âThis is one thing I feel is a driving force: that I get so repelled by certain things -- or they strike me as funny -- or weird or strange -- or ridiculous -- and my response comes out in the form of a song. And there is one thing that helps carry me through: this close identification with the problems of the world where things like Vietnam go on. And as I said before, it's not enough to know the world is absurd and restrict yourself merely to pointing out that fact. To me this was the essential flaw of the fifties, great perception leading to inaction. If there is to be any hope for the world this perception must lead to action. [...] I often laugh at myself and many times consider my role ridiculous, but still I am forced to go on. Because the ugly fact is ingrained in my mind that if I don't go on the world will be left to the hands of the Hitlers, the McCarthys and Johnsons. I like to bring in the great Greek writer Katzenakis to illustrate this point. He says it is wrong to expect a reward for your struggle. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. In other words, even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.â
â Phil Ochs in an interview with Broadside (issue #63, Oct. 15, 1965)
