new thread
well i been into pinkfloyds music for some time now and lately i started checking out there solo albums wen the band slit up and this one song by waters "What God Wants Part 1"
and it came to my attention when he says "God Wants Wetbacks" and that got to me like wow..its not a racist statement but still the word he use in it.and me being from a mexican family i find it alittle bit disturbing not quit alot. i just felt like sharing this w/ some one cuz it makes me think. is he racist..those he have something against mexicans...why couldnt he use another word.
I've always loved Pink Floyd's music as well! I have seven of their albums and have read most of Waters's lyrics, and I'm guessing it means something deeper than what you might initially think, since I know he's one to write statements that challenge the way you perceive things. Maybe you could look it up and see
Hey, its freedom of speech. And if you look closely at Pink Floyd lyrics, there are a couple racist comments, but they're used to point out the fact that people are racist. For example, in the Wall, Roger says "that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon!" Which is avery racist comment. But, in the storyline, Pink is imagining himself as a socialist, racist ,leader, so it fits in with the album. On the Final Cut, there are multiple comments about the Japanese, referrring to them as Nips, and talking about how their kids commit suicide. So, I wouldn't read too much into the lyrics, they're there for artistic interpretation. Plus, Pink Floyd was (and still is to a degree) outspoken about politics, poverty, and civil rights, taking a mainly left-wing stance. So I doubt the lyrics were written in a racist fashion.
Lots of artists use words associated with interlorance to promote eqaulity. It isn't a bad thing, it helps to show the full force of what is bad and ignorant about racism. John Lennon's "Woman Is the N*gg*r of the World" and "Kill All the White Men" by NOFX are some examples. Just because a word is used it doesn't always mean that it is meant to be cruel. The thing about rock and roll is that it is dirty, and pure, and beautiful. Alot of people look at it and think that just because something is raw, or aggressive, that automaticly equals something bad, or bad people and they try to censor it. In art it's about meaning and intention. You have to look at the context. So many great things have been missed because the meaning was overlooked. (The book "A Million Little Pieces" comes to mind but we wont go there.) I'm sure Mr. Waters of Pink Floyd didn't mean anything offensive to people of hispanic ancestory.
Hm... i've never really been a pink floyd fan. Actually i have never even listened to any of their songs. But i still don't quite understand what the fraise means, in music lyrics they hide alot of things they want to say with different meanings and it's hard to understand.
I don't understand why wetback should refer to mexicans?
It sounds to me like being wet behind the ears, or something. Like being young and inexperienced. I guess I'm wrong.
Hi,
If I got this right, immigrants from Mexico have sometimes been called "wetbacks" because, supposedly, their backs got wet when they swam across the Rio Grande. As far as I know, use of that term is not advised because it is considered racist.
For some reason I just remember that old quip where a "WASP"-American (is "WASP" considered racist, too?) says "My ancestors came over with the Mayflower". Answers the Mexican-American: "When mine came, the immigration laws were already a lot stricter."
In most European countries, we have significant immigrant populations, too, but still much less than the US, a nation consisting mostly of immigrants and their descendants. Maybe we can learn something from the US on how to integrate immigrant populations into our nations...
Hans-Uwe
