Stars and Stripes of Corruption
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man—the Christian” (1885, 1895, 1889) to follow the dictates of Christianity in
lockstep and without questioning.
The third comes in terms of Christian concepts of good and evil.
Nietzsche maintains that both concepts are fraudulent and meaningless, asserting
instead that what is good is all that heightens the feeling of power, the will to
power, power itself in man. Thus, for Nietzsche, all that proceeds from weakness
is bad. Happiness, he says, is the feeling that power increases—that a resistance is
overcome (1885, 1886,1895).
Once again, “Moral Majority” serves as a prime example, with a
seething Biafra singing/screeching the following Nietzsche-inspired lyrics:
Circus-tent con men and Southern belle bunnies
milk your emotions then they steal your money
it’s the new dark ages with the fascists toting bibles
cheap nostalgia for the Salem Witch Trials.
Stodgy ayatollahs in their double-knit ties
bum lots of books so they can feed you their lies
masturbating with a flag and bible
God must be dead if you’re alive.
Blow it out your ass, Jesse Helms
blow it out your ass, Ronald Reagan.
What’s wrong with a mind of my own?
While the vocals on the religious critique songs of Dead Kennedys are
decidedly emotive and primal scream in sound, the lyrics swell with Nietzschean
concepts. The songs argue that Christianity in America has eroded individual free
will and stunted the individual’s ability to achieve self-actualization. The
Nietzschean notion of decadence has set in, the lyrics declare, because Christian
indoctrination from cradle to grave has obliterated the individual’s instincts to
strive to engage in that which brings him or her personal fulfillment and power. In
other words, Nietzsche’s description of the Christian “herd animal” is reflected
significantly in the religious critique of Dead Kennedys.
Critique of the Denial of Human Rights during the Reagan Administration
Another important theme threading through the works of Dead Kennedys
centers on the band’s belief that the Reagan administration, in the 1980s,
spearheaded a campaign to suppress and deny the civil rights of many Americans,
particularly the poor, people of color, homosexuals, and controversial artists,
writers, and musicians. From the vantage point of this band, President Ronald
Reagan served as the ultimate symbol of a conformist, intolerant, bigoted, and
greedy American spirit. The band—in their songs, on stage, and in interviews—
was nothing less than scathing in its indictment of the Reagan administration as a