THE HAUNTED Frontman Pissing In The Wind

THE HAUNTED frontman Peter Dolving has posted the following message on his MySpace page:

"What is the big deal with discussing stuff like economical system or religion?

"It's amusing how people are so eager to attack as soon as anyone simply sets about and types the right trigger words. Sometimes I think maybe I should be a little less sloppy, watch my step to not piss anyone off?

"... Nah, fuck that.

"I wish I had the diligence it takes to be this heavy sociopolitical pencil pusher but I'm not, I'm a dude in a band. And I make no other claim. And yes, I admit holding a most human grudge towards the Christian church, never mind if it's catholic, protestant, anglican, baptist, mormon or whatever. Also when I look around at what is the political and economic geography that is the reality surrounding most of us I see a society long past its expire date.

"I mean, honestly, why are we accepting models of society, hierachy and religion that are so out of date? The general way most of us view the planet, our fellow animals, and ourselves is through serious cuckoo-goggles. Way off the mark. C'mon! We are humans. We put our kind on the moon. We split the atom. We make plates from corn starch and eat ants! And for some reason, we seem to hate ourselves...

"I like to blame stuff. For the sake of argument. As fucked as that may seem, it makes for good shit pie tossing. And I like a good pie toss. Well folks, I blame Christianity for the state of the world. Simple as that.

"The Christian church is built on the notion of one top dog. His kid. And a ghost... or something. Most of us pretty much agree on that. Next up is the clergy and the dogs dudes on earth. This ever since Paulus; this one dude who according to the book of dog had a revelation on the road to Damaskus and heard the voice of the Kid, or his spirit or possibly may have experienced an epeleptic seizure and hallucinated the whole thing (the book doesn't specify...) and off he went. A one a two a three and whopee, more or less single handed he kick started the first bunch of congregations in which the story of the almighty peaceful carpenter/hibbie/revolutionary and his wonders all kinda stood at centre. So far so good, sorta kinda.

"Well, for a lot of Christians that's the official story.

"Personally, I never bought it, being the little oppositional prick I am. Simply because there are discrepancies all over the place that the idea of 'Faith' just don't hold up to. 'Faith' being the foundation of Paulus' whole deal with a religious movement you might think it would hold up to scrutiny... But I'll get back to the 'Faith' part later...

"Now, the fact that the Book of dog tells us, not first-hand stories, but third-hand (or worse) recaps of what really went down in the land of old Jewish dudes don't do much for me as far as credibility goes. Anywho — the churchos expect me to give them money and my devotion for them to presumably 'save' people... From what?

"That question has always been a biggie for me. Sure, I know it's supposedly the old 'sin' thing, but I ain't ever felt painfully guilty except for this one time when I fucked this great and really hot chick who happened to be married to one of my friends, and, yes, my girlfriend at the time walked in on us... except for that, and few other little episodes, I figure my lack deeper feelings of guilt must count for something... In fact, I'm pretty sure it counts for something.

"Okay, so I've done some remarkably stupid, despicable, mean, cruel and even disgusting things so far in life, but in my book those go for learning experiences and I'll live with it. Regrets? It's a little late for that once you fuck up. I try not to repeat the most dumbass crap I've done. When I think about it, I'm pretty grateful I wasn't born perfect and I don't even want to be — that would just be boring and it wouldn't make a good story would it?

"But back to the bible thumpers... The whole 'inherit sin' crap just fucking gets on my nerves. Ain't no pious asswipe in a fancy outfit and ridiculous little white collar with a degree in pseodo psychology and superstition gonna help me out by telling me that 'the lord' will forgive me etc. if I repent and redeem myself. Hell. No. I ain't walking in no desert deprived of sleep and water, ridden by guilt for having killed and tortured a bunch of people like good old Paulus did. Nope, I'm doin pretty good diggin' the here and now in a tired corrupt old Christian capitalism where Paulus' sunstroke just had a tad too much influence for my personal comfort and an ex-SS officer can become pope. Oh, by the way — the old fart is also the ex-Grand Inquisitor... I keep thinking 'Torquemada, Torquemada, Torquemada...'

"Where was I? Yes! 'Faith'... And what a beautiful thing it is. Personally I like the idea of faith as such. Accepting there is something greater than myself makes the unbearable dread of existence somehow bearable. But I can't bring myself to believe that my submission to the principles of an institution that has spent the last 2000 years with systematic political manipulation, self-justified wars, consigned assasinations, torture, mass slaughter, ruthless propaganda and thought control, will bring me any closer to paradise. It don't compute. Christianity is a corrupt idea as such. Rotten to the core with utilitaristic elitism and abysmal fanaticism. If one considers the acts of ie. the Rothschild, Kennedy and Bush families somewhere in the zone of somewhat morally corrupt (and yes, they are...) one still has to abide they are saints in comparison to the power structures existing within what we call christianity.

