Everyone and his dog seems to have an opinion on the Israeli Palestine conflict right now – and yes, that even includes the team here at Ears To The House. However, our policy is to keep out of politics as much as possible – we’re honestly not sure that yet more opinions are something that’s helping the current situation.
Now, musicians commenting on politics isn’t exactly unusual – they used to do it far more often in the past. Nowadays, a lot of people won’t say anything at all, due to fear of some nobody or other attempting to cancel them as a result – or they try to say something and invariably mess it up.
Yesterday, Scan 7 – a mysterious collective from the world of Detroit techno with close links to the likes of Derrick May and Juan Atkins – posted their thoughts on Instagram on the subject. They believe there should be a ceasefire – and, of course, this is a perfectly legitimate position to take.
But the way they chose to present their position couldn’t honestly have been worse…
Yes, you really are seeing this correctly – they’ve stuck their logo on top of a photo taken following an airstrike on the Gaza Strip and added the words “CEASE FIRE” on it in barely legible colours. Oh, and then they decided to caption it with the phrase “For The Children”.
But never mind what we think – what’s the response to this over in Detroit? Ears To The House contacted two of our regular sources in the city to find out. The first one – who does actually know some of those in Scan 7 – says “This has got to be some kind of bad f***ing joke, right? It looks like the first draft of someone making a poster for a movie.”
“It smacks of self-promotion and missed opportunities. They could have said something meaningful here. Gaza is being razed to the f***ing ground, and they could have talked about all the innocent people being hurt and killed. This, this just says nothing. Absolutely tone deaf.”.
Our second was more nuanced, saying “I honestly don’t see much wrong with this. It’s a difficult issue. The logo on top isn’t great, I’ll admit, but I think saying as little as possible is the best thing to do. Most of us just want peace, and to find some way to end this war once and for all.”.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the following…
“Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 911, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7. Calls for a ceasefire are a call for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen. The Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war.”
This war shows no sign of ending…
