Are Green Day A Right Wing Or Left Wing Band?

[Christian's Inferno!]

2 hours ago, 1039Revolutions said:

I respect Billie as a musician, but in terms of their political messaging, it can come across as pretty contradictory..

Letterbomb for example.. “Collecting unemployment checks, a flunkie only along for the ride” Call me crazy, but that is a serious jab at the social welfare system (Right-Libertarian view), and it’s completely okay.

Billie has made numerous comments about not liking feeling unemployed, and always talks about wanting to be the hardest working band in music. These are not your typical left-wing attributes, and more right-wing.

On stage, every concert telling their fans to not take shit from government, or allow politicians to dictate their lives. Another right-libertarian perspective. (Small government that rejects interventionism). True Left-Wingers believe that most aspects of society should be controlled by the government and not the individual.

Libertarians are pro same sex marriage, and pro legalization of drugs because they don’t believe government should tell people how to live their lives.

What people don’t realize is that George W Bush was NOT a real right-winger. He was a puppet used BY THE LEFT to implement horrible left-wing constructs like the patriot act and Mass Surveillance. 

 

I honestly can't believe what I'm reading... What are you on??

[Beerjeezus]

5 minutes ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

I honestly can't believe what I'm reading... What are you on??

Libertarianism is a helluva drug

[1039Revolutions]

11 minutes ago, Christian's Inferno! said:

I honestly can't believe what I'm reading... What are you on??

It’s amazing how people keep giving me these one liners and insults.. Why can’t you tell me what I’ve said that’s inaccurate? Ummm.. because everything I’ve said is bang on, and people don’t know what to say, perhaps? 
 

You can’t be a ‘swing-lefter’ if you actively promote individual liberty and tell people to not let the government and politicians dictate your lives! That’s a complete and total contradiction.. hate to break it to y’all.

[Guest]

This looked like the kind of thread I wanted to stay away from, but I will just point out that many of the lines in Green Day's songs are ironic/satirical, designed to point out the problematic  ideas of society/how society views certain people. Not all of it is meant to be taken as their literal opinion. Now I am disappearing again.

[Beerjeezus]

7 minutes ago, 1039Revolutions said:

It’s amazing how people keep giving me these one liners and insults.. Why can’t you tell me what I’ve said that’s inaccurate? Ummm.. because everything I’ve said is bang on, and people don’t know what to say, perhaps? 
 

No, I can assure you it’s a bunch of bullshit. I’m just too lazy to debate you. Just trust me.

[localinsomniac]

Wow, this thread is something.

[1039Revolutions]

1 hour ago, Beerjeezus said:

No, I can assure you it’s a bunch of bullshit. I’m just too lazy to debate you. Just trust me.

Lazy is not the word lol

[Hermione]

4 hours ago, 1039Revolutions said:

I respect Billie as a musician, but in terms of their political messaging, it can come across as pretty contradictory..

Letterbomb for example.. “Collecting unemployment checks, a flunkie only along for the ride” Call me crazy, but that is a serious jab at the social welfare system (Right-Libertarian view), and it’s completely okay.

Billie has made numerous comments about not liking feeling unemployed, and always talks about wanting to be the hardest working band in music. These are not your typical left-wing attributes, and more right-wing.

On stage, every concert telling their fans to not take shit from government, or allow politicians to dictate their lives. Another right-libertarian perspective. (Small government that rejects interventionism). True Left-Wingers believe that most aspects of society should be controlled by the government and not the individual.

Libertarians are pro same sex marriage, and pro legalization of drugs because they don’t believe government should tell people how to live their lives.

What people don’t realize is that George W Bush was NOT a real right-winger. He was a puppet used BY THE LEFT to implement horrible left-wing constructs like the patriot act and Mass Surveillance. 

 

Wanting to have a job and work hard isn't a right or left wing attribute.

Not wanting politicians to bullshit or dictate people's lives isn't a left or right wing attribute. Only the very extreme left (eg a supporter of Stalin) or very extreme right would believe anything like that. 

Even if that was true about George W Bush (which it isn't, at best he just wasn't as extreme a right winger as we see from the Republican party today), the Green Day songs that alluded to him weren't written in criticism of left wing views, they were written in criticism of right wing views. 

Libertarianism shares some ideas with the left and the right. Just because Green Day share some views with libertarians doesn't necessarily mean they are libertarian - literally any liberal will have some views that cross over with libertarians. And it certainly doesn't mean they're right-libertarian. I still haven't seen a valid example of right wing views from them. I'm not sure you understand what left/right/liberal/conservative means, you seem to have got things twisted with the libertarian thing. But Green Day are textbook liberals dude.