"So, 'Faith'... Such a vague and abstract idea that it can't really be argued with. 'Faith' can overcome any obstacle, be it of economic nature or in the shape of a razorblade slicing the skin between your fingers — if you have 'faith' it can bring you through anything. Nevertheless, 'Faith' is just a word. What each individual fills the concept with will never be quiet the same from one person to another. Paulus for some reason understood this, and built his entire idea for the cult that later became known as 'Christianity' on the very concept of 'Faith'. Brilliant from a marketing point of view, because it simply can't be argued, if one's got it they got it. The Church are the undisputible masters of what has been known in marketing as 'friendly branding.' For almost 2000 years the Christian clergy has mastered the skill of preaching piety, condemnation and redemption to the unexpecting fold. Meanwhile though acting morally corrupt in every possible way whenever the clergy's higher authority so finds it necessary. A means to an end. This is exactly the same kind of reasoning used by good old Gauis Julius Ceasar, Machiavelli, Cromwell, the self-exclaimed emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the U.S. goverment from the 1850s until today, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Chairman Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein etc. Most rational people pretty much agree that it's power for the sake of power and that it infringes on the basic rights to freedom for the singular individual. Now, if you are the kind of person who enjoy that kind of thing — fine... I'm not. I think it's bullshit. But it's all a matter of taste and opinion right?

"So why is the idea of church and religious dogma pissing me off so much?

"Easy — I like to be my own boss. I like to work and to play and live with people who respect and trust themselves enough to try and do that with at least the attempt of treating their fellow man and themselves accordingly. It's not easy. Nope. But when we make mistakes at least we can ask forgiveness and learn something. And when we don't know what to do, it's no big loss or failure to say so and ask for help. What the fuck! Why does accepting the fact that incompleteness is a natural part of being human seem so hard for so many? Why the haste for perfection? We are blank sheets, at least that's what it looks like to me.

"No knowledge we study ourselves to or acquire through experience is static. Everything is fluid. It's everchanging and there is no way to know. All the more reason for us to not bow in the face of any authority. Certainly, one can listen to and obey an officer of the law who tells us not to walk into an ongoing bank robbery or a shoot out. Mostly, since we can assume it's in our own or his interest to protect us. Hopefully, we can fairly presume so. Also, we can accept a teacher asking us to be silent and listen during a lecture. Simply to hear what the guy has to say, which of course is the whole point of a lecture. On the other hand, if a goverment tells me to pick up a gun and go off to kill people in an another country, I fail to see why I should abide. It would jeopardize my health, and the health of others. It would also steal my time, and the time of others. It would physically place me too far away from what I want to do in my life and from the people I love and no matter how one looks at it; a stranger far from home with a gun in his hand is hardly going to bring a sense of peace and bright harmony to his new enviroment. It's an individual choice as far as I'm concerned. Personally I refuse.

"Again, let's return to the concept of 'Faith.' If we accept the presets of Christian dogma, it's simple do to highly amoral things without assuming ones own responsibilty, instead merely shrug, comfortably numb in the alibi provided by 'Faith' and give up ones self in the name of 'God and Country.' Indeed, the political construction of christianity is wonderfully authoritarian and will side with most goverments who are benign to the christian 'Faith.' Whoever promotes or at least does not create obstacles for 'Faith' will have the blessing of the church. Naturally the Christian establishment has sided with obscure characters like The King of Spain, Queen Elizabeth, Benito Mussoulini, Generalissimo Franco, Winston Churchill, the Romanoffs, and indeed hundreds upon hundreds of other despots through history. The Pope himself, said to be dogs voice on earth, says some crazy shit, I think most people can agree with that statement. Hell, the very idea of a divine patriarch in charge of 'Faith' for a vast number of believers all over the world is insane. Pope, Ayathollah, Czar, Emperor, Furher, King, CEO etc. etc. yep, the top dog is always prevalent in the last couple of housand years of our planets history. There is nothing righteous or justified about it. No man is better at ruling than another. No one. Every time I hear arguments that contradict this statement I cringe. Because more than anything, the argument that '...some are just better suited than others' pops up. What kind of fascist nonsense is that? This is not an argument, it is wild speculation and merely an opinion based in the idea often utilized by liberals, neo-cons, neo-libs and other pro authority characters. The same people who often in debate claim that we are all born with the same preconditions. So, let's quickly run through this again... Why would a person not feel animosity to christianity and what it represents?

