Coldplay Frontman Chris Martin’s Naïveté Thinking Obama Will Transform America’s Image

While looking around a local Blockbuster, I came across the newest addition of Rolling Stone. I saw Chris Martin on the cover. I really loved Coldplay’s first album. I bought it while serving in the military and wore it out, it was great work and a lot of military folks I knew loved them. But then they got too full of themselves and started on this, typical for “artists”, slide into left-leaning, activist politics. I am the type that won’t go and watch a Sean Penn or Susan Sarandon movie because of their BS anti-American antics; same goes for CD’s. At any rate, when Coldplay’s new song was being advertised on TV, I really liked the video and the song stuck in my head. I bought that song off of itunes, but being the stubborn guy I am, who makes statements with my wallet, I wanted to research and see if the CD was more of the same activist drivel.

Back to Rolling Stone… I flipped to the article in the store telling myself if he doesn’t bash Bush or the war I will buy the CD. After reading through half of it, my mind was made up. Here are some highlights:

X&Y got some mixed reviews, but the harshest was from the New York Times, which called Coldplay the most insufferable band of the decade. How did you handle that?
It was a big deal. It’s the first real attack on your band, and from a publication we all respect.

“We all respect…” The New York Times. The NYT being the most biased liberal newspaper around, who is jeopardizing their journalistic credibility by openly rooting for Obama. Strike one.

On the first single, “Violet Hill,” you sing about a fox becoming a god and a “carnival of idiots on show.” Was the song inspired by Fox News?
No one’s got that before, no one in the band, no one. The first line in that song is the first line of any song we ever wrote. Years ago, when Guy [Berryman, bassist] heard that first line and that first little melody — “It was a long and dark December” — he said, “OK, I’ll join the band.” But we just didn’t have the other 49 lines until last year. And then one day I was watching Bill O’Reilly, and I was like, “I know how to finish that song.”
My best friend, Tim, he’s a musician in a band called the High Wire, but he also has to work in a bar. He was having trouble with his boss, and it made me think that so many people spend their lives being told what to do by people that they just don’t like. So it was that idea, and watching Bill O’Reilly, and all these words just came out.

Oh boy. Big strike two. I watch Bill O’Reilly every night. Foxnews may be the most conservative leaning news channel out there, but so what? Apparently it is ok to bash and demonize a differing viewpoint in liberal land. It’s old, and it’s sad. But It is no wonder the left hates FNC when they beat the competition of CNN and MSNBC combined. Still, O’Reilly can rub people the wrong way so I am still hoping to make it through, giving Coldplay the benefit of the doubt.

It does speak to the state of the world.
And it’s fucking true, man. You can see it everywhere. It’s like, when are we going to learn? We’re never going to learn, is the answer. It’s an ultimate bummer, and the last humans on Earth will really kick themselves. You and I are living in the time when revenge is the most dangerous thing, because the stakes are so high and the weaponry is so advanced.

Do you see any reason for hope?
As soon as Barack Obama becomes president, people will be a bit more optimistic. If Obama was to be president, it would immediately change the whole outside world’s opinion of America overnight. America’s public image at the moment is really bad. And it’s a bummer, because over half of Americans are the coolest people on the planet. But they’ve been so misrepresented.

Do you think he can win?
I do. But I think that, really, the fair thing would be, in electing the American president, to let everyone in the world vote, because it affects all of us. If there was a world vote, there’s no question who would win. No question. Of course, Barack Obama is human like the rest of us. He’s going to fuck up. But I’m just trying to look on the bright side. What’s the point of being negative? Where does that get us? It gets you your own radio chat show, but it doesn’t really do anything for the world.

 

Uh oh! Strike three baby. I mean this is so sophmoric on so many levels. “Revenge”? I think the word Mr. Martin should have used is justice, not revenge. I don’t expect a musician to really understand the geopolitical nature of the world, but I mean come on. We got rid of the Taliban who used to stone people to death and shoot women dead execution style in the middle of a soccer game, in the middle of the Kabul Soccer Stadium. Where is Chris Martin’s voice on that? I don’t remember any songs speaking out against this barbaric behavior. The Afghans now have hope, and can finally fly kites taboot. And don’t even get me started on Iraq. That has been a target of anti-American propaganda from day one. Abu Ghraib gets 57 front page stories from the New York Times, yet when things improve.. crickets. Could they be any more calculated? 

“If Obama was to be president, it would immediately change the whole outside world’s opinion of America overnight.”

Chris seriously, this is comical. When or if, rather, Obama is elected, people will still dislike us. If Americans, or in his case, quasi-Americans don’t feel comfortable at their cocktail-sip parties in Paris, tough. Europeans stopped having a need to like us after the Soviet Union fell. After Russian ascends from the ashes to take over the continent once again, I say let them have it.

And… “over half of Americans are the coolest people on the planet”? Ok, I got it, if you voted for Bush then you are uncool. Well, the man has made some misteps to be sure, but he is also responsible for crushing al-Qaeda, removing Saddam Hussein, removing the Taliban, giving billions of aid to Africa, improving national test scores, almost doubling the NIH budget, giving tax incentives for hybrid vehicles, lowering taxes in general, and lowering crime. If making tough, and I mean TOUGH decisions to protect America makes you uncool, then I want to be uncool. Let’s not forget the USA has not/not been attacked in 7 years. Oh, they’ve tried, but they haven’t and for all the mud Bush gets flung at him, he deserves credit at least for that.

And this doozy…”Let everybody in the world vote”. Right. Let’s let everybody in the world vote, because the world is a fair and decent place, where nobody wants to see America defeated. Spare me.

And finally:

“Of course, Barack Obama is human like the rest of us. He’s going to fuck up. But I’m just trying to look on the bright side. What’s the point of being negative? Where does that get us? It gets you your own radio chat show, but it doesn’t really do anything for the world.”

So, if Obama fucks up it’s because he is human. But if Bush fucks up… Am I missing something here?

I also like the little jab he takes at talk radio. All this guy is doing is regurgitating liberal talking points, yet he espouses to think for yourself.  “What’s the point of being negative”? I hate to break it to him, but perhaps he hasn’t noticed that the Democratic party and the left in general consist of the, and I mean THE, most negative, underhanded, whiners in the face of American politics. They have come forth with no good ideas of their own, just negativity and cynicism. That is why congress has an approval rating 10% lower than President, and you can’t get much lower than his approval rating, fair or not. Obama isn’t going to change diddly unless he is prepared to make tough decisions and follow through with them. His first decision should be to let the American voters know what he stands for,  and Chris would be better off sticking to drawing “fair trade” slogans on his hand.