Literally the only people who don't think Green Day are textbook liberals are wishful thinking right wing conservative/libertarian Green Day fans who want the band they like to have the same views as them. Everyone else, including people who aren't even fans, can take one listen to them and get it. 

[Guest]

I think the issue here is that, at least in the U.S, what passes as right or left-wing are very different than the classical political/economic theories of those things. Right now it is those who identify as right-wing who are locking kids in cages, kidnapping protesters off the streets, forcing their religion down everyone else's throats, denying human rights to people who are "different," damn near creating a police/military state, etc. And it's those who identify as left-wing who are fighting all those things and standing up for rights and liberties. So maybe it is just time to drop the labels? 💁‍♀️

[Christian's Inferno!]

10 minutes ago, 1039Revolutions said:

It’s amazing how people keep giving me these one liners and insults.. Why can’t you tell me what I’ve said that’s inaccurate? Ummm.. because everything I’ve said is bang on, and people don’t know what to say, perhaps? 
 

You can’t be a ‘swing-lefter’ if you actively promote individual liberty and tell people to not let the government and politicians dictate your lives! That’s a complete and total contradiction.. hate to break it to y’all.

Do you really expect people to believe you're acting in good faith when you make arguments like "Being hard working is a right wing attribute", "Not taking shit from government is a right wing perspective" and "George W Bush isn't right wing, he's actually a leftist"? Why don't you just admit you hate anything remotely left leaning and you're just butthurt that Green Day are a left-wing band

Also, the only reason right-libertarians are pro gay marriage & drug legalization is because they don't like the government being involved in anything. Not because they actually care about gay rights or poor people of colour who are disproportionately affected by the war on drugs

Billie spends the last 20 years basically saying "Fuck Bush, Fuck Trump, Fuck fascism, Fuck republicans" and you're like "Guys... I think he's right wing". I thought your profile pic was supposed to be ironic but at this point I don't think it is. I also don't know if you realize this, but left wing libertarianism exists. You seem to think libertarian is synonymous with right wing

[Cunt]

You’re all idiots 

[Joe.]

2 hours ago, 1039Revolutions said:

It’s amazing how people keep giving me these one liners and insults.. Why can’t you tell me what I’ve said that’s inaccurate? Ummm.. because everything I’ve said is bang on, and people don’t know what to say, perhaps? 
 

You can’t be a ‘swing-lefter’ if you actively promote individual liberty and tell people to not let the government and politicians dictate your lives! That’s a complete and total contradiction.. hate to break it to y’all.

You're just not correct lol, I'd recommend actually reading some political theory

[dallasthemenace]

Band: born & raised in THEE most liberal hotbed in the entire goddamn United States, practices & preaches liberal ideologies.

Random Fan: 'I tHiNk GrEeN dAy Is RiGhT wInG.'

 

somehow, this has got to be the dumbest fucking thread that's ever been posted to this forum. and THAT'S saying something, considering the buffoonery we've seen take place here. 

[Beerjeezus]

This thread is an uqivalent of someone smearing shit on a wall and others looking at it, deciphering it as letters and then giving lengthy explanations of why they disagree.

[localinsomniac]

"Here's why I need a band I like to be politically aligned with me so I don't have to stop liking them." Gtfo here 😂

[ricardoverde]

1 hour ago, Hermione said:

Literally the only people who don't think Green Day are textbook liberals are wishful thinking right wing conservative/libertarian Green Day fans who want the band they like to have the same views as them. Everyone else, including people who aren't even fans, can take one listen to them and get it. 

THIS 👌

People hear, what they want to hear, or don't even hear at all. Not long ago, reading coments about some political thing that Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello said, a lot of people come to say "oh Tom, you are a disappointment to me, I been listen RATM since 2000 and now I see you are a socialist douchebag." Dudeee really? 20 years and you never listened the lyrics?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ricardoverde said:

THIS 👌

People hear, what they want to hear, or don't even hear at all. Not long ago, reading coments about some political thing that Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello said, a lot of people come to say "oh Tom, you are a disappointment to me, I been listen RATM since 2000 and now I see you are a socialist douchebag." Dudeee really? 20 years and you never listened the lyrics?

