Hella Mega Tour with Weezer, Fall Out Boy

[pacejunkie punk]

9 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

I wouldn’t mind if they quietly took the show off their schedule without a word, because it seems to me they might as well play the show, unless travelling to Russia for work is going to be prohibited. The public forgets quickly and what would cause outrage now might be overlooked in a few months.

But they could lead by example now and encourage other tours and companies to boycott them

[Beerjeezus]

9 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

But they could lead by example now and encourage other tours and companies to boycott them

That would be cool and the right thing to do. I’m usually sceptical about boycotts, but it seems a local subsidiary of a Russian bank might go bankrupt very soon, just because so many clients have decided to close their accounts this morning. It can actually make a difference while there’s enough outrage.

[GuitarPunk94]

they should definitely cancel their russian show, its really sth i expect from GD to do

football/soccer and formula one already cancelled their events in russia

[Beerjeezus]

excerpt from a conversation with the person who posted this:

Obviously, no one agrees with every piece of content they read online and it's good to educate yourself and talk to many different people and think critically about what they have to say, so I'm not drawing any conclusions, but... is this really the message you want to put out there? 

[pacejunkie punk]

30 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

excerpt from a conversation with the person who posted this:

Obviously, no one agrees with every piece of content they read online and it's good to educate yourself and talk to many different people and think critically about what they have to say, so I'm not drawing any conclusions, but... is this really the message you want to put out there? 

I don’t understand. Is the OP a Russian defending the invasion? Who are you referencing when you say is this the message you want to put out there, the OP or Billie? Billie’s was a private conversation so I don’t even think the person should have shared that.  So is it the OP’s post and views you take issue with?  I respect Billie for wanting to be open minded and educate himself (and loving a country and their fans/its people is not the same as supporting their leaders)

[Squashie]

30 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

 I respect Billie for wanting to be open minded and educate himself (and loving a country and their fans/its people is not the same as supporting their leaders)

This!

But I'm confused as to how this private conversation (which I agree should have been kept private) deals with Hella Mega. I understand there is a concert date on the calendar, but that show is not a Hella Mega show.

[Beerjeezus]

35 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I don’t understand. Is the OP a Russian defending the invasion? Who are you referencing when you say is this the message you want to put out there, the OP or Billie? Billie’s was a private conversation so I don’t even think the person should have shared that.  So is it the OP’s post and views you take issue with?  I respect Billie for wanting to be open minded and educate himself.

OP is being unclear in a lot of his posts.  I've read up on the original post and fair enough, I can't disagree - the tragedy that has been going on in the Donbas region has been overlooked by media and international public, but "people only care because of the hype" and "the world only cares about the non-separatist regions" are... kind of sketchy takes in my opinion. He's not wrong, the war is all we're all talking about today, but you know, isn't that what everyone does when a new war breaks out? The scale of this is unprecedented and it finally becoming concerned doesn't make people hypocrites. It's sad, but the 2014 conflict got lost from the radar, but that doesn't mean people didn't disagree with it or care about those who were affected... who by the way were mostly Ukrainian people in Ukraine, since as far as I know, the aggression was coming from the Russian/separatist side. Maybe there wasn't a malicious intention from OP, but it would be better to be less ambiguous. It's good to try to get informed, though, I'm not taking issue with that. 

1 minute ago, Squashie said:

This!

But I'm confused as to how this private conversation (which I agree should have been kept private) deals with Hella Mega. I understand there is a concert date on the calendar, but that show is not a Hella Mega show.

It might have something to do with the talk about the possible cancellation of the show, or perhaps starting a thread called "BJA declares his love for Russia in midst of warcrimes and bloodshed" would be more suitable?

[pacejunkie punk]

3 minutes ago, Squashie said:

This!

But I'm confused as to how this private conversation (which I agree should have been kept private) deals with Hella Mega. I understand there is a concert date on the calendar, but that show is not a Hella Mega show.

