 'fuck you!'."
As for Ken Casey, some bonehead climbing onto your stage and Seig Heiling in time to your music certainly deserves a response, of course beating on him with your bass guitar isn't very diplomatic. Still, the stage is hallowed ground for an artist and good for Ken!