"I'll take a little sidetrack here while I'm at it. I know I already mentioned my thoughts on capitalism. I understand some won't agree with me, but still, it's as outdated as everything else most of us have already tossed as old shoes, like Communism, National Socialism, Feodalism etc. Capitalism is about as sexy as a crumpled up wart covered, skin and bonesy kidney failure losing hair with nails growning at a mad rate. Think Donald Trump with a progressed case of AIDS, tuberculosis and multiple brain, skin and lung hematomas. Sexy...

"I understand playing in a band professionally, selling records and charging money from promotors to perform the music we've made all adds up to the fact that I am indeed part of the capitalist construction. Am I benefitting from it? Well, according to capitalist standards, well yes. After 15 years of giving up my entire life for the right to do this for a living, I am now making some money. You know, I'm diggin that fact OK. Money is great, as opposed to no money — in a capitalist world... Now it honestly ain't the dough that's making this feel good. It's having a place of my own with my family. I can afford occasional gifts for my family and sometimes even my friends. It's having food in my kitchen and people to share it with. That don't need capitalism to be achieved. There are other options. Giving up capitalism does not mean we have to give up most of the good fun stuff in life. Money in itself is just a token symbol to divide those with legislative and executive power from those without. Without money, there is nothing to divide us. The interesting thing is; The incentive to grow and prepare food, build infrastrucure and housing, create art, entertainment and provide health care and education still prevails without money. And there is no escaping we are bound to still need administrative functions.

"Basically, the only ones who need money are those who have a great abundance of it and make more through transactions of before mentioned 'power,' with money as the token symbol, dictating the conditions for the rest of us who work for a living. I am aware this is an overtly simplified version of thing, but nevertheless it sums up the basics of a major part of the problems we face as a species. Naturally these thoughts don't go down well with some folks. Well, they can suck my dick.

"The economic situation today is come to a point where reality is catching up with the 'Free Market' scam. Each singular economical territory is beginning to show signs of strain. The signs are obvious if one watches the political geography and just a little bit of history. Both the U.S. and EU are tightening their border restrictions and trade rule legislation via elevated taxes, and further complicating the conditions and rules for international travel and trade, contradicting the ever ongoing pro globalization folly. Meanwhile there are indications of elevated military activity directed at the chosen scape goats of the moment and an obvious trend to a more conservative, potentially totalitarian rightwing political scene. Things looked somewhat like this before the so-called Black Monday in 1929...

"Well, I'm not going to pretend to know what will happen, because I don't. As far as I know little green men could invade the planet any minute so bear with me...

"The subject of power, religion and money IS important. It's our fucking planet. I don't care what stock portfolio you claim, what land deed you present or what millitary frontiers are drawn up by generals and petroleum industry lobbyists. It's all OURS. There is no way I will ever respect singular ownership in the capitalist definition of the word. It's ridiculous. We are all just part of a greater ecologic structure. No more evolved than some fungae and even our bodies carry elements completely autonomous from us. We will end up destroying ourselves if we can't learn to accept the fact that WE are NOT divine. There is NO GOD as defined by the Judeo, Christian, Hindu and Islamic traditions. We are merely clouts of atoms and electrical charges in an everchanging cosmos of great beauty and magnificent turmoil of life, void and movement. However, we hold in our hands the capacity to accept our own existence as a species and the vast potential we are gifted with, in large and small. If we give up the petty struggles of competetive nonsense, religious territorialism and monetary illusionism and try looking at the fact that we are indeed mortal, physically limited yet creative creatures, like protozoae or bacteriae — we do carry a deeper instinct for life. It's nature. We have nothing but beauty to gain. Hell, we might even get a load of how cool and even incredible it really is to be alive surrounded by the vast cold vacuum that is the universe.

"And as far as politicians, popes and clergy, CEOs, investment and holding companies, militarists and power trippers in general go, I say; Send out the ambulances, the cops and the firebrigade, incarcerate, and strap down theses clowns who still believe in the old structures, pump 'em full of of muscle relaxers and tranquilizers and let the treatment begin. They are not evil men and women. These people need help. They just can't let go of their own fear of death, and accept that we are all together on a tiny blue orb in an unimaginably vast space of things beyond our control. Give the fuckers enough love and caring and I'm sure they'll relax and loosen up once they realize it's the same for all of us and that we are not holding them account."