can guitars kill fascists?
Who would argue with Woody Guthrie? Thanks to Lady Gaga’s singing of a fragment of “This Land Is Your Land” at the Superbowl halftime show last week, Woody’s politics and inspiration are getting attention. This includes the fact that, in 1941, he had THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS on his guitar. So let’s see if we want to argue with him.
In 1941, Europe was in a war against fascism where soldiers and civilians were dying from a new kind of warfare that destroyed whole cities. The U.S. didn’t get involved until our hand was forced at the end of that year. Woody did several tours of duty, fighting and writing songs.
Woody believed in the importance of the war. He put his body in harm’s way at the same time he employed his mind and his art. Did either one of these contributions make any difference at all? It’s absolutely, literally possible that he killed fascists in the war. Did his guitar kill fascists? Does this whole art-as-protest thing work, or should artists shut up about feelings and enlist in the military, or get a law degree to work for the ACLU?
I think art is like groundwater. It’s always there, a natural part of the environment, but not always seen. We can tap into it to use as needed, just by building a well. It can be polluted by what we do to the environment. And it can seep anywhere… eventually. It will end up as part of a river, then then ocean.
Ground water won’t kill fascists, but the ocean will drown them. Even a river could do the job.
Lady Gaga, in a similar manner, put just enough art in her entertainment to allow conservatives to say, “hurray for a singer just singing fun songs and putting on a good show!” and liberals to say, “hurray for a singer taking a stand and saturating her performance with resistance!” I believe that’s as it should be: Art should be open to interpretation, because if you just say “fascism is bad,” no one will remember that. If you jump from the roof of a football stadium and sing “Born This Way” on a stage filled with ethnically diverse dancers during the most-watched night of TV all year, people will talk about it for weeks.
This is how the groundwater seeps through bedrock. It cracks open people’s attention, inspires their engagement and reflection. They argue and disagree, and each side thinks the other side is missing the point — which is hilarious because their argument is the point.
And the more we talk about it, the more we wonder, the further the water seeps. The closer it gets to the river. Will “This Land Is Your Land” kill fascists? No. Will a Superbowl performance kill fascism? No. But “This Land Is Your Land,” deployed at the Superbowl, turbocharges a pocket of groundwater to inspire thought and debate, carrying our work a little closer to the river, gaining a little momentum. A soul is harder to crush, a heart is less susceptible to break when they are well hydrated.
And then we have to do it again. And keep the conversation going. Maintaining that is exhausting. You know what makes it easier? Having something fun and entertaining to notice, to argue about.
A guitar isn’t a gun that stops a fascist’s beating heart. It can only make a little splash, and that energy ripples out as far as it can, then stops. What we do with the energy is what has the potential for real world change. That splash can provide us with momentum and energy and focus for our struggle if we choose.
So, can guitars kill fascists?
Kind of. In the sense that it can fuel resistance against what they believe, reduce their power, and let them live to death.
Of course, that also means that, in the wrong hands, music can fuel fascism. Or communism. So I propose that it doesn’t matter what a guitar can do to fascists or fascism. I suggest this question instead: Can a guitar (music, art in general) help you face injustice? Can it make you feel stronger as an individual? Can it make you feel connected to a community of like-minded superheroes?
Hell yes, it can.
I suggest you build yourself a figurative well to tap into this source — it’s always there; you just need to go get some. Use it as needed. And artists can make more, pour it back into the earth to become part of the ecosystem again, a resource that powers our collective might.
And, yes, that is an important part of the resistance that artists have the power and responsibility to contribute.
And, no, you don’t need to give up painting or acting so you can get a law degree. The lawyers at the ACLU will be more interested to fight in and for a world with Hamilton songs to sing along to in their car on their way to sue the federal government. Elizabeth Warren’s persistence comes easier if she can file her senatorial censure in a beautiful office — I know because my persistence is easier to maintain when I have art to comfort and inspire me.
Thanks, Woody and Gaga, for making it a little easier to keep fightingthis week. What’ll push us next?
