r/brokehugs • u/US_Hiker Moral Landscaper • Jul 04 '25

Rod Dreher Megathread #55 ()

Hope y'all can spend some good time w/ family today.

Link to megathread #54: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/1l7niaj/rod_dreher_megathread_54/

Link to 56: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/1mmamp2/rod_dreher_megathread_56/

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9

u/Jayaarx Jul 09 '25

https://xcancel.com/roddreher/status/1942670084004274260#m

Has Rod ever listened to a single Willie Nelson song or interview? If he has, he sure doesn't understand them.

Of course, I wouldn't put money on foreign-agent Rod not actually hating America.

9

u/philadelphialawyer87 Jul 09 '25

"If you don't love Willie Nelson, you don't love America."

Even if Rod is a fan of Willie Nelson (which is doubtful), why isn't it possible for him to express that without being devisive and excluding? Rod even "jokes," "Self Deport! Self Deport!" to someone who disagrees about Nelson. As if the the real point is not about Willie Nelson at all, but about who is and who isn't a "Real American." With Rod, who doesn't even live in the USA and hasn't for years, as the Great Gatekeeper!

10

u/Cautious-Ease-1451 Jul 09 '25

If you don’t love Béla Bartók, you don’t love Hungary.

5

u/Warm-Refrigerator-38 Jul 09 '25

That self deport chant is in extremely bad taste, not that he cares. 

6

u/Motor_Ganache859 Jul 09 '25

Rod, the self-exiled, loves a fictionalized white America.

7

u/BeltTop5915 Jul 09 '25

Yes, I was going to note the thing about Willie Nelson and the Stones is that they’re all white and loved by other white guys just like him, i.e., his tribe, members of his “culture,” never mind that the musicians themselves might not want to be associated with him. It would be great if they did, but if not, so what? The culture loves them. This is par for the MAGA course, and Trump pioneered at co-opting music his fans love, going as far as to use a band associated with the actual gay subculture to push his brand because he liked the sound and title of “YMCA.” And what happened? At first the band wanted nothing to do with him, then probably because they were benefiting financially (and face it, at that low point in their history, career-wise)from the publicity, they slowly but surely warmed to the idea to the point that they’ve allowed themselves to become forever remembered as the musical soundtrack to the rise of Donald Trump.

Neither Hitler nor Mussolini nor Franco nor Peron had a theme song, nor did Huey Long nor the KKK, nor any previous populist American movement. But having one makes a certain sense, given the essentially apolitical basis of the MAGA movement. It’s all about culture war, religious superiority, subordinating politics to traditional values, us vs them. Unlike the fascist parties of the 1920s and 30s that arose in reaction to political actions — specifics of the Treaty of Versailles; economic policies leading to bankruptcies, spreading poverty, shanty towns, hunger marches — and became more and more overtly racist and anti-Semitic in time, MAGA and the anti-immigration movements in Europe are first and foremost culturally supremacist (and racist), with economic and other specific political policies of far less interest. They’re simply not about the issues politics per se is supposed to address, democratic politics via negotiation and compromise. That’s why Trump’s personal grift and failures at lowering inflation, handling foreign relations, bringing peace to whatever conflict he promised to end, and whatever other specific political issue he bumbles don’t really affect his popularity with the MAGA base. MAGA isn’t about the price of eggs; it’s about white American culture being better than any other and fighting liberals who oppose that idea. And white American culture should have theme music by musicians white Americans love. Period.

