Raging Against Guantanamo

There is no chance that I will be a recording artist.

I just wasn’t dealt those cards.

But I can imagine the thrill an artist feels when their songs are played publicly. …Unless of course they’re played at the notorious prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And not just played, but used as a torture method, being repeatedly blared in detainees’ ears at dangerous volumes.

Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, REM, and Pearl Jam are among a group of artists who recently launched a “formal protest of the use of music used in conjunction with torture” at the prison, according to the National Post. They are supporting an effort to declassify secret government information regarding how music was used as an interrogation device at Guantanamo.

The bands are understandably angry that their music was used in such a way, not only from a reputation perspective but also from a personal standpoint. Says Tom Morello of RATM, “Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured- from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter eardrums. …Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney’s idea of America, but it’s not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me.”

Other songs that have been reportedly used for torture purposes at the prison include:
-Tracks by AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, and Marilyn Manson
-The Meow Mix cat food jingle
-The Barney theme song

While I sympathize with the artists’ anger, I’m not sure there’s much they can do aside from publicly voicing their disapproval. Once art is made public, creative control is no longer in the hands of the artists who created it.