I think we’ve just been using this thread as a catch all for all future tour dates since the Hella Mega and nonHM dates are mixed together. There was discussion whether they will play Russia now but I don’t think Billie’s comment addresses this specifically. He’s saying they will for sure be back at some point, he obviously can’t say whether the scheduled show is happening if nothing official has been announced.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Beerjeezus said:

excerpt from a conversation with the person who posted this:

Obviously, no one agrees with every piece of content they read online and it's good to educate yourself and talk to many different people and think critically about what they have to say, so I'm not drawing any conclusions, but... is this really the message you want to put out there? 

Maybe I am repeating stuff that has already been said, but it sounds like he was trying to engage someone in a conversation to learn more about that person's views, which seems like a really mature and appropriate thing to do. And that other person seems to be making a good point, if I am reading this correctly, about the fact that this war did not just suddenly happen. It has been going on since 2014 at a lower level, and the world has been largely ignoring it. Now it has boiled over and everyone is finally paying attention. Maybe this escalation could have been prevented had the world paid more attention sooner. Conversations like the one Billie is having here are quite frankly what this world needs a lot more of.

As far as talking about the Russia show, Billie said they would be back. He did not say when, and that omission makes me feel like it won't be in a couple of months. It will be whenever this conflict is resolved. Is he now supposed to say he hates Russia and Russians? This is not Russia's war; it is Vladimir Putin's war alone. Thousands of Russians are in the streets right now risking their lives to protest in a country where dissent is squashed with violence. I personally will not condone a situation where it suddenly becomes cool to hate Russians over this, like it became cool to hate Muslims after 9/11. The Russian people are not the ones to blame for this. 

[jengd]

What @Lady Mix-A-Lot said plus, I do expect the show to be cancelled but it may take a few days for what is, after all a business agreement, to be sorted out.

[pacejunkie punk]

3 hours ago, Beerjeezus said:

It might have something to do with the talk about the possible cancellation of the show, or perhaps starting a thread called "BJA declares his love for Russia in midst of warcrimes and bloodshed" would be more suitable?

I honestly don’t think that equates with declaring his love for Putin (which I’m confident he does not). He is in fact saying the opposite— that he knows what it is like to live in a country where your leaders conduct unjust wars, and that he supports the Russian people who want peace

American Idiot was about feeling powerless and he’s expressing extraordinary empathy for ordinary people on both sides of this unjust war.

[Juliajk]

The whole thing with war in Ukraine  is extremely hard for me personally. I was born in Ukraine, in Donbas   region, and even though my family moved when I was just a baby, I still have lots of family members living there and in Russia. Even though I don’t live in the region anymore I speak Russian fluently and have plenty of friends both in Ukraine and Russia, including some Russian GD fans. Everyone hates this war. I don’t know any single person among any of my friends who wants it or support it in any way. I somehow really appreciate Billie’s attempt to really understand the situation, it’s really not that simple and lots of information is getting lots from both sides of the conflict. I really hope there is a way to restore peace in the region, and GD will be able to come back to Russia, lots of people really looking forward to it 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Juliajk

[Lindsay]

5 hours ago, Lady Mix-A-Lot said:

 This is not Russia's war; it is Vladimir Putin's war alone. Thousands of Russians are in the streets right now risking their lives to protest in a country where dissent is squashed with violence. I personally will not condone a situation where it suddenly becomes cool to hate Russians over this, like it became cool to hate Muslims after 9/11. The Russian people are not the ones to blame for this. 

Thank you, I was coming in here just to say this. Putin's views & actions do not represent the majority of the Russian population from what I've read and understand, and I don't think it's fair to throw out a blanket statement saying all of Russia is evil. I would agree with and understand GD canceling the upcoming show and think it would be the right move, but to never go back ever again would be ridiculous. You can't punish the fans for something they have no control over.

[Beerjeezus]

5 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I honestly don’t think that equates with declaring his love for Putin (which I’m confident he does not). He is in fact saying the opposite— that he knows what it is like to live in a country where your leaders conduct unjust wars, and that he supports the Russian people who want peace

American Idiot was about feeling powerless and he’s expressing extraordinary empathy for ordinary people on both sides of this unjust war.

I was being sarcastic. What I think this indicates is that he’s not going to declare anything in the vein of “Putin bad, I’m not going to Moscow 😡”, which is fine - the only people who would be affected by that are the fans anyway.

