Axl Rose

• Racist, Nativist, and Homophobic lyrics in the song “One in a Million”
• On the cover of  G n’ R Lies, the album “One in a Million” is on, there is a disclaimer in the form of a faux article titled “One in a Million” stating “This song is very simple and extremely generic or generalized, my apologies to those who may take offense.”
• Responded to criticism with the song “Don’t Damn Me”.
• In 1992 he justified the use of the N-Word in “One in a Million”  because he was “pissed off about some black people who were trying to rob me. I wanted to insult those particular black people. I didn’t want to support racism.” and that it was “A way to express my anger at how vulnerable I felt in certain situations that had gone down in my life.”
• He hates being called a racist or associated with racists, and expresses ‘concern’ and ‘disapproval’ towards those who use the song to promote ‘their own’ racist views.
• He abused Erin Everly, Stephanie Seymour, and Gina Siler.
• The original cover for Appetite for Destruction was going to depict a robot rapist and a sexually assaulted woman. This was only changed due to stores refusal to stock it.
• Rose bit a security guard in the leg, the conflict is thought to have ensued when the security guard tried to break up an argument between Rose and a woman.

(From The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose)

• “I used words like police and n*****s because you’re not allowed to use the word n****r. Why can black people go up to each other and say, “N****r,” but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it’s a big put-down. I don’t like boundaries of any kind. I don’t like being told what I can and what I can’t say. I used the word n****r because it’s a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word n****r doesn’t necessarily mean black. Doesn’t John Lennon have a song “Woman Is the N****r of the World”? There’s a rap group, N.W.A., N*****s with Attitude. I mean, they’re proud of that word. More power to them. Guns N’ Roses ain’t bad… . N.W.A. is bad! Mr. Bob Goldthwait said the only reason we put these lyrics on the record was because it would cause controversy and we’d sell a million albums. Fuck him! Why’d he put us in his skit? We don’t just do something to get the controversy, the press.”
• “When I use the word immigrants, what I’m talking about is going to a 7-11 or Village pantries - a lot of people from countries like Iran, Pakistan, China, Japan et cetera, get jobs in these convenience stores and gas stations. Then they treat you as if you don’t belong here.” and “Maybe I should have been more specific and said, “Joe Schmoladoo at the 7-11 and f****ts make no sense to me.” That’s ridiculous! I summed it up simply and said, “Immigrants.”“
• “I’m pro heterosexual. I can’t get enough of women, and I don’t see the same thing that other men can see in men. I’m not into gay or bisexual experiences. But that’s hypocritical of me, because I’d rather see two women together than just about anything else. That happens to be my personal, favorite thing.”
• “No! I never have. The most I do is, like, on the way to the Troubadour in “Boystown,” on Santa Monica Boulevard, I’ll yell out the car window, “Why don’t you guys like p*ssy?” ‘Cause I’m confused. I don’t understand it. Anti-homosexual? I’m not against them doing what they want to do as long as it’s not hurting anybody else and they’re not forcing it upon me. I don’t need them in my face or, pardon the pun, up my ass about it.”
• “It was just publicly announced that we weren’t allowed to do it because the Gay Men’s Health Crisis wouldn’t let us. I don’t feel they have the right to deny the money and attention they would have gotten from us playing. It’s pride, it’s ignorant and it’s childish” (On the subject of being bounced from the AIDS benefit by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis due to the lyrics of their song “One in a Million”.)
• “I think love and lust go hand in hand, like good and evil. One without the other is not complete […]”

Germans love Indians

“An interesting epilogue to this essay is that European people, especially Germans, have come to love the American Indian. They form Native American clubs, dress as Indians, and often know more about them than Americans do. What’s the connection between Hitler’s love of Indian killers and the German love of Indians today?

Perhaps Germans are reacting to their overly regimented and mechanized society—which reached its apotheosis under Hitler. Like America’s New Agers, they may be seeking a “natural” alternative to their unnatural lives. If anti-Indian America was a source for Nazi thinking, Indian America may be an antidote to Nazi-like thinking.

We could do much worse than adopting the indigenous values of respecting nature, favoring community over competition, and thinking seven generations ahead. After all, Native people have endured for ages, while Hitler and his thousand-year Third Reich are nothing but fading memories.”

6.03 Action and Reaction

Some Americans, such as rural and small town, native-born white Protestants, and Christian fundamentalists reacted negatively to the societal and cultural changes.

An oft-cited example is the case of Sacco and Vanzetti.  Arrested for a robbery and murder several weeks after the crime, many felt they were convicted (and ultimately executed) not based on hard evidence, but because of their political radicalism, as well as the fact that they were immigrants.

Another backlash came against the consumption of alcohol, blamed for contributing to many of societies’ ills.  The 18th Amendment established Prohibition, or the criminalizing of manufacturing, buying, and selling—but not owning or consuming—of alcohol.  The intended effect was a decrease in alcohol consumption (largely due to the highly inflated prices of black market liquor).  Some unintended effects of Prohibition was a boost to organized crime and the rise of crime syndicates in large cities (i.e. Al Capone and the Mafia).  

In addition to the consumption of alcohol, other personal freedoms were limited in the 1920s.  The Ku Klux Klan targeted African Americans, Catholics, Jews and immigrants with fear and violence.  American Labor Movements (Unions) saw a decrease in membership and public support.  The Scopes Trial brought the fight between science and religion out of the classroom and into the public court room.