"Rip The System" and "Rage" against "The Machine"

Rage? It is angry fury; violent anger. The Machine?

The Machine is what we have come to know of as our governments, our politics, our economies, the people and corporate conglomerates that have come to dominate our society in this day and age as Lee Smith of the band ‘Rage Against the Machine’ believes. The Machine is the oppression of people everywhere, from Mexico to China to the United States.

RATM through music is sending out a radical message to all and is trying to “push back the governments, the empowered moralists from controlling our lives”.

But is there really anything wrong with having our lives being controlled? I guess, it all comes down to who controls us…

Socrates believed in the idea of the "philosopher-king", the wise person who accepts the power thrust upon him by the people who are wise enough to choose a good master. From his thesis, “the most wisdom the masses can muster is the wise choice of a ruler”.

Political statements and activism of Rage Against the Machine such as their 1993 Lollapalooza act screams out freedom. They got up on stage naked with PMRC painted across their chests, electrical tape on their mouths and with the guitars feeding back for fourteen minutes and just stood there in protest against the ‘Parents Musical Resource Council’, an organization founded by Tipper Gore that promotes music censorship.


The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1991 and wrote/performed their songs in the 90s until RATM disbanded in 2000.

It is now 2008.

But has there been change for the better? Is there still a need to “rage” against “The Machine”?
Soon after their reunion in 2007, Tom Morello stated “It feels like these are songs that were born and bred to be played now.”

Think about that and make the connections.

When I was young, music was a damn good source of entertainment. Now it is also a way of understanding the world through other people’s works while expressing my ideas through my own music.

But what else is music? Surely it isn’t just art in the medium of sound to express ideas or emotions. Or is it? But IT IS a powerful tool that can be used for good or bad.