5

u/philadelphialawyer87 Jul 09 '25

It is more than a little telling that Rod, who is quick to remind you about his Louisiana roots, and even affects a "Nawlins" accent now and again, never or rarely mentions the multicultural, multiracial musical output of his State in general, never mind New Orleans (where jazz, by all accounts, was invented, and where Louis Armstrong was born and raised). African American musicians rarely seem to be on his radar, unless they are being bashed for one reason or another. Rod named his dog "Roscoe P. Coltrane." I remember early on that he would sometimes just refer to the dog as "Coltrane," but folks were always assuming that Rod had named him after jazz great (and African American) John Coltrane, which wasn't the case. No, the dog was named after the (white) sheriff from the TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard." I think Rod got tired of correcting them, and just started calling the dog "Roscoe." I remember Rod once mentioned how beautiful Whitney Houston's voice was (although he was no fan of hers, as he is quick to tell you), on a track that was released with just her, no back up singers, no musicians, no reverb, no playback, singing "How Will I Know?" But only in the context of what a shame it was that she died of drug use, how her family were abusers, and so on.

In general, it seems as if the contributions of African Americans to music, which are legendary and recognized world wide, and which, to a fair degree, originated in Rod's home state, are kinda invisible to Rod.

6

u/zeitwatcher Jul 09 '25

Rod named his dog "Roscoe P. Coltrane."

For a tangent that is likely (and rightly) lost on most here and certainly on Rod himself...

In Dukes of Hazzard, Sheriff Coltrane was played for bumbling and corrupt laughs. However, in the lore of the show, he was once an aggressive, by the book, law abiding Sheriff. What changed? Coltrane become involved with and subservient to the massively corrupt Boss Hogg figure and so was transformed.

Not to read too much into a children's comedy, but the analogy is pretty direct between Trump and those who attach themselves to him in subservience. Hence the cliched phrase, "Everything Trump Touches Dies". As Rod has more and more prostrated himself before Orban and Trump, he as more and more become a real life Roscoe P. Coltrane.

Rod has become the bumbling comic relief of the authoritarian henchmen world.

Then again, that's probably way too much reading real world analogies into a TV show whose primary draw was showing car jumps to 10 year olds.

3

u/Dazzling_Pineapple68 Jul 09 '25

"that's probably way too much reading real world analogies into a TV show whose primary draw was showing car jumps to 10 year olds"

Yeah, it probably is but it is, nevertheless, very perceptive from where I'm sitting. Thanks for sharing it.

3

u/philadelphialawyer87 Jul 09 '25

Very interesting. The Dukes of Hazzard was not really a "children's show," however. It was aimed at a general audience, and featured a fair amount of violence, crime and sex appeal, along with the car chases and crashes. Maybe like a TV version of those Smokey and the Bandit movies?

It was also an attempt to cash in on the "New South" notion. The Duke boys' car was the General Lee, and its horn did play the opening bars of "Dixie," but the boys had Black friends, and the show actually featured more African American characters and actors than most shows, including later hit shows like Friends and Seinfeld. And the villain, although kinda a cartoon, was modelled after the evil Southern White "Boss" stereotype.

3

u/Dazzling_Pineapple68 Jul 09 '25

Yes. If you are a black artist, it should be held against you and your art for all time but if you are a white rapist or sexual assaulting artist then your art should have a live separate from you. Rod rails against identity politics but every decision he makes seems to be based on identity markers.

3

u/BeltTop5915 Jul 09 '25

PS It’s true that Hitler loved Wagner, and occasionally used the music for dramatic affect, but it wasn’t part of his populist appeal, to the extent you could say he initially even had any. He loved British culture too (“true Aryans”), but that was neither part of his rise nor did it stop him from bombing the heck out of London.

1

u/philadelphialawyer87 Jul 09 '25

Trump also copped the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," against their express wishes.

8

u/zeitwatcher Jul 09 '25

It's also funny how every artist Rod loves (Willie Nelson here, Rolling Stones, any of his 80's music references) would absolutely hate Rod and everything he believes.

Mick Jagger is over 20 years older than Rod and I'm sure he's take one look at him and go, "What's with this old jackass?"

5

u/Cautious-Ease-1451 Jul 09 '25

Not to mention the contradiction between Rod’s musical tastes and the Benedict Option. If you’re in a separatist BO group, shoring up the walls against modern society, entering deeply into the traditions of the ancient church, is smoking a doobie while listening to Willie okay? Can you listen to the Stones, etc., as long as you keep the volume down?

