Pearl Jam Poster: Burning Down The (White) House

                On August 24^th, 1814, the British burned down the White House in Washington, D.C. It was rebuilt by 1818 and has stood tall and proud, a beacon of representative government, ever since.

                Recently, however, various entities have considered blowing up The People’s House. It’s not that they detest the large alabaster abode itself, it’s that they harbor hatred for its occupant…and/or the United States of America.

                Madonna, sporting a black “pussy hat,” admitted at the Women’s March on Washington in January of 2017 that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.” (No hate speech there)!

                Just a few weeks ago, General Qassem Soleimani, who has commanded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) “extra-territorial” special forces unit, the Qods Force, posted an Instagram graphic of himself using a walkie-talkie in front of the White House as it explodes. The picture was accompanied by text stating: “We will crush the USA under our feet.” (Also, apparently, according to Instagram, NOT HATE SPEECH)! Soleimani has been designated by the United States government for connections to a plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. in 2011 and for human rights abuses in Syria that same year in his role as IRGC-QF commander.

                And, even more recently, the rock band Pearl Jam put out a poster for a “get out the vote” concert for Democratic Senator Jon Tester depicting a burning White House, replete with an eagle tearing into the prostrated corpse of President Trump. Hate speech? Of course not! The term “hate speech” is reserved for Trump calling someone “a dog,” or a person saying, “All Lives Matter,” silly.

                Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam’s bassist, released an emailed statement to the Associated Press reading: “The role of the artist is to make people think and feel, and the current administration has us thinking and feeling.” In that case, dumbass, you’ve just admitted President Trump is an “artist.” He added, “I was the sole conceptualist of this poster, and I welcome all interpretations and discourse,” signing it, “Love, from the First Amendment, Jeff Ament.”

                The poster also shows Trump appearing to reach for a briefcase with a hammer and sickle on it, the implication being that, if he had lived, he would have tried his best to……what?

                Mr. Ament, since you went to the trouble of soliciting feedback, here is my interpretation of your poster: It is a classless, hypocritical advertisement created by a spoiled, ignorant, virtue-signaling hack adrift in a vast sea of fragile—and meaningless-- self-importance. “Love, from the First Amendment!”

                So, there you have it. Madonna and Pearl Jam have voluntarily joined the ranks of ancient monarchs, modern mullahs-- and assorted other dictators and thugs-- in attacking the White House, the president and the United States.

                And the band plays on.