SYSTEM OF A DOWN's SERJ TANKIAN: 'Civilization In Its Current Form Has Run Its Course'

SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian has expressed his frustration over the state of the world, explaining that "civilization in its current form has run its course."

Tankian, who has always been outspoken with his leftist political opinions, made his comments in response to some of the stories that dominated news coverage and social media feeds over the past few weeks, and the fact that they follow weeks of seemingly endless violence — from Baghdad to Dallas.

The singer took to his Facebook page on Tuesday (July 19) to write: "The world seems to be spinning out of control all over the planet. Reason seems to have taken a back seat to xenophobia, extremism and fanatical thinking and action. Killings of unarmed black males in the U.S., targeted assassinations of police in response, an illegal overhaul of a whole part of society in Turkey supposedly in response to the coup attempt, heavy-handed police roundups by police in Armenia of civic leaders in response to an armed police station takeover, civilian killings in France, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere by so called ISIS sympathizers — as the list goes on and on. I guess environmental catastrophic warnings are not enough to temper our animalistic idiocracy."

He continued: "One thing is clear — civilization in its current form has run its course. We desperately need to figure out how to handle the human disease of violence toward one another.

"In the U.S. we need to see a culture of change from violent unilateral action to serving justice starting with police incriminations of those responsible for heinous crimes.

"In Turkey we need to assert the voices for progressive change against the dogmatic perversions of Erdogan's regime and in Armenia we need to figure out a way out of the post Soviet corrupt hierarchy that has ruled/ruined the country since its independence.

"Culture, empathy, and equality driven by the majority will always win, especially in a climate of economic egalitarianism.

"Another dark day in history can be subverted by intellect, temperance and justice."

"Thanks for allowing my rant.

"Please feel free to respond but be respectful towards each other online."

Tankian recently composed the soundtrack for "The Last Inhabitant" and just released the soundtrack for "1915", a film created by writer-directors Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian about the Armenian genocide, an attempted extermination of the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire.

With his band SYSTEM OF A DOWN, Tankian last year commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with a global arena tour that included the group's first-ever performance in Yerevan's Republic Square.