As we said yesterday, if there is any silver lining in this whole Watain fiasco is that it was going to unite the entire extreme music community of Singapore and galvanize them into action.
Today is that day.
A counter petition has been launched entitled: Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs to reinstate and reschedule Watain show.
As the original successful petition was launch them to ban them based on groundless claims of impacting the morality of Singapore’s youth, this counter petition has put forward the following argument:
“On 7th March, the initially approved show of Swedish Black Metal band was canceled, due to protests by certain religious groups. If we want to allow for all religions to practice, then Satanists should be allowed to worship in peace as well.
This is a huge setback to Singapore’s democracy & free speech in Singapore, as this is the oppression of a single religious group; and is only one instance where certain “preferred” religions have come into the way of democracy, free speech and progression.”
A comment below this petition summarizes the issue succinctly – nice job Firdaus Wahid:
“Some of the comments on Rachel Chen’s petition went “I want my children to listen to wholesome music” and “This goes against Christianity”.
Firstly, don’t be so entitled. Black Metal is anti-religion as a whole. Don’t act like the world is against you and your religion specifically.
Second, “wholesome music”? I’m pretty sure Nicki Minaj instills incredible religious values in her music, with all the booty shaking and whatnot.
Third, pop music has made it a norm for women to dress slutty to the point of no undergarments. I’m pretty sure these are very modest ways of fashion, since pop is “wholesome”.
Fourth, if your child acts on what he/she listens to, it’s on you for not instilling right from wrong and differentiating music from lifestyle. I don’t see hip-hoppers beating up the police even after going “F*ck da police! ” in almost every song.
Lastly, funny how you see religious figures in the news; Muslim extremist goes on killing rampage, priest rapes church boys, etc, and not one Satanist doing the same. There are assholes in every religion doing stupid shit in the name of religion, don’t act like Satanists are the only impure ones. If listening to Black Metal makes you a Satanist, then GTA games make you a thug, Tony Hawk games make you a skateboarder and Fifa games make you a footballer. I bet when you listen to Hillsong, you automatically assume you’re holier than your non-Hillsong-listening peers.
Church pedophilia case from just this morning: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47481618
I personally don’t listen to Black Metal, only a few bands/songs, and I’m not defending it either. I’m defending the right to listen to whatever the hell anyone wants and have the maturity to not act on its messages/lyrics. I’m defending music as a whole because everyone prefers different genres. If you base your morality around what genre of music people enjoy, then you my friend are not mature enough to enjoy music or any form of entertainment.”
Go sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/ministry-of-home-affairs-separate-religion-state-affairs-in-singapore
Very cool to see some fellow Asian extreme musicheads who live out here in the west (United Kingdom to be precise) also continuing to actually play music instead of...
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