Blink-182 [ARCHIVED] Band • Page 1459

We can argue about degrees of things that are bad. But I’m not sure how we can listen to a sold out crowd singing every word to ‘This Could Be Love,’ and think, ‘yeah, the guy who wrote and is leading this is a swell dude.’ As an example, which they’ve been doing since 2003.

I never got Neo-Nazi vibes from Skiba (though part of that was I didn’t know who Douglas P was back in 2008), But I also never thought his stuff was something I should listen to with people in the car I didn’t know. He’s always promoted and sang about things that most people would say wasn’t good. I don’t think any of this is really new - it’s just a newly discovered flavor of ice cream in the shop.

 

I just think it’s weird to compare problematic lyrics about women or satan or whatever to literal support of neo nazis, ya know? We can all look back at the lyrics from the pop punk scene and talk about how they’re harmful or problematic while still saying that Matt is headed down a pretty weird path right?

I just don’t get the mindset that because he had problematic lyrics in the past we shouldn’t speak out against the new shit. It shouldn’t be normalized or pushed aside as him “trolling” or whatever

 

Wait so my understanding is that he used a prominent Nazi logo in some art thing (not good) and posted about how he's reading books on fascism (not proof of anything).

Is there anything more that he's done that says yes he's a Nazi? I'm not willing to go off the above here seems too superficial, sorry.

 

This was a bad post.

 

The caption of this Instagram post is what soured me on Matt completely

 

He’s very close with a literal Neo-Nazi.

 

I mean here's literally the first result for "Matt Skiba Nazi" if you wanna look more into it. How many things can he do before you concede that, at the very least, he's infatuated with Nazi imagery and friends with neo Nazis?

 

By all means, speak out. Truth be told, I’ve been saying I like Alkaline Trio even though Skiba is a scumbag for about as long as I’ve been a fan of the band, based on things I read in interviews and the lyrics of the songs (that personally, I think are way beyond ‘problematic’). And like I said - there’s no point in anyone defending the guy who won’t defend himself.

I just think Skiba is acting in line with the way he always has acted. And what we’re saying here could have been said his whole career about a variety of topics and his attitude in general.

 

Where did I say they were the only band you listened to?

 

I know that this isn't relevant, but how the fuck is following sex workers on social media unfeminist? Weird post on that person's end.

 

Yeah some of it was reaching and weird absolutely

 

Some comments that come up in these conversations seem to insinuate that the only band the people that’ll still listen to blink is blink. Not necessarily your comment

 

glad I wasn’t the only one that found that strange. I know people personally in that world that are terrific people.

 

It’s crazy how much better Nine is than California. I just listened to them both back to back and there’s just no doubt which one is the better album.

 

The lyrical content is much more substantive for sure.

 

I absolutely think we should acknowledge when things that we enjoy/consume are problematic, and push for them to be better. But I don't think we have to make an absolutist moral evalutation of people's choices to continue to enjoy those things.

In this case, Matt is friends with likely Nazi sympathizers, studies faschist works, & uses Nazi imagery in his art. We can guess this is because either

A) He's naively misled in his research of "historical dark shit", and observes it and references it in an attempt to document it, not because he agrees with it, but because he wants to study opposing viewpoints and make a subversive critique of it's harm.

B) He's dog-whistiling his own Nazi-ism, and uses the whole "documentation" angle as an excuse. He plays dumb for his own image, but really doesn't care what people think of him unless it could hurt his career.

We'll never really know probably, and I think everyone should use their own judgement in this situation.

Personally, I'm not inclined to support or promote this iteration of blink, but I still love and appreciate all that their old music did for me, and will shamelessly blast that until I die.

 

Fair enough.

 

I am friends with sex workers/models.

Controversial statement? Haha

 

My issue is some people just assume he's a Nazi, I don't think assuming things in this situation is smart regardless of what we've seen.

 

Ah yes, that’s the issue and not the nazi imagery and being friends with a nazi

 

Having nazi friends is bad

 

I don't think we should make assumptions in general, but he obviously doesn't give a shit if people think he is or not, so I have no sympathy for him in that regard.

 

I have no sympathy for him either, he's a grown man and he can make his own choices. But what I'm saying is some people are assuming and it's not the right way about it.

 

See Im a mental gymnast and I disagree. Using any of my sensory organs to identify someone as a nazi would just be an assumption. Most importantly that would be impolite.

Also it is impossible to be a nazi.

 

As I said much earlier, his character aside (though it should matter), the message he is conveying to younger fans is problematic.