You don't even need to listen to the lyrics; could there be a more anti-establishment/left-leaning name than "Rage Against the Machine?" 🤣

[1039Revolutions]

6 hours ago, Hermione said:

Wanting to have a job and work hard isn't a right or left wing attribute.

Not wanting politicians to bullshit or dictate people's lives isn't a left or right wing attribute. Only the very extreme left (eg a supporter of Stalin) or very extreme right would believe anything like that. 

Even if that was true about George W Bush (which it isn't, at best he just wasn't as extreme a right winger as we see from the Republican party today), the Green Day songs that alluded to him weren't written in criticism of left wing views, they were written in criticism of right wing views. 

Libertarianism shares some ideas with the left and the right. Just because Green Day share some views with libertarians doesn't necessarily mean they are libertarian - literally any liberal will have some views that cross over with libertarians. And it certainly doesn't mean they're right-libertarian. I still haven't seen a valid example of right wing views from them. I'm not sure you understand what left/right/liberal/conservative means, you seem to have got things twisted with the libertarian thing. But Green Day are textbook liberals dude.

Literally the only people who don't think Green Day are textbook liberals are wishful thinking right wing conservative/libertarian Green Day fans who want the band they like to have the same views as them. Everyone else, including people who aren't even fans, can take one listen to them and get it. 

Listen, I appreciate this type of response, but I’ll just have to disagree, respectfully.

If you actually read about what right-libertarians stand for, and what libertarian’s believe in, you would say ‘holy shit, this sounds exactly like what Green Day stand for’ without all the BS branding you have in your heads about what you ‘think’ the left stands for.

I understand that both sides of the political spectrum work hard, but my point is that Billie specifically writes and talks about how he views people that don’t work as hard as others. People that have true left-wing views don’t believe that any contribution to society is worth more than another’s, and we should all be paid virtually the same thing, no matter what, as we’re all just equal employees of the state.

Do you really believe Green Day support the idea of large government, and the idea of the state controlling and regulating every aspect of your life like that? Are you kidding me? THAT is left-wing ideology, and everything they preach against at their shows.

Billie Joe is worth 10’s of millions of dollars because of the right-wing corporate structure of America, and the fact is he can make the most of his talents and PERSONALLY reap the benefits without having to give it all back to the state.. I’m sure he appreciates that lol. (And that isn’t ‘wishful thinking’)
 

I think I’ve made my points, and we just disagree, completely. I’ve been open to ideas, and I’m glad a reasonable person chimed in before to talk about how they view and relate to Green Day in a left-wing country like China, so I’ve feel like I’ve gotten a win from this thread, regardless of the hate! 
 

And, PS about George W Bush, there is no way that a right-winger of ANY kind would have overseen the implementation of The Patriot Act.

[Hermione]

11 minutes ago, 1039Revolutions said:

Listen, I appreciate this type of response, but I’ll just have to disagree, respectfully.

If you actually read about what right-libertarians stand for, and what libertarian’s believe in, you would say ‘holy shit, this sounds exactly like what Green Day stand for’ without all the BS branding you have in your heads about what you ‘think’ the left stands for.

I understand that both sides of the political spectrum work hard, but my point is that Billie specifically writes and talks about how he views people that don’t work as hard as others. People that have true left-wing views don’t believe that any contribution to society is worth more than another’s, and we should all be paid virtually the same thing, no matter what, as we’re all just equal employees of the state.

Do you really believe Green Day support the idea of large government, and the idea of the state controlling and regulating every aspect of your life like that? Are you kidding me? THAT is left-wing ideology, and everything they preach against at their shows.

Billie Joe is worth 10’s of millions of dollars because of the right-wing corporate structure of America, and the fact is he can make the most of his talents and PERSONALLY reap the benefits without having to give it all back to the state.. I’m sure he appreciates that lol. (And that isn’t ‘wishful thinking’)
 

I think I’ve made my points, and we just disagree, completely. I’ve been open to ideas, and I’m glad a reasonable person chimed in before to talk about how they view and relate to Green Day in a left-wing country like China, so I’ve feel like I’ve gotten a win from this thread, regardless of the hate! 
 

And, PS about George W Bush, there is no way that a right-winger of ANY kind would have overseen the implementation of The Patriot Act.

They are moderate left wingers aka liberals. Left wing doesn't just mean communist. They absolutely support government that taxes the rich including themselves to take care of the poor and that regulates businesses so they can't pollute the environment or treat workers like garbage etc. They openly support political candidates that stand for that (have you noticed that they support Democratic candidates not Libertarian ones??). That doesn't mean wanting government to control every aspect of people's lives.

