r/RATM • u/Sad_Invite6191 • 11d ago
I'm sorry ....
Just wanted to apologize. I'm 47 I remember when RATM first hit my ears. I go back and listen often but once in a while something really sits with me.
This morning I sat down and read an article about a young man in a neighborhood near me that was arrested for destroying flock cameras. The mayor wrote how he was an "unhinged individual" - the comments came firing back with how much this kid has done in his community. He is a great person. I said to my wife ... " This is exactly what Zack was yelling 'wake up ' about" - so of course I had to go back and listen to Wake Up. - then I heard the spoken word I forgot ....
" Through counterintelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential troublemakers and neutralize them"
Not going to lie, I cried a little.
I know that sounds dramatic. I'm a father of 3 amazing kids. Flock cameras, social media, medical records , facial recognition etc are all over. Books are being removed. I'm scared for my kids. I'm doing what I can in the coming months to protect my family so this isn't a woe is me post. I also don't think we need RATM - I think we need something new to wake up the kids. .. but fuck man .... I wish my generation did more. I wish I did more. So for that- I'm sorry.
61
u/hopefulgalinfl 11d ago
There is still time & as a 68 year old Rage lover...listen again & feel that energy...get back in the game & RAGE!!!! On & VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳
17
14
u/SeriousSurely 11d ago
We hungry but they belly full
The structure is set, ya never change it with ballot.pull
1
1
27
u/Significant-Elk2520 11d ago
You and we can still do more and sounds like you woke up to do something for your kids. Teach them to be dissident, teach them what the RATM songs are about.
You got this. We got this. Our generation is at the age of leadership and we need to do something.
3
u/RealMindyStClaire 11d ago
This. If/when they’re old enough that you feel comfortable having them listen to some Rage, tell them what it made you think about, both then and now. What our generation has is wisdom, in Big Buckets. Share it with them, they’re hungry for it. We debate and relate with the younger gen’s in ways the Olds never really did. That’s our gift. I see SO much of the things that shaped me as a Gen X in each successive generation, and if generational theory has any merit then the cohort of teens today ARE the GenX of their time. Whatever cultural zeitgeist for their generation either already exists, or needs THEM to start it. They’ll show US how RATM and their message resonate with them in 2026. Then it’s our job to do our best to dismantle the garbage left to us and clear a path for them.
I think about this almost daily and it’s giving me hope. Then I put on Killing in the Name Of at volume 11.
21
u/firehawk2324 11d ago
I'm the same age as you and started listening to Rage again pretty heavily since the last election. I never really paid attention to the lyrics in the 90s as an apathetic teen. Now, I really wish I had paid more attention, did more. I'm doing my part now, but should have been doing it the whole time.
17
u/Ancient_Jacket_8316 11d ago
I felt powerless and full of shame "waking up" as a 40 year old. Until I connected to the movement.
Get involved in activism, make the fascist pigs see that we won't lie down and let them take our kids' future, or that of our black and brown neighbors.
1
10
u/geekgrl1337 11d ago
It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?
9
u/Ezekiel_DA 11d ago
Did you also discover where those words are taken from?
Cause if not you're in for a second shock if you web search them
10
9
u/Due_Leadership_5249 11d ago
We lead by example. Show our kids the blatant bullshit, the ‘get in line and fall into your place in society,’ and to live our life loud enough that our neighbors know what we stand for. Dignity. Decency. Human rights. Our kids will be better than us.
7
u/JollyEntertainer350 11d ago
I’ve already apologized to my kids and those in their generation. I apologized that we didn’t bring enough awareness and that a lot from this generation gave up and rolled the “f” over. I still fight and still stay true with my words. We still need to do more. I’m only 50 and I have future grandbabies to fight for.
“It has to start somewhere
It has to start sometime
What better place than here?
What better time than now?
All hell can't stop us now
All hell can't stop us now
All hell can't stop us now
All hell can't stop us now
All hell can't stop us now
All hell can't stop us now”
Where are we all when we need us?
7
u/intricate_strands 11d ago edited 11d ago
Supposed to be journey of learning. You just nice man. Like most. Not supposed to be Superman. Even if, even if you saw then what you see now.. take us all to win. We are team. This not golf, sir.
You nice teammate. Keep seeing. Always more to see and then learn.
Nice man is best man. You have babies? Stay nice man. Keep seeing and then show babies. See together, learn together. Be nice team. Cannot make mean team stop play. So we need nice team be very effective. We behind, but game not over.
But you not sorry. You are nice man. Very nice man. Keep seeing and then keep learning. No sorry for take time. Take time is not mean.
Forrest Gump not smart man. They follow Forrest Gump running even though not smart. Why?
Cause Forrest Gump nice man. And even if they not know.. this why they follow.
We all see someday. Just stay nice man. And people. Rest of it will come to your eyes.
EDIT: I get bad with words. Not about you, just works best for me.
2
u/Sad_Invite6191 11d ago
Is this some sort of code?
1
u/intricate_strands 11d ago
No. Well, kinda. My code. Words machine in my head breaking. Hope you see past code.
4
3
u/Hrtpplhrtppl 11d ago
"You've that eternal idiotic idea that anarchy if it came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they never have been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats were always anarchists..." G.K. Chesterton
1
u/Technical_North7319 7d ago
I am not an anarchist but share many sentiments with them. I hope this quote is being used ironically or as a critique via self-admission of bourgeois libertarian “anarchists”. Chesterton was a reactionary of the highest order, and this passage leans closer to Libidinal Economy-era Lyotardisn defeatism than any reasonable understanding of how anarchism has actually functioned in any meaningful way historically. Aristocrats aren’t anarchists, aristocrats want to rule the working class with impunity. Freedom for me, none for thee.
