DEE SNIDER is totally fine with Israel defense forces using 'We're Not Gonna Take It'
25-10-2023
TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider has once again explained why he chooses to stand up to those who use his band’s most famous song, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, to promote conspiracy theories. Speaking to TMZ at the Los Angeles International Airport, earlier this week, Dee said: “Here’s the deal: I wrote a song 40 years ago that I had no idea was gonna become this folk song for the ages. But it was by design that I wrote it so anybody could put their situation into it. So I’ve never stopped people from using it because that’s censorship, and I fought against censorship in the ’80s. It’s designed for people to use it as their battle cry. And I’ve got ’em on the left using it, I’ve got the right using it, I’ve got sporting events using it, I’ve got kids using it. So that’s beautiful. But when somebody stands for something I don’t stand for and it reflects that on me, like, say, QAnon, I will speak out and say — I don’t try and stop them using it, I just say I denounce the use of the song… And people like having the blessing of the songwriter. So, if you’re using my song, stand for something, stand for something good, stand for something right. Don’t stand for lies and B.S. because we’ve got too much of that going on right now.”
Asked if he is okay with members of the U.S. military using “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Dee said: “There is no one I like better using ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ than the military. And teachers. I’m blessed that I get to live my dream because we have people who volunteer to protect our country, protect their countries, and when I hear that they’ve used my song, the song they’ve allowed me to write, because they defended our freedom, I say, louder and prouder. Sing it out, boys.”
Pressed about whether he is “good with IDF” using it — referencing the Israel Defense Forces, who are poised to launch a ground invasion with the stated objective of destroying the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a deadly October 7 attack on Israel that claimed the lives of 1,400 people — Dee said: “You know what? Israelis, the assault on the Israelis, people are losing sight of something. People saying that, ‘Oh, the response is gonna be too intense for what happened.’ Well, you don’t get to decide on the response when you do heinous things to civilians. You don’t get to say, ‘Oh, that’s enough, that’s enough retaliation.’ No, it doesn’t work like that. When you cross that line, you’re burning people, you’re slaughtering people, you’re raping people, you’re just killing people after what happened at that festival, you don’t get to say, ‘Okay, your revenge can be this much.’ No. Payback’s a mothereffer. And I come from that school. You cross that line, you know… Shit’s gonna happen.”
Asked to clarify that he is okay with “We’re Not Gonna Take It” being played as the battle cry of the IDF, Snider responded: “Oh, hell yeah.”
According to The New York Times, QAnon is the umbrella term for a set of Internet conspiracy theories that allege, falsely, that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles. There are also many offshoots, detours and internal debates, and the total list of QAnon claims is often contradictory.
Dee previously blasted conspiracy theorists for using “We’re Not Gonna Take It” this past April in an interview with Billboard. At the time he said: “QAnon uses it all the time as their battle cry. And people are like, ‘Dee, you support QAnon?’ No, I do not, so I need to speak out.”
Back in August 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Snider was asked by Finland’s Kaaos TV for his opinion on why so many Americans had balked at the most basic safety measures meant to tame the COVID-19 pandemic, including refusing to wear masks and continuing to gather in large groups. Many had also embraced fringe conspiracy theories claiming that the coronavirus death toll had been exaggerated and that the COVID-19 pandemic was part of a strategy conceived by global elites — such as Bill Gates — to roll out vaccinations with tracking chips that would later be activated by 5G, the technology used by cellular networks.
Dee said: “I’ve got a couple of really good answers here, I think. My wife made this amazing observation, ’cause we travel so much. And she said, ‘You know, the United States is still a young country compared to the other countries in the world.’ We’re like teenagers. And teenagers are very rebellious: ‘You can’t tell me what to do.’ And that’s the American attitude. Countries like Finland — European countries — have been established for hundreds and hundreds of years. We’re two hundred years old. You guys are a thousand years since the first man was there, and the culture. So you’re a more mature people, and it reflects in European cultures — you see it. Not so much in England, but you see it in Scandinavia, for sure.
“The other thing is that there’s this lack of awareness of the rest of the world for most people in America,” he continued. “I was on social media saying it would benefit everybody to leave their country, travel and see people and understand other cultures. The world would not seem so strange.
“I talk to young people, and they say, ‘Oh, yeah. This is a political thing. When the election is over, it’ll be gone.’ And this was my niece,” he added. “I said, ‘But we were down in South America. They have the pandemic there. And we were in Europe. They have it. And our African safari was canceled because in Africa they have it.’ And she said, ‘Oh, they do?’ She didn’t know that the rest of the world has it. She thought this was in America only.
“America is very selfish — very self-absorbed. And the young people especially don’t watch the news. In Europe, you’re very connected. The borders are right there.
“People need to experience the world more and understand that they’re not the only ones on this planet.”
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