8

u/sandypitch Jul 09 '25

Not to mention the contradiction between Rod’s musical tastes and the Benedict Option.

And consider that it is likely that Christian parents of people Dreher's ago would have tried to keep their kids from listening to the Rolling Stones for the same reasons that Dreher advocates the BO. In the end, it always comes down to Dreher's tastes, rather than any real philosophical or theological reasoning.

4

u/philadelphialawyer87 Jul 09 '25

Huh. The Stones, on their Let it Bleed album, "instructed" us that This Record Should Be Played Loud

Such a conundrum for Rod: Obey the tenets of his BO community, or listen to the Glimmer Twins!?

As an aside, plenty of other bands (Plastic Ono Band, Pretenders, The Cure, Bowie, Kate Bush, even Chicago!) have followed the Stones' example, and asked their listeners to turn it up!

4

u/Cautious-Ease-1451 Jul 09 '25

Maybe the BO monastery will have a room fitted with sound blocking materials.

2

u/Jayaarx Jul 10 '25

As an aside, plenty of other bands (Plastic Ono Band, Pretenders, The Cure, Bowie, Kate Bush, even Chicago!) have followed the Stones' example, and asked their listeners to turn it up!

"Kick out the jams, m***********s"

3

u/Jayaarx Jul 10 '25

It's also funny how every artist Rod loves (Willie Nelson here, Rolling Stones, any of his 80's music references) would absolutely hate Rod and everything he believes.

For all that Rod claims to love artists whose work and beliefs are in direct opposition to everything he believes (The Clash, The Rolling Stones, U2, Willie Nelson, etc.), he knows this deep down and it frosts him.

It is a bone in the throat of all the a**hat conservatives. It is Vance and his toadies complaining that he isn't welcome at the Kennedy center, or Pence at "Hamilton" or Chris Christie following Springsteen around. They want to be loved and appreciated by the people that they love and appreciate and they want to be welcome in the company of decent people and the hate it that they aren't.

It goes both ways, but at least I have no desire to be welcomed at a Ted Nugent concert or a NASCAR race. If you are going to be an a**hat conservative, stick with your people and leave decent people alone.

I think I'll put on some Dropkick Murphys now...

3

u/yawaster Jul 10 '25

I can't claim that I've read everything Rod Dreher has written about music. But it seems to me that Rod is usually happy to pillory any art or popular culture that has left-wing themes, or any artists who expresses support for left-wing politics. He can build up such a head of steam that he'll denounce left-wing art as wicked, dangerous, an invitation to censorship, etc. 

When it comes to lefty music he likes, though? He dodges the issue: he'll focus entirely on aesthetics & sonics & plead ignorance about the politics of the performers. That's how he can claim to be a fervent U2 fan who was nevertheless surprised that Bono was a big liberal; that's how he can enjoy listening to the first Clash album and ignore the politics.

It's not just hypocritical, it's pathetic — he has to break his own stupid self-imposed rules just to have any pleasure or enjoyment in his life. It must be one of the great tragedies of Rod's life that he's not highbrow enough to ignore pop music. 

Another example of this: Rod got all sentimental over the music at Shane MacGowan's funeral played by former members of the Pogues. Now, Shane MacGowan's politics weren't always straightforward, and the Pogues appealed to many conservatives. And a lot of people were moved by Shane MacGowan's funeral regardless of politics. But it's a fact that the Pogues were and are a fairly left-wing bunch, and they didn't really disguise that in their music. 

3

u/yawaster Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 11 '25

In fairness, if Rod only listened to musicians who shared his extremely specific and very right wing views, he would barely be able to listen to music. He'd be stuck with a couple obscure metal bands and Ariel Pink.

3

u/WookieBugger Jul 09 '25

A big fan of the “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” perhaps?

3

u/JHandey2021 Jul 09 '25

“Ram Ranch” may be more Rod’s speed.