[JellyTime]

I live close to the Ukrainian border and I organize help for refugees and their pets. What you are saying is true, but it's just unfair to concentrate on Russian people and Russia generally, when Ukrainians are dying right now, trying to defend their land and their families. And I'm not talking about Billie's words - this was his private conversation.
However I really hope Billie said he loves Ukraine to a random Ukrainian fan - because they really need even that kind of support. They've never got a Green Day show in their country.

[Slave To The Network]

I think what Billie wrote was very eloquent and sensible.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, JellyTime said:

I live close to the Ukrainian border and I organize help for refugees and their pets. What you are saying is true, but it's just unfair to concentrate on Russian people and Russia generally, when Ukrainians are dying right now, trying to defend their land and their families. And I'm not talking about Billie's words - this was his private conversation.
However I really hope Billie said he loves Ukraine to a random Ukrainian fan - because they really need even that kind of support. They've never got a Green Day show in their country.

Thank you for your aid to the Ukrainian people, and please stay safe. And I also hope that there will be a Green Day show in Ukraine once there is peace.

I fully agree with what you said about Ukrainians, and I will add for the benefit of everyone else in this thread that I highly doubt that anyone in Ukraine right now cares about who some rock star is talking to online. They are busy trying to not die. And the best thing we can all do if we truly care about them is help them not die, like you are doing, rather than worrying about petty online nonsense.

 

10 hours ago, Juliajk said:

The whole thing with war in Ukraine  is extremely hard for me personally. I was born in Ukraine, in Donbas   region, and even though my family moved when I was just a baby, I still have lots of family members living there and in Russia. Even though I don’t live in the region anymore I speak Russian fluently and have plenty of friends both in Ukraine and Russia, including some Russian GD fans. Everyone hates this war. I don’t know any single person among any of my friends who wants it or support it in any way. I somehow really appreciate Billie’s attempt to really understand the situation, it’s really not that simple and lots of information is getting lots from both sides of the conflict. I really hope there is a way to restore peace in the region, and GD will be able to come back to Russia, lots of people really looking forward to it 

Best wishes for all of your friends and family; I hope they are all staying safe, and like everyone else, I hope peace will be restored soon as well. ❤️ 

[pacejunkie punk]

https://variety.com/2022/music/news/ajr-cancel-russian-tour-ukraine-invasion-1235190607/?fbclid=IwAR0_arSiRV0igxYXdNK38guhaPhc6Z85Ymk1elfzJqBr2EByAVlVdeHbRlQ

“Geoff Meall, a London-based agent for Paradigm Agency, tells Variety, “We’ve got [multiple] of acts due to be going there from next month right through the summer — rock acts, alternative acts, a lot of electronic artists as well. As it stands, I can’t see any of those shows being able to happen. Ukraine is an obviously an active war zone so it’s impossible to do a concert there, and with Russia, first, every government is advising its citizens not to go there unless it’s essential business — rock and roll probably wouldn’t be considered that — but more, a lot of artists wouldn’t want to be seen as supporting the actions of that government at the moment.”

“Our thoughts are it’s going to be a long time,” he says. “You’ve got a postwar situation to deal with, even if it is over quickly, and the second part is that it would become a moral decision to play in Russia after this.”

[Beerjeezus]

By the way, to add more context to what I’ve said here yesterday, albeit not very eloquently: today, I’ve seen the Donbas narrative being shared on social media by friends who have been prone to spreading conspiracy and misinformation in the past…It’s the Russian propaganda narrative that goes from “but nobody cared about Donbas” to “Ukraine needed to be demilitarized”. Just FYI. People are already falling for it.

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

By the way, to add more context to what I’ve said here yesterday, albeit not very eloquently: today, I’ve seen the Donbas narrative being shared on social media by friends who have been prone to spreading conspiracy and misinformation in the past…It’s the Russian propaganda narrative that goes from “but nobody cared about Donbas” to “Ukraine needed to be demilitarized”. Just FYI. People are already falling for it.

