As popular as Limp Bizkit was between 19, they were more so reviled. “Fred Durst” is basically synonymous with “douche.” And that definition is not new. The villainization of Fred Durst is almost too easy. It’s hard to find much evidence for the counter-argument. And, most of all, both making it very clear that, if there was one person to blame for everything, it was William Frederick Durst. Both describing four days of dirty bare feet, dirty Doc Martens, body paint, too much vodka and not enough water. Both highlighting unabashed misogyny and assault. Both featuring wild and disturbing footage of neo-hippie idealism consumed by the searing anger of populism. Then came the dueling Woodstock 99 documentaries: “Peace, Love and Rage” and “Trainwreck.” One on HBO and one on Netflix. I never even considered another perspective. That Fred Durst sucked seemed like settled law. I’d never heard an entire Limp Bizkit album. Though I barely thought about Durst or his band, it all seemed sadly obvious. He was the guy who might have slept with Britney Spears, but who definitely wanted the world to think he did. He stole any good ideas he ever had from Korn, The Beastie Boys and Nirvana. He was a charmless singer who could not sing and could only barely rap, leading a crappy Nu Metal band. For the last quarter century, I assumed him to be that, and worse. On the surface, Fred Durst looks like a dull misogynist who gave permission to hormonal frat boys to break shit. Want proof? Look no further than Limp Bizkit’s frontman. Never before has the relationship between signifier and signified appeared so close but, in actuality, been so completely out of reach. This cultural and technological imperative, exacerbated by social media and identity politics and machine learning and psychographic sorting, has left us gorged on information but starved for truth. Never before have we so desperately needed to be right. But, it’s also that, in the age of “likes” and Tweets and algorithms, our push for cognitive closure comes at the expense of perspective. I obviously believe that there are such things as facts and lies and bias and echo chambers. My point is less about the relativism of truth - although I suppose it’s partially that. What some people consume as news sure looks and sounds a lot like propaganda to others. For example, “What’s up bro” can sound like either a fraternal welcome or a threatening provocation, depending on the circumstances. But to some, he remains unassailable - almost godlike.Ĭontext is everything. Many Americans consider him to be a terrible human. There is a rich, aging Floridian who wears red hats, says horrible things about women, insists that he’s a victim and flirts with Vladimir Putin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |