OPEN YOU EYES!
January 11, 2005 2:57 p.m.

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Long time Listener first time caller.

I just spent an absurd amount of time reading through this message board. I'm sure there are better fans than I who just read a few postings, rolled their eyes and kept walking. ...I on the other hand, couldn't remove my eyes from the collision, I really don't know where to start. I can't believe I have to explain this on an Otep board.

First off, I saw an interview with Billy Corgan once and he was discussing the Zero video,...and he said that people either love that video or they hate it,...they think it is the worst piece of shit they've ever seen. ...and that to him was the definition of great art.

I am an artist and when I critique other art I usually judge it by 2 things, does it make me feel and/or does it make me think? ...What it makes me think or how it makes me feel is irrelevant....those are the things that we are supposed to take from the art that is presented to us. ....Clearly this board wouldn't be in existence if Otep didn't make us think or feel. the Music of Otep is truly great art!!! ...And I have always said that artists can not be blamed for their art. Art is a reflections of society. Art shows us the world we are living in. The fact that we blame violence on art is absurd! Jackson Pollock didn't create the chaos that surrounded by WW2, he was surrounded by it and thus it was reflected in his art. Otep is not to blame for fans being confused or depressed. Hell, most of this country is on some form of anti-depressant. So many people are medicating to rid themselves of depression when they have good reason to be depressed! We are in the middle of a war with no foreseeable end! We are being brainwashed into being afraid. We are told that our whole lives are determined by whether or not we go to college or what college it is we go to. Now a days a Bachelor’s degree is nothing, everyone has them. What do we do now? The economy is in it's natural slump (just how it goes....a few years of up a few years of down). Jobs are short we have less money....yet we are told to buy buy buy because our country and our lives depend on it. ...So we buy and spend and max out credit cards. We are in debt up to our ears.....but that's okay, the country is too! Our natural resources are being destroyed! We're enslaved to oil companies and tobacco farmers. We get angry when our make believe right to purchase is taken ("I'm sorry I can't sell you those cigarettes without ID") but we care nothing about our constitutional freedoms ("Hi, I'm going to illegally search your car, but it's okay because I'm a law enforcement officer). We are angry! We are upset,...and screaming along with Otep makes us feel better! (I personally have been going through the stages of grief since the election.)

We, as artists, always take the most abuse. So many people out there stand around and talk about the notion of free speech and how it is being taken from us but say…oh well it that case it’s okay..... until you truly put your words out there you really have no idea. This is why artists get so up and arms about free speech! There are people who want to censor what the muse released from my body! I can't control that! How can Otep control that? Artists take in the world through many forms of stimulus it comes in and it releases....and if it is true art from the muse....We can not control what comes,...it just does. And given the current condition of the world how can you blame us for releasing what you call negativity? Art is real, it is powerful (Art,...not that kitch-y fluff you've been led to believe is art)

Regarding Politics I have not been fan of our recent "leaders". Reagan's handling of the start of the AIDS epidemic, Bush Sr. was so unmemorable, I argued pro impeachment in a Clinton debate (why? the whole lying to the American public thing) ....and clearly my opinion on Dub should be already known. But that is irrelevant....I don't listen to House of Secrets because they wrote Warhead....Someone noted that Warhead was written to sell records. Tra Sevas had lyrics that I have always taken to be critical of Bush, this is not a new theme. Clearly something about this administration affected Otep so powerfully that it came out in her art. The purpose of the Art of Otep is Cathartic release, Creation from destruction (Phoenix from the Ashes, resurrection).

Otep has never forced us to follow, or agree with her beliefs, she wants us to Open Our Eyes! To really look at the world, to question it. to not blindly take what we are given. You should come to political or religious beliefs on your own terms for you own reasons.....I personally have never been a Michael Moore fan,...and for some reason last fall it became this thing where if you didn't agree with Michael Moore than you were pro-bush....or couldn't consider yourself as liberal...that's just as bad as saying someone is unpatriotic for disagreeing with bush. Otep wants us to look at the world and live and think for ourselves. If you in your heart of hearts believe that Jesus is your savior and you have felt his presence and he has affected your life......Who is a rock star to tell you you haven't? Someone secure in their faith shouldn't care what someone else thinks.