"Mustafah, Mazel Tov, The Gaza Boys, All that holy stuff... "

Putting aside for a minute George Michael's world-weary, immortal lines from his censored (at least in the U.S.) Shoot the Dog (post title):

Recent events have rendered me almost speechless. What is it about religion that makes people want to kill each other? Why are ancient words of unknown origin and validity, more sacred than a human life?

The ruckus over the publishing of satirical Muhammad-cartoons in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllandsposten and facsimiles of this in major Norwegian newspaper dailys Aftenposten and VG - along with subsequent burning of Danish and Norwegian flags in Gaza, organized boicotts of Danish export-products across the arabian world, censuring of blogowners and sensorship of blogs and other media concerning posting of the aforementioned images - have sent the sonic images of a long-forgotten favorite of mine into my conscience; The The's classic rock/pop album "Mind Bomb":


The Violence Of Truth (Lyrics)

"What is evil? What is love?
What is the force that possesses us?
Where is the beauty? Where is the truth?
Where is the force that watches over you?

What is it that makes us ashamed to be white?
(when we close our ears to the sound of machine gun)

And while the niggers of this world are starving
with their mouths wide open
What is it that turns the coins we throw at them
into worthless little tokens?

Why is it that anything on this earth we do not understand
We are pushed onto our knees to worship or to damn?

Those are the rules of religion
Those are the laws of the land
That's how the forces of darkness have suppressed the spirit of man

That's why human beings still walk on all fours
Whilst in the presence of their so called superiors

Somethings telling you to wake up and salute
The dangers of obedience and the violence of truth

God is evil, God is love
God is the force that possesses us
God is beauty, God is truth
God is the force that is watching over you"


excerpts from Good Morning Beautiful

"Satellite, oh, satellite
Who sits upon our skies
How deep do you see when you spy into our lives?

I know that God lives in everybody's souls
and the only devil in your world
Lives in the human heart

Who is it?
Whose words have been twisted beyond recognition
In order to build your planet Earth's religions

Who is it?
Who could make your little armies of the left
and your little armies of the right
Light up your skies tonight

Now some of you may live and some of you may die
But remember
That nothing in the world can kill you inside
For he is thinking of you
In your great cities of great solitude"


and excerpts from Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)

"Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds

But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hi-jacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn’t belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown

The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again"

All lyrics from this Operation Desert Storm-era fusion masterpiece come highly recommended, and can be viewed here
(double-click on song titles to see the corresponding lyrics).

To witness how this album seems to be regarded by many (almost universally, it would seem) as something of a rare masterpiece, awarded with five out of five stars from every single reviewer in this one place - incidentally the world's largest internet-store - relish in the reviews and the no-holds-barred praise of it on this page delivered from Amazon.com:

"Mind Bomb" at Amazon

For some cleansing of the soul and catharsis of the mind, listen to the album with your lights out - or perhaps while in your bath-tub.. ~Light some candles~ For a great, uplifting finale to your listening session, put on Roger Waters' brilliant meditation on the value of the efforts of the single individual - holding a candle up against the dark forces of oppression, censorship and religious dogma - "Each Small Candle"


Enjoy at your own leisure...