Dance! Dance!

Not a big fan of their music, but the guys from Fall Out Boy have earned points with me this week. According to Pandagon, by way of MTV News, a mother who brought her daughters to the band's show in Charlotte is infuriated by the band's radical homosexual agenda.

“The only thing I said in Charlotte was, ‘You can leave this show and say, “I think this guy is an arrogant jerk,” or think, “This band is better than this one,” because these are your opinions. The only thing we consider unacceptable is for you to engage in sexist, racist or homophobic behavior. If you do, we don’t want you as a fan. Return our merch and leave.’ “

So, that was what FOB's lead singer Pete Wentz actually said. Not so outrageous, I don't think. Unfortunately, he didn't know how offensive some people in the crowd would find his outrageous, radical tolerance. Here's an e-mail Pete received after the show:

“The ticket said ‘all ages,’ and your band was very foul-mouthed and anti-morals. Charlotte is not the demoralized city that liberal San Francisco and other cities across the North and West are…I had looked forward to this concert with my girls for months [and] I didn’t spend over $200 on gas, food and, unfortunately, shirts for you to give your own personal political testimony. … This was a concert, not some liberal homosexual rally.”

Not to nitpick, but I think she means "amoral city." As in, San Francisco is a city that lacks morals. A demoralized city would be one that feels very badly about the state of things today. "Man, I hate being San Francisco. It's always overcast and I'm full of used bookstores and many of my streets are oddly twisted and difficult-to-navigate. Why couldn't I be some nice Red State metropolis, like Oklahoma City or Cheyenne...Man, would that be sweet..."

I love that "don't be racist, sexist or homophobic" is considered a political viewpoint. Don't be irrationally afraid of random groups of people? That's a partisan statement? "That's the Democrats for you. Always telling you not to fear scapegaots and blame minorities for everything. I'll always vote Republican because they encourage me to fear all kinds of random, abstract stuff. Did you ever see that movie Dreamcatcher, with those aliens that crawl in your mouth and then kill you by exploding out your butthole? I think I'm going to start fearing shit weasels, just in case."

Anyway, the level of blatant misanthropy displayed by this woman is, quite simply, startling, and Fall Out Boy's measured, dignified response pretty much guarantees that they won't be nominated for a Braffy for Worst Musicians next month. (As if tehy could compete with the likes of My Chemical Romance anyway...Not likely...)

“I encourage fans of our band to grow up to become good people and to change the world. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that treating other people as inhuman is acceptable. If that is offensive to you, I apologize, but we don’t want you to be part of our fanbase. [Our show] is not a liberal homosexual rally, but at the same time, it will never be a Ku Klux Klan rally. We don’t need to sell tickets that badly.”

Hear hear. I'd also encourage fans of Fall Out Boy to stop listening to shitty bands and go buy Velvet Underground and Nico's self-titled collaborative album and then come back here and thank me in a few years.