Maiden’s political silence

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Wayne Bond said:
So what?

I still come back my previous point, why does it matter what Maiden do or don’t say about the Russia/Ukraine conflict? For that matter so what if they called it a situation.

Honestly it just comes back to what I said about how some fans have made being a fan of Maiden a big part of their lives and because they have strong opinions on what is happening they can’t understand why their favourite band doesn’t share their opinions and voice them.

what if Maiden all came out and said they supported putin, ever thought of that. What if they are all pro Russia, would that stop you or anyone else being a fan?

Maiden are a band who write and release music and play concerts. If anyone bigs them up to be a bigger and more significant part of their lives then that’s on them.

As a fan I have no idea what the actual people involved in the band and management are like outside of interviews I’ve read and watched. For all I know they could all be a bunch of pricks in real life and may all have opinions and and thoughts that wildly vary from my own. That’s why I don’t care if Maiden release any statement about anything going on in the world ever to be honest. I don’t want my thoughts about them as people to cloud my opinion of their music.

I’m a fan of their music and their concerts and that’s it. If you want them to be more than this in your life then prepare to be disappointed.
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Thanks for your answer, exactly my thoughts. I'm a fan of their music, I love to go to their concerts and when reading one of their interviews my main interest is when they talk about music and sometimes about some of their passions (football, planes, golf) but the rest. Well, for sure as I said before, they have their opinions about what is going on and about a lot of other topics. Why should they speak about it and more important why should we care about it like it's the holy grail??? As an example, I always thought Gene Simmons should have kept his mouth shut more than once throughtout his career but if I was a fan of Kiss, would it make me love their music less ??? No, I don't think so. So the same goes for MAiden in the present situation. Why make such a big deal about it??? Well I'll stop here, already spent too much time in this topic.
 
Guys, You will not believe it, but many of you now sound like ordinary russians, who for many years have said: "I'm not interested in politics, let Putin decide. Government gives us enough money to feed ourselves and be entertained, therefore we give them credit of believing. They know what they're doing. We, ordinary people, have no power to change anything. We support our president."

I swear, you, replete westerners, many of you don't know what is like to not have basic freedoms.... Wakeup people, don't be sheep, who only eats and entertains themselves. And yes, I know I sound as a righteous man, but I certainly am not. Just another sinner here, but Ukraine now fights for the future of whole Europe.
sorry for my English.
 
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Had it occured to anyone else that maybe, just maybe, the reasons they gave for cancelling those two shows were the real ones? Like, maybe they don't hold their Russian fans responsible for the actions of Putin, that if it had been at all feasible they would have tried to play both those shows - and deliver some sort of snub to Putin if he tried to make propaganda out of it? (Put another way: if Putin tried to claim that Maiden are his friends on account of their shocking lack of virtue signalling, I'm fairly sure they'd have something to say about that ...)

FOR. THEIR. FANS.

No-one is excluded from the Maiden family, remember? Except certain individuals who Bruce calls out from time to time. People who've done terrible things. For all we know Putin may be just about to join that exclusive club ...
 
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.
 
While I don’t mind at all Maiden being silent and neutral, nor I expected it, I wouldn’t be too surprised if one or two among Maiden (especially Steve) aren’t 100% aligned with the mainstream narrative for Ukraine. Nothing pro Putin, more like Roger Waters’ out of the box stance, below.
What if Maiden has refrained from making this kind of a statement? And it takes huge balls to say publicly something like that in a time like this.

 
When it comes to history and politics, antisemite Roger Waters is probably the least credible source available, so I'm not gonna watch the video.
 
Just a thought, but Iron Maiden fans are very passionate like to wear their identity very openly in terms of merchandise, t-shirts etc. Perhaps Maiden did not want to make an overtly anti-Putin statement in case it would bring accusations of subversion and the like upon their fans in Russia? This could be a bit outlandish but who knows.

For what it's worth I don't think artists are obliged to make political statements, though they're very welcome to if they want to. I don't need Iron Maiden to tell me that Russia's aggressive war is a heinous crime, and if they condemn it are they not also obliged to condemn the other, sadly numerous, dreadful regimes that blot the face of the planet? It wouldn't surprise me at all though if Bruce alludes to the war when he speaks to the audience on tour next year, particularly if The Clansman is still in the set.
 
jazz from hell said:
We have a proverb, that may work for Mr. Waters: Even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn.
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"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day" would be the appropriate English equivalent.
I completely agree with you, btw. Waters is definitely a free-thinker, but I'm afraid he sometimes goes down paths he has insufficient critical knowledge of and that can lead to outright anti-semitism.
 
riff said:
They remain silent because they are business-minded and value that over anything else. They'd rather turn a blind eye to atrocities than risk alienating a potential fan/customer. It's gross but they've always been that way and I suspect it's largely to do with boring old Rod.
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That's OK. Too many "celebrities" are too political anyway.
 
@jazz from hell From what I saw, it looks more like anti-Israel, which is not the same thing. He is very close to Noam Chomsky and they have been engaged together to political activism at least as late as May 2020. And I do trust Chomsky’s judgement.

By the way I’m a huge admirer of Chomsky, who’s been accused of antisemitism all the while being jew himself. If I’m not wrong he was even denied entry in Israel at least once. So you see, an example of how labeling can be completely wrong.
 
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Listen, I'm no expert in the subject, I come from Europe and have no relation to Israel whatsoever, but I do know that there's a pattern with Mr. Waters, which is, if you prefer to say, clearly anti-Israel. I'm not anti-Israel, I'm not anti-Russia, I'm not anti-Ukraine, these are all countries that have a right to exist.
Edit: Which doesn't mean I must agree with what they do, of course.
 
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jazz from hell said:
Listen, I'm no expert in the subject, I come from Europe and have no relation to Israel whatsoever, but I do know that there's a pattern with Mr. Waters, which is, if you prefer to say, clearly anti-Israel. I'm not anti-Israel, I'm not anti-Russia, I'm not anti-Ukraine, these are all countries that have a right to exist.
Edit: Which doesn't mean I must agree with what they do, of course.
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Being against many of the things that Israel does is not the same as being antisemite. A lot of people seem to make that mistake.
 
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GhostofCain said:
Being against many of the things that Israel does is not the same as being antisemite. A lot of people seem to make that mistake.
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Yes, but a lot of people also use criticism of Israel as a cover for anti-Semitism, so there really is reason to look carefully.
 
Also, we’re kind of used to conspiracy theories from the extreme right, directed at all foreign countries. But what annoys me more is the part of the left that has shown again and again to suffer from severe double-standards when it comes to anything Israel and Jews IMO.
 
jazz from hell said:
But part of the left has shown as well, again and again, to suffer from severe double-standards when it comes to anything Israel and Jews.
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One of the main reasons why I do not identify or associate myself with any leftist groups. Not the only one, but an important one.
 
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