USE YOUR VOICE GRETA VAN FLEET
If it hasn’t been abundantly clear how much I absolutely love the boys, I’m incredibly disappointed in how silent they have been. I’ve already voiced this before, but they do have impact. For the people saying that Greta not speaking about world issues shouldn’t be a big deal are just as complacent and dismissive of the actual pain going on in the world. We hear time and time again in their songs, messages of anti-war and the destruction that hate can bring and we have a duty to spread love, where is that love? Where is it? I’m a Grestie through and through, and I’m also an Arab Grestie. My grandparents and my extended family are Palestinian.
I was born and lived in the Middle East, more specifically Jordan, for long enough to know and feel the pain that my family and friends in Palestine are facing, seeing my heritage and traditions being wiped out right before my eyes. And I feel so guilty because I’m here now, a US citizen in the safety of my home watching it unfold. Imagine how people in Gaza are feeling? You absolutely can’t. The people in the West Bank are facing that fear of the inevitable if we don’t speak up and act. As for the hostages, captured both by the IOF and H*m*s, they’re not knowing any peace either.
For the people citing that the reason why they won’t speak on it is because of the mistreatment of LGBTQIA+ folks contradicts with Josh, that is not okay. Yes, we absolutely SHOULD and HAVE TO ensure safety of EVERYONE, no matter who they love or what they identify as, but repeating false rhetoric without any proof blatantly shows your Islamophobia and xenophobia. You regurgitate information being fed to you by bigoted sources with a reputation for falsifying experiences like it’s nothing. Not to mention, the US isn’t very safe right now for LGBTQ+ folk either. If we were under attack right now, would you stay silent too because Tennessee, Florida, and Texas are enacting hateful bills? Or are you staying silent now because they’re brown. Why don’t you actually ask a Queer Arab what it’s like over there? Talk to them? They exist, and they’re all over social media. And what about Queer Palestinians? Do they not deserve your advocacy?
I listened to and fell in LOVE with Greta Van Fleet because of their message. “They pass the torch and it still burns” gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to Age of Man, it serves as a reminder that through generations, we have a duty to fight and do better. “We do not fight for war, but to save the lives of those who do so” ARE YOU KIDDING? It is RIGHT THERE IN THEIR SONGS! If you still are dismissing the legitimate callout of the boys to speak on an issue WHO EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING ON ISSUES LIKE THIS, or you’re dismissing the pain that people who do have legitimate connection to the land in Palestine, please listen to the songs again. Reflect. And if you still don’t get it, I don’t have any hope for you.
I am so heartbroken, upset, and I will absolutely NOT let someone guilt me into not calling the boys out because “we should leave politics out of it”. This isn’t about politics. This is about HUMAN LIFE. Have empathy and for god’s sake, SHOW IT. SPEAK UP AND CALL OUT.