It's evident that you don't know what liberal or moderately left wing means.

[1039Revolutions]

3 minutes ago, Hermione said:

They are moderate left wingers aka liberals. Left wing doesn't equal communist. They absolutely support government that taxes the rich including themselves to take care of the poor and that regulates businesses so they can't pollute the environment or treat workers like garbage etc. They openly support political candidates that stand for that (have you noticed that they support Democratic candidates not Libertarian ones??). That doesn't mean wanting government to control every aspect of people's lives.

It's evident that you don't know what liberal or moderately left wing means.

I definitely do, and if you read my original post, I had placed then as ‘moderately right’ .. as the only evidence I’ve seen from them as being in any way on the left was their opinions on universal healthcare and progressive taxation. 
 

In terms of their overall view of government, and how they’ve proven to feel about the government playing a role in their lives, I feel that outweighs their left views and puts them ‘moderately right’ (in my opinion)

But I do appreciate you actually speaking civilly about it  

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Hermione said:

They are moderate left wingers aka liberals. Left wing doesn't equal communist. They absolutely support government that taxes the rich including themselves to take care of the poor and that regulates businesses so they can't pollute the environment or treat workers like garbage etc. They openly support political candidates that stand for that (have you noticed that they support Democratic candidates not Libertarian ones??). That doesn't mean wanting government to control every aspect of people's lives.

It's evident that you don't know what liberal or moderately left wing means.

Yes, the problem here is a fundamental difference in terms of what people think right and left mean. This guy is thinking only in terms of the most extreme ends of the spectrum on both sides. Maybe some of that was true back in the days of Karl Marx, but it is not true in 21st century America. Right now, those on the "right" are definitely not promoting rights and liberties for all, and those on the "left" are. Anyway, it doesn't look like this mental gulf is going to be bridged, so why is this thread even still going?

[Cunt]

It’s pretty evident that people like to act like they know what they’re talking about here but most of them don’t when you go onto this thread. 

[1039Revolutions]

13 minutes ago, Cunt said:

It’s pretty evident that people like to act like they know what they’re talking about here but most of them don’t when you go onto this thread. 

Agreed! 

[Lenny]

On 10/19/2020 at 3:32 AM, Hermione said:

Billie talked about how he'd meet Republicans who were like "yeah American Idiot was speaking for us too" and how he just thought nope it wasn't. 

I get this 100% as the US political system is one dimensional but I think if you applied this to a more complicated political system with more parties it would be hard to say it wasn't applicable to different groups or people with different beliefs. 

For me American Idiot was more about stepping away from political biases despite Green Day's own bias being present on the album. I think the album is a lot deeper than Bush Vs Kerry and in many ways it speaks out more to those who wanted neither. 

[Lenny]

7 hours ago, BillieMyLove said:

 Right now, those on the "right" are definitely not promoting rights and liberties for all, and those on the "left" are.

Based on a lot of the movements I've seen atleast up here in Canada I would say neither the right or left supporters are advocates for promoting rights and liberties for all. 

Radical movements are starting to grow (similar to the movements seen in pre World War 2) and the left radical movement is to take away the economic freedoms of investors and workers. The right does the exact same thing as well though but it's hidden behind populist rhetoric. Right wingers will go after immigrants (who happen to be the workers and investors I'm speaking of) and cut social services - especially those that serve needs of the poor. Our right wing mayor in Toronto vowed to clean up the city and give the citizens of Toronto what they deserve. Taxes have been raised by 50% within 4 years and the homeless population has doubled. Where's the money going? 

As I said before I'm neither right or left nor am I a centrist. We shouldn't leave those in need out on the street to die - social democracies such as Denmark have been great at taking care of their people however, it starts to get extreme when we're catering to the wants of those in need. 

We should all have access to healthcare, food and shelter but no, what you want doesn't matter. Begging hands and bleeding hearts are now trying to dictate the conditions of the welfare of their environment. Your power is money and when you are being gifted that don't bite the hand that feeds. "Begging hands and bleeding hearts will always cry out for more".

I wanted to throw this in as well - I am a big supporter of the Ontario Works program which is a welfare program here for those who work. Essentially when broken down the definition of this program is an income tax exemption. Those on low wages are basically receiving their income tax sent back to them as a means to pay their rent and living expenses. This is a great program, these people are workers and are in need. They are not a burden on the system imo nor are they contributors. They did technically earn what is paid back to them.