I get this, and I do not doubt that there are people out there spreading this kind of misinformation, since we know that Russian state-sponsored propaganda is rampant right now. But my point and what I took to be the point of that person who was talking to Billie, though I could be reading it wrong, is that the world largely ignored Russia's aggression in Ukraine for the past 8 years and is now suddenly acting shocked that a war is happening. It started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, and ever since Russia has been stoking division and conflict in the Donbas region. And all the while, Putin learned that he could get away with this with minimal consequences from the international community. Heck, for four of the last eight years he had the benefit of a very friendly U.S. president (and if we want to talk about propaganda, take a look at the comments from Trump and Pompeo praising Putin that are now basically playing on loop on Russian state TV). And had Putin's behavior been taken more seriously sooner, perhaps we would not be in this situation. And I think that is something worth reflecting on.

[Guest]

Now is likely also a good time to remember how Trump held up military aid to Ukraine while he tried to extort Zelensky into investigating Hunter Biden (that's what got Trump impeached--the first time). So maybe if Ukraine's needs had been taken more seriously and not politicized then, this situation could have bee averted.

[Virginia Lot Lizard]

On 2/25/2022 at 3:28 PM, Beerjeezus said:

excerpt from a conversation with the person who posted this:

Obviously, no one agrees with every piece of content they read online and it's good to educate yourself and talk to many different people and think critically about what they have to say, so I'm not drawing any conclusions, but... is this really the message you want to put out there? 

How did this come out online? It’s a private message not a comment. Someone screenshot and posted it? How did become public so quickly? What a disappointment. It sucks if this was shared without permission.

[Beerjeezus]

35 minutes ago, Lady Mix-A-Lot said:

I get this, and I do not doubt that there are people out there spreading this kind of misinformation, since we know that Russian state-sponsored propaganda is rampant right now. But my point and what I took to be the point of that person who was talking to Billie, though I could be reading it wrong, is that the world largely ignored Russia's aggression in Ukraine for the past 8 years and is now suddenly acting shocked that a war is happening. It started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, and ever since Russia has been stoking division and conflict in the Donbas region. And all the while, Putin learned that he could get away with this with minimal consequences from the international community. Heck, for four of the last eight years he had the benefit of a very friendly U.S. president (and if we want to talk about propaganda, take a look at the comments from Trump and Pompeo praising Putin that are now basically playing on loop on Russian state TV). And had Putin's behavior been taken more seriously sooner, perhaps we would not be in this situation. And I think that is something worth reflecting on.

You don’t get this. I don’t disagree with that person’s point. They’re right. The international community underestimated Putin and this what we’re all getting for the appeasement in the recent years since 2014. At the same time, this point is being used as the first easy-to-agree-with step to get people on board with the propaganda. I honestly think that may be worth considering too.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Beerjeezus said:

You don’t get this. I don’t disagree with that person’s point. They’re right. The international community underestimated Putin and this what we’re all getting for the appeasement in the recent years since 2014. At the same time, this point is being used as the first easy-to-agree-with step to get people on board with the propaganda. I honestly think that may be worth considering too.

If we agree then I am not sure what I am not getting LOL. I am just not following the logic to the propaganda though, since in my mind this simply makes Putin look worse, along with those who appeased him.

Also we have dragged this thread way off topic and should probably move this convo to the war thread.

[Beerjeezus]

3 minutes ago, Lady Mix-A-Lot said:

If we agree then I am not sure what I am not getting LOL. I am just not following the logic to the propaganda though, since in my mind this simply makes Putin look worse, along with those who appeased him.

Also we have dragged this thread way off topic and should probably move this convo to the war thread.

What you’re not getting is the train of thought that goes from this simple but sad truth to legitimizing the invasion - which is understandable, it’s not the most logical progression that you’d come up with rationally. What they’re saying is that since Putin took over Donbas and the world has been looking away, Ukrainian far-right paramilitary groups have been attacking the separatists (this is still, as far as I know, true at least to an extent. They’ve taken part in the 2014 conflict and unfortunately, I doubt they’ve fucked off since) and these people are Putin’s pretext for claiming that Ukraine is a fascist state that needs to be contained. That’s how the story goes from the Russian perspective.