Metal and Kahanism

Metal Israel recently blogged about Josh Silver of Type O Negative's myspace page. The page is festooned with JDL logos that show his Kahanist sympathies. He's also posted a couple of interesting soundscapes, one of which has an intriguing holocaust theme. It makes a perfect kind of sense that Silver is into this stuff:  Pete Steel of Type O Negative is renowned for his social-Darwinist views and his - ahem - ambiguous attitude to racism and fascism. 

I'm intending to write an extended essay on Metal and Kahanism at some point - I am encountering quite a few Jewish Metallers sympathetic to Kahane's thoughts. Needless to say I am absolutely opposed to Kahanism, but I am going to try to write with as much respect as I am able. What I don't understand though is why Kahanists tend to get upset when their ideas are described as totalitarian fascist...

Comments

[Picard]

I still don't understand how Silver and Steele can work in the same band: is it a weird relationship a la "Lovecraft / Sonia Greene"?
I'm a bit puzzled.

[Aviva]

you can call Kahanism fascism, but you're just exhibiting your lack of knowledge.

I'm refraining from embarrassing you because of Jewish law, however, I am not sure if you even fall under the category of someone whose feelings I need to regard. There is nothing Jewish about you. You're a secular humanist. A Hellenist, if you will. Know that as you celebrate Chanukah, you are celebrating the defeat of your forebears. Your philosophical forebear was the one who got slaughtered for eating the pig.

Your arrogance is amazing. How can you dare to presume to be objective about something you so utterly despise?

[Aviva]

and who are you to say what makes sense in dealing with the way that other people's minds work? there goes that unabashed arrogance again.

[Aviva]

Ladies and gentlemen, morality is being preached here by a man who believes that it's fair that three Jewish soldiers are being held captive by Arab (if they haven't been tortured to death) because his objectivity reigns as part of his personal farce he labels Judaism.

thank you, goodnight.

[Keith Kahn-Harris]

Aviva I was not going to respond to your comments but you have said somethimgs that are simply untrue. To clarify:

- I think the kidnapping of the 3 Israeli soldiers is a despicable act. Period. They should be released. Period.

- I am not a secular humanist. I am a progressive Jews. You may despise this just as much as secular humanism but they are not the same thing. [in any case, aren't most of the Israeli bands you promote secular?]

- I call Kahanism facism not to be abusive but believe that there is a genuine comparison to be made. I have read some of Rabbi Kahane's writings and by my reading of them he seems to have advocated a non-democratic, or at most minimally democratic Israel. Perhaps totalitarianism is a better way of putting this than fascism. I accept that fascism has connotations of Nazism and to clarify again I don't think that Kahanism is Nazism.

- My post was neither intended to preach morality not was it intend to be an 'objective' analysis. I use my blog to briefly jot down things that interest me. The relationship between Jewish Metallers and Kahanism interests me. In the future I want to do more research into the subject. The aim is not to smear anyone but to find out more.

- You state: 'Your arrogance is amazing. How can you dare to presume to be objective about something you so utterly despise?'. As I said I do not claim to be objective. Yes I disagree with Kahanism but I don't despise anyone. Everyone disagrees with things from time to time but that doesn't mean people have the right to write about them. You despise me but you have no hesitation in writing about me - and that's fine, that's your perogative.

[Mordechai Frizis]

Shalom, my friend!
As a religious Jewish metalhead & follower of Rabbi Kahane-ztk"l,Hy"d,i can say for sure that the ideology of Rabbi Kahane is not fascism at all.
Indeed, Rabbi Kahane didn't invent nothing new. He represented the laws of Torah & Halacha.
It is not western democracy and sometimes it is militaristic, but not fascist.
Someone from the outside maybe will think that is, but let's say that is more close to fundametalism.
In any case Rabbi Kahane always said that we are not right-wing or left-wing, but simply we follow the way of the Torah.
He was not an extremist or a racist-G-d forbid!
He hated the enemies of Israel-including many Arabs-not because of their origin or religion, but because of their hate against the Jewish people & nation!
He loved his fellow Jews more than anything else!
If you want any information about the subject, i would be pleased to help.
Beaavat Yisrael,
Mordechai

[AG1055]

Aviva said: "Your arrogance is amazing. How can you dare to presume to be objective about something you so utterly despise?"

Mr. Kahn-Harris said: "Needless to say I am absolutely opposed to Kahanism"...

Aviva: Your opinions on Mr. Kahn-Harris's religious ideology aside, I don't think any claims to a pure objectivity were being made in the first place.

On topic, though, it does seem that metal attracts, or at least has been associated with a variety of more extreme ideologies, regardless of their location on the political spectrum. Do the bands you mention have any "folk" (I use the term loosely) influences at all? It seems that patriotism and nationalism often find a home in that subgenre of metal (not that they don't pop up elsewhere).