Conservative critics are up in arms over a tweet from Tom Morello, the guitarist of the politically charged band Rage Against the Machine.
Morello shared a graphic last week featuring a German saying that highlights the dangers of tolerating Nazis.
The quote reads:
"If nine people sit down at a table with one Nazi without protest, there are 10 Nazis at the table."
You can see Morello's tweet below.
\u201chttps://t.co/wvrReXYkYk\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
While his message aligns with the band's political stance, some conservatives on Twitter expressed their displeasure with the criticism of Nazis or people who choose to align themselves with Nazis.
\u201c@tmorello Suck off the machine is a better name for you commies\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
\u201c@tmorello If a liberal musician has thousands of people pay hundreds of dollars to see him play in a concert and he does hundreds of concerts\u2026 he\u2019s really just a lying, greedy, rich capitalist.\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
\u201c@tmorello Time to toss out all my rage disc's now... \ud83d\ude14...\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
\u201c@tmorello Tom Morello over here pretending he didn\u2019t sell out his entire \u201crebel\u201d persona the last three years by complying with government demands and keeping his mouth shut on Covid tyranny. Got news for you Tom, you\u2019re the Nazi. \ud83d\udc4d\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
\u201c@tmorello So everyone in the modern Democratic Party is a Klan member. Makes sense.\u201d— Tom Morello (@Tom Morello) 1685581238
While the origins of the saying were discussed in a 2018 Reddit thread—with most users stating they were unfamiliar with it—its validity as a common saying or source does not detract from the sentiment it conveys.
Still, many concurred with Morello's message.
\u201cThe amount of people getting upset at Tom saying not to be cool with Nazis is just insane. I genuinely don\u2019t think people would\u2019ve freaked out about this like they currently are a decade ago. There is a reactionary consciousness that is on the rise.\u201d— cris (@cris) 1685642616
\u201cConservatives not understanding Rage Against The Machine has always been funny, but now its much easier to see the humor cuz bluechecks get prioritized in the comments\u201d— Segway Batman (@Segway Batman) 1685630366
\u201ctoday on: conservatives somehow missed that Tom Morello is a leftist for like 40 years now\u201d— Beau \ud83c\udfa3 CEO of Spottedleaf (@Beau \ud83c\udfa3 CEO of Spottedleaf) 1685722998
\u201cthis post isn't even calling out anyone specific yet the paid blue checks are losing their minds in the replies https://t.co/hEQyKftQGp\u201d— Matt Binder (@Matt Binder) 1685636374
\u201cLosing my mind right now at the comments because literally TWO DAYS ago RATM came on Spotify and I commented to my husband how it's been a while since a bunch of Right Wing imbeciles started complaining about how Tom Morello has "suddenly gone woke" and we were due for a meltdown\u201d— Danielle (PARODY ACCOUNT) (@Danielle (PARODY ACCOUNT)) 1685637287
Rage Against the Machine has a long-standing reputation for their revolutionary socialist views.
Morello, a Harvard graduate, frequently speaks out against sociopolitical injustices. Throughout its existence, Rage Against the Machine and its individual members participated in political protests and other activism to advocate these beliefs.
The band sees its music as a vehicle for social activism.
In 2020, the band announced all of the profits from the first three shows of its reunion tour would be donated to immigrant rights organizations in the United States. For subsequent shows, 10 percent of the base ticket price and 100% of proceeds after fees and base ticket price were reserved for charities local to each city they were performing in.
Last year, the band made headlines after announcing they would donate $475,000 to reproductive rights groups in Wisconsin and Illinois after the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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