This local story came to my attention last Friday, and it made me want to destroy things, so I listened to Nile instead.
For those of you who aren’t local to Seattle, police officer Tim Brenton was shot in cold blood while waiting in his squad car with his partner on the side of the road on Halloween evening. A suspect is under arrest. I believe the shooting was meticulously planned and calculated. A local punk band, Furious Style, thought it was a great idea to immortalize this “alleged” murderer on their merchandise; they deserve to be sent to the worst circle of hell. They claim their actions stem from their stance against police brutality. While I understand that police brutality is unacceptable, murder is murder is murder. Period. This particular officer had no history of such behavior. I try my very hardest not to ever support the taking of human life, no matter how deserved it may appear to be. Once you start making even the slightest exception, lenience just starts cascading on through.
This punk band is full of obviously immature, ignorant people who crave the spotlight with absolutely no sensitivity toward the lives that were tragically affected by the loss of the officer. Punk, metal, whatever, just be a fucking decent human being. Also, every time one of these bands (I know punk isn’t metal, but people new to the metal scene don’t realize this, and categorize us together) supports actions that are harmful to how we live, it taints the image of metal that I respect. And as Seattle Policy Guild President Rich O’Neill has been quoted as saying, if one of these motherfuckers (my word, not his) was mugged and left bleeding out in some alley, do you think they’d call their homies for a rescue op, or 911?