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Kate Nash Shares an Open Letter About the Dakota Pipeline Signed by 122 Musicians

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Dec 2, 2016.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Sia, Karen O, members of Green Day and Radiohead, and over a hundred other musicians, have signed an open letter written by Kate Nash to President Obama regarding the North Dakota Access Pipeline:


    We are writing to express our shock at the treatment of the people of Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota. We are deeply disturbed by the police actions that have been taking place, where non violent protests have been and continue to be met with extremely aggressive tactics including; being shot with water canons in below freezing temperatures, chemical weapons, rubber bullets, and attack dogs. These are the same inhumane methods used during WWII and the Civil Rights Movement.

     
  2. Zip It Chris

    Be kind; everyone is on their own journey.

    Randy Blythe from Lamb of God wrote about his experience in Rolling Stone:

    "We see you putting on rubber gloves and mixing liquids into squirt bottles. This is an act of aggression." Rubber gloves and household squirt bottles constitute an act of aggression? What were we going to do, throw the gloves at them and challenge them to a long-distance water-gun duel?

    The surgical gloves people were putting on were to protect their hands in case of tear gas. The liquids they were mixing were milk of magnesia and water, to flush eyes and mucous membranes, also in case of tear gas. We all could clearly see what people were doing from across the water, even without the benefit of the high-powered binoculars the cops had trained on us. While this ludicrous statement was initially funny to me, I began to see how it could quickly turn serious if the cops actually used these actions as justification to use force.

    Terrifying situation.
     
  3. carlosonthedrums

    Cooler than a polar bear's toenails Prestigious

    It really saddens me that we're even at this point right now. I feel like nothing is ever learned by those in power.
     
    Raku likes this.
  4. Brenden

    Trusted Prestigious

    As a former Chemical Defense officer I highly doubt chemical weapons were being used. Which by the way was from WWI not II because after WWI the western world all decided these were too dangerous to be used again.
     
  5. Brenden

    Trusted Prestigious

  6. Raku likes this.
  7. Turkeylegz

    Trusted

    I know to a point this is only 100+ more people expressing their discust but I'm glad they did this. I hope ALL of them use their craft to continue to push the message.
     
    Raku likes this.
  8. Brenden

    Trusted Prestigious

    I'm not being intentionally inflammatory. Im bringing up legitimate points because this claim is about chemical weapons. Not tear gas. Trust there is a huge difference in the connotation they are bring up with it which I'm sure they meant WWI as chemical weapons were not used during WWII. If you believe that point is over tear gas then make that point in your original post.
     
  9. I didn't write it, if you'd like to offer your suggestion on the author to clarify or explain why you don't think tear gas is a chemical weapon, here's Kate Nash's twitter page. Have a nice day.
     
    Raku and Vivatoto like this.
  10. halby Dec 2, 2016
    (Last edited: Dec 2, 2016)
    halby

    Newbie

    @Brenden

    "A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on human beings."

    And..

    "Despite its ubiquity across the globe and in United States, tear gas is a chemical agent banned in warfare per the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, which set forth agreements signed by nearly every nation in the world — including the United States."

    As someone who was never a Chemical Defense anything.. Google helps.
     
    Raku and Jason Tate like this.
  11. Brenden

    Trusted Prestigious

    So you better throw out your pepper spray. But there are levels of it that when you get into the the actual agreement as this has been a hotly contested issues and it bans more of a threshold level than an entire ban. But as I said before the misleading part is describing in reference to the world wars when stuff much more dangerous that affected your health long term if not killed you. So you link that with the false story of the government deploying chemical munitions from a plane you can see where this could be misleading.
     
  12. halby

    Newbie


    I think, maybe, you should read this letter again. I'm not here for an argument, just stating facts. This situation doesn't call for people/"experts" of minuscule parts of letters to speak out against verbiage.

    It's obviously more serious than you care to think (maybe? You could be more invested but your comments so far come off as ignorant and misunderstanding).

    What matters now is the action of our government towards this situation, and it's great that people with voices that are heard (and listened to by many) are joining forces to stand up and say something.

    My main point is - this is sensitive subject matter and if you don't support it...... DANG


    PS. Speaking of facts, I would totally consider Pepper spray a chemical weapon.. though to a lesser extreme. Stop being a dick just to be a dick.
     
    Dan O'Neill, Zac Djamoos and Raku like this.
  13. Brenden

    Trusted Prestigious

    I'm not being a dick. But claiming the government is using chemical weapons is a pretty serious charge and just because you agree with a message doesn't mean you shouldn't be critical of what people are saying in support of it that could cause you to get off topic like we are right now.
     
  14. ConArdist Dec 4, 2016
    (Last edited: Dec 4, 2016)
    ConArdist

    Subgenres Should Die

    Try to follow me here, I'm very tired and have been working for 24 hours straight. This is such a mindfuck of an issue. I can't immediately jump to "fuck the popo". I am completely opposed to the pipeline, and 100% stand w/ the Natives in their brave efforts, though protesting is losing more meaning each day. Chemical weapons? Like mustard gas? I think they got that definition wrong. Out of curiosity, what were the tactics used against those redneck fuck-ups the Bundys? By coincidence, watched Gandhi yesterday. One of my favorite movies, and he knew how to protest and truly took a stand for the disenfranchised. People just protest ANYTHING these days. Whether it was the cute Tea Party loons in their lawn chairs, or the people causing delays around the country after Trump's victory. I can barely find enough hours in the day to eat sometimes, I don't know where people find time to protest. As for cops, I'd say it's pretty black and white. IMO 60% of police try to make a difference. I'd say roughly 40% are bullies, like the cops harassing my mom after she accidentally hit a neighbor's tree. Sorry for the long comment, I find the issue of protesting in general to be touchy. I know what I'm about to say does not apply to the N. Dakota pipeline protests, but the people where I live generally protest for fun. They sure act like they care about an issue, while they head to Denver blazing w/ the homies and updating their social media every four to six minutes. It's a party. This isn't.
     
    Raku likes this.
  15. ConArdist

    Subgenres Should Die

    Definitely proud of Kate Nash. Cringed seeing Karen O's name, knew it would be there. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are insufferable, I'd rather listen to Nickelback.
     
  16. Leftandleaving

    I will be okay. everything Supporter

    Doesn't surprise me you'd say that