The Hand That Feeds

As most of my friends know, I am a huge Nine Inch Nails fan. Trent Reznor is one of the few creative geniuses in music that has cut through the corporate structure and pushed the boundaries of how the system works. This year he released a concept album called Year Zero and did with the most imaginative marketing concept I have ever seen. He produced an Alternate Reality Game in which fans found USB pens with leaked tracks, image files and clues that led to websites and many encrypted messages. Even phone numbers with recorded messages were put out there. The entire concept was of an totalitarian government, not unlike what Bush and the Neo-cons want America to be, where Americans have to choose whether to remain enslaved or fight back.

On their previous album, "With Teeth", Trent wrote a pretty telling song called "The Hand That Feeds" that asks Americans and specifically Bush followers if they can stand up to their leader and fight back against the propaganda he was forcing onto them.

With Scooter Libby's commutation being on obvious ploy to prevent him speaking out against Bush and Cheney and giving away White House secrets and the Republican Congressmen (Senators Lugar, Domenici, Voinovich, Rep. Doolittle) coming out against Bush's Iraq War (albeit at a time when a vote is not imminent on the topic)... it's a perfect time to ask...

"Will you bite the hand that feeds?"



-Rp