Peter Maize BANNED!!!
This isn’t the first time I’ve been banned.
My most significant banning was probably in 1989, when the
Chinese government wouldn’t let me into their country for awhile.
Yesterday I was banned by a website.
Most of you probably don’t listen to thrash metal very much, so you
might not be familiar with the band Slayer.
You might also be surprised to know that there are a few hardcore and
heavy metal Christian bands out there. I think that’s cool. Christian music
can take many forms. It’s the message that counts, right? And the emotion.
But the big names in the genre are generally loud, angry and—
to put it mildly—not followers of Jesus Christ.
One of them, Slayer, has been around a long time and is still making music.
Their themes are dark and violent. I visited the website and wondered about
the people who gravitate to Slayer’s music. Why do they choose imagery that is
so negative, hostile and hurtful? Are they hurting? Does this music provide them with
solace, or fuel a sense of community?
I’m not sure.
So I decided to talk to some of them. The Slayer website has a message board, so
I clicked the link to enter.
“You have been permanently banned from this board” I was informed.
“A ban has been issued for your IP address.”
I was amused and rather pleased. I’m not sure why Slayer won’t let me onto their board
(I’ve written to the website’s administrator and I’ll let you know if I get a reply).
The guys from Slayer grew up not far from my home in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
Thirty years on, they are still churning out angry, negative music, and they
continue to project extremely harsh attitudes to the usual targets: Christianity,
Authority, Hypocrites.
When I was a kid, it was a badge of honor for rock ‘n’ roll bands to declare that their music
was Banned in Boston.
Now I am banned by a rock ‘n’ roll band.
Maybe I’ll still get a chance to have a conversation. It’s worth the effort,
on both sides.
petermaize 