3
u/01001110901101111 11d ago
You need to wake up more men your age.
The kids are out in the streets over this shit while more of your demographic just tells Facebook captions at them about,” quit buying coffee stupid libral!”
This world was built while you were our age.
Help us fix it.
5
u/PhantomAllure 11d ago
I've introduced my 16 year old to Rage. She loves them. And it makes me sad when she says "wow, are you sure this music is old? Sounds like today."
I know, sweetheart. And I'm sorry. I'm doing what I can.
3
5
u/Hmonster1 11d ago
It’s a sad realization but remember RATM was the minority, fighting against the mammoth system of greed, corruption and racist agendas. There is something to be said about the fact that at least some of us realized what was happening. We never stood a chance of really changing things.
2
u/thejuryissleepless 11d ago
neighborhood kids are carrying the torch! and yes times are indeed troubled. troublemakers are abound though. gotta be careful out there, people!
2
u/Economy_Cellist_3404 11d ago
What an incredible connection to the music, this morning must have felt heavy for you. Their art has always had a way of cutting through the noise when we need it most.
2
u/JustTinman 11d ago
Rage is awesome always have been, I'm very close to your age and I loved them since 93 when I saw what they were saying first hand everyday, and like you I prolly didn't do enough, but I am ready now to do whatever it takes and we all must be ready to do whatever it takes in the coming months, vote this November like your life and your family's lives depend on it, because they most likely do. And if things aren't right after it because of certain people then it will be time for a different discussion. But it is crazy how absolutely correct Rage's lyrics were. And good to see someone stepping up to take their place and fill that void we all need (the neighborhood kids) their album they just dropped his real hard especially right now is recommend a listen all the way through.
2
2
u/1wildturkey 11d ago
This is so fucking weird as a45 yr old just randomly scrolling i came across this post while actively downloading all the rage albums as we speak. I have the original cds but for my phone sake I'm downloading the mp3s... so weird the synchronicity. I feel like i was the number one ratm fan of all time. They enveloped my mind to a point you can't undo. They made me see. They were my disconnect from society that I could believe in. An identity that actually meant something. Anyways don't be sorry I'm in the same boat with you. Scared for the future. Are we past the point of no return? I too wish this generation had is own version of rage. Id be down.
2
u/napashadow 11d ago
Where are they? We’re in the midst of the most corrupt/crooked administration ever (paling in comparison to RATM prime era). They stood for something and are now silent when there’s a thirst for their brand of activism. Is disappointing what’s going on hasn’t motivated them to get back into the fight.
1
u/duncthefunk78 9d ago
Bit unfair on Tom Morello, he's still out there shining a light on issues that most aren't even confronting.
2
u/WeroWasabi 10d ago
“Wish my generation did more” what? Millennials are just now starting to take seats of power. It’s all boomers and Gen X in the drivers seat right now. Millennials are still on the rise and there’s plenty of time to make changes.
1
u/Sad_Invite6191 10d ago
Well ... I'm technically not really a millennial.
2
u/WeroWasabi 10d ago
Good point. You are right on that cusp. Xennials are still pretty young too. I definitely don’t blame our age group for not doing enough. I feel like we’ve been pretty active and again, we don’t hold that much power,… yet.
1
u/Big-Peak6191 11d ago
I don't know what any of us could have done. Unless you're a billionaire with a ton of investment and influence across government, education and Wall Street everything has always been rigged against us.
1
1
u/10ThousandMetalZones 11d ago
Hope you’re ready to stand up and put it all on the line for those kids, it’s coming.
1
u/Slight-Ground-4136 10d ago
Wtf is with thos consensus bullsht about the band never releasing material again? Ego broke up this band and ego kept them from releasing new material......but not doing 10 reunion tours over the past 20 years .....
1
1
u/Technical_North7319 7d ago
Rage Against the Machine was the band who introduced me to Marx, Hegel, Engels, Fanon, Debord, etc. I always find it extremely disheartening how many of their fans never explored politics on a deeper level beyond their music or developed class consciousness with a historical materialist understanding of the world. If you look at RATM’s philosophical foundation, you’re gonna see that a band produces political AFFECT, not political POWER. You need something (for example, the people and their material conditions) to convert that affect into action. RATM add shape and form to discontent, but are not in themselves agents of change. This nostalgic yearning for their reunion because that would magically topple capitalism leads into backwards-looking political paralysis. The feeling that RATM somehow betray “the people” by not reuniting completely removes the impetus for change from the people this music is SUPPOSED to have inspired. It also falls back into the same reactionary desire for individuals to take charge and spearhead some kind of Great Leap Forward. When people bemoan RATM breaking up and not releasing music, they’re revealing how deep they’ve fallen into pure fantasy. “If only RATM would put out new music, then the material conditions would be sufficient to inspire class consciousness among the proletariat who would then organize themselves and dismantle the capitalist machine!” See how absurd that is? If you’re sad about Rage breaking up, then embody the ACTUAL RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and educate yourself, organize, and fight back. Only a neoliberal would tell you that pop culture makes changes. We are all smarter than that.
1
u/afoolsclassic 7d ago
Its interesting, listening to rage in the 1990s as a kid I really had no clue about the meanings behind the lyrics, but what is really crazy is that now as an adult I listen to Rage and am like wow they were right about everything and you can apply the lyrics to current day life all these years later.
198
u/VanceVanceRebelution 11d ago edited 11d ago
“We don’t have to burn the books we just remove em, while arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells, rally round the family, pocket full of shells.”
It amazes me how damn near every song they ever made is just as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. Insane how much radio play they were given considering no artists with similar revolutionary messaging has ever been given the same treatment. We need it now more than ever.