I find Jon Dolan's interpretation of Limp Bizkit fascinating -- it looks like the rap road has curved back home and, surprise, people don't like what they see. Suddenly the misogynist, violent and homophobic ranting, so popular with rap luminaries like Tupac or Biggie, doesn't sit well when the voice that mouths this trash is from the trailer park instead of the ghetto --what's the matter, Jon, you can finally understand the lyrics? I've never heard Big Poppa, ODB or any black rapper referred to as an "idiot" -- no matter how vile or violent the subject matter. When Jay-Z shouts out, "Can I get a fuck you to all these bitches," no one called him "A rapacious little hunk of jackal spawn with the cold-eyed ambition of a corporate raider and the soul of a gnat." A Yahoo search yields nothing by Dolan decrying rap's nasty underbelly, but in the Voice's Pazz and Jop Poll for '98, Jon chooses Outkast as his fourth favorite of the year -- with, of course, the old woman-hating theme popping back up: "Now playin' these bitches is my favorite sport." What's the matter: Dre can bitch-slap but Fred Durst can't? I'm shocked.

-- Jeffrey Abelson
New York

What exactly is it about Limp Bizkit's message that one might deem conservative? Are Limp Bizkit outspoken proponents of across-the-board tax cuts? Do the lyrics on their latest album make reference to reducing the role of the federal government? Or are they simply advocates of a return to old-school family values?

More likely, it seems, their conservative credentials stem from their misogynistic lyrics, mean attitude, and from the conclusion the author has drawn that Limp Bizkit "goaded" fans into the "gang rape of a crowd-surfing woman." Quite a serious accusation; if true, it ensures their place in the pantheon of conservative political thought.

One clue in the article is the appearance of the code phrase "Young white male," which makes it all too clear that whatever Limp Bizkit has to say is irrelevant, probably bigoted, and certainly oppressive. Perhaps in the future Salon readers would be better served if author Jon Dolan stuck to his subject matter and refrained from using this forum to take a cheap, unfair and gratuitous swipe at a political ideology with which he doesn't agree.

-- Douglas Smith
Arlington, Va.

About the line, "goaded a mosh pit to acts of violence that included the gang rape of a crowd-surfing woman": First, it's still an alleged rape. Secondly, I'd like you to watch their performance on the Woodstock videos and tell me how they "goaded" those individuals into raping someone. I'm not a fan of their music, but I'm sure a fan of truthful journalism.

-- Clark Maxwell

Wild children
BY CHARLES TAYLOR
(08/05/99)

I am a "Goth," and was picked on, slammed into lockers, spit upon and harassed in school. I didn't snap, didn't kill people, never seriously considered it. But I can understand how that would happen and sympathize with the hurt these kids felt.

Of all my subculture friends, the Goths are the calmest and the brightest, and are further along in achieving their life goals than any of my other friends. We prize individuality and a calm, nonviolent, progressive breaking of the status quo.

Thank you very much for an article that didn't brand us evil, an anathema, or disturbed deranged killers who are racist crazies. Thank you for a voice that was willing to accept the differences and see what we do in our scene. Thank you for not jumping to the conclusion that because I wear black, have a trench coat, and have piercings I must be a gun-toting fanatic just waiting to cleanse the world.

-- Liz "Spider" Wingate

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