I Predict ... A Witch Hunt
![[Image: I Predict ... A Witch Hunt - Against The Grain (Sydney, AU), June 1988 Page 5 Thumbnail]](page05-th.png)
Against The Grain (Sydney, AU)
June 1988, Issue 1
© 1988 Mark Wilesmith and Suzanne Johnson
Page 5
Thanks to Dan Kennedy
In the Sun-Herald on June 19 was an article in which Steve Taylor's song I Blew Up The Clinic Real Good was described as the work of a "sick mind" by Mrs Margaret Tighe of Right to Life, and is "inciting rebellion" by an Assemblies of God youth pastor. "It would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than to find God in these lyrics" he said.
I discussed it on air, and I stand by what I said. This controversy is an indictment of Christians, because it seems that too many of us are too busy looking for someone to trash out and stab in the back to actually think about what the truth of the situation is.
Steve Taylor is, and always has been, a satirist. He uses caricature to ridicule a subject or philosophy; in this case the violent, extremist methods of anti-abortion activists in the U.S.
You cannot take the lyrics to I Blew up the Clinic Real Good at face value. It is pure satire. Can you really believe that Taylor is serious, let alone autobiographical, in his portrayal of an ice cream seller whose sole motive for blowing up the clinic is to preserve ice cream sales to the next generation?
Wake up, guys! Think about what the music really says before you scream for blood.
P.S. For the record, the line about "ain't nothin' wrong with this country a few plastic explosives can't cure" is adapted from a popular slogan of America's Rambo-inspired, gun-happy 'Soldiers of Fortune' who like t-shirts emblazoned with "Kill a Commy for Mommy".
But these guys are serious.
