Widely reported in the mainstream press is the Ukrainian’s adoption of Twisted Sister’s song “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. The song has over 62 million views on YouTube and should be making its writer and the band’s frontman, Dee Snider, some serious coin. According to those reports, Snider, himself of Ukrainian heritage, approves of his song being used to fight oppression and illegal warfare by the Russians and Putin.
What Snider doesn’t like is the song being used by those who oppose the mask mandates. In a news report, he is quoted as saying, “People are asking me why I endorsed the use of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for the Ukrainian people and did not for the anti-maskers. Well, one use is for a righteous battle against oppression; the other is a (sic) infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience.”
Let’s think about that phrase for a moment.
“Infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience” is an assumption on Snider’s part. It is an assumption based on his incorrect understanding of the efficacy of the masks and the vigor of the virus and its permutations.
N95s were the only masks that would not let the virus through. Yet what do we see in common usage, advertised on TV, and manufactured by companies producing branded marketing materials? Cheap blue masks which state clearly on the box they will not work like you think they will, designer masks made of porous materials that do not stop viruses, and masks printed with company logos and authors’ books and worn by those who are either virtue signaling, really need to get into the place requiring masks, or truly believe the masks work.
What do we also see? Politicians, principals, and personalities conveniently not wearing masks while surrounded by little children, body guards, Secret Service, all of whom are inconveniently masked up. And as they party then, when caught maskless, uttering Mea culpa and My Bad and offering excuses as to why it was really okay for them has turned into an art form. Their excuses are so much better than ours, you see, because it was such an inconvenience to wear it at that time.
Does Mr. Snider truly believe that not wanting to wear a mask is an infantile response to being inconvenienced?
Then let me help him to understand what an inconvenience really is. Let’s look at some words that could be used in its place. 1) Tiresome, 2) Troublesome, 3) Difficult, 4) Aggravating, 5) Disruptive, and 6) Disturbing.
Does the Twisted Sister frontman truly believe that millions of people are not wearing a mask only because they don’t like them? Does he actually think that millions of people are bucking government overreach because they have to remove a mask to eat at a restaurant? Does Snider regard these millions as thoughtless?
If yes, can he be any more nonsensical in his understanding of what is motivating thousands of millions of people around the world to push back against those making the rules?
Does Mr. Snider simply not understand that it is more horrible to be inconvenienced by being put in jail for being a science denier? Or denied medical treatment? Or losing their job? Or not being allowed to shop for groceries? Or be with their dying parent? Or told they cannot walk outside? Or having the police come to their house and arrest them because their maskless children were playing in their own backyard?
How Inconvenient is freedom to you, Mr. Snider?
How inconvenient is it, Mr. Snider, for Republicans across the country to be denied access to confirm the counting of votes?
How inconvenient is it, Dee, to have the co-called science change every week as citizens’ heads were whipsaw back and forth: Wear one mask or two or three this week? One jab, two jabs, three jabs…more?
How inconvenient is it, sir, to have 53 million children kept home from school because the teachers’ unions were playing games?
How inconvenient is it to allow the destruction of the very foundation of freedom in this country?
How inconvenient is it for other countries who look to the US as a beacon of freedom to be let down, betrayed?
How inconvenient is it for law-abiding citizens to be subject to the clandestine movement of illegal aliens, many of them criminals, at US taxpayers expense and ordered by the Biden camp?
How inconvenient is it, to allow the drug cartels to run the borders? You, of all people, who are quite proud — as you rightly should be — of never having used drugs, think it’s okay to allow citizens to be inconvenienced by the flood of drugs into this country?
How inconvenient has it been for victims of crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens who are allowed to go free because radical elements in the US government want to sow anarchy?
How inconvenient is it to have personal and business assets and bank accounts frozen for no good reason?
How inconvenient is it for small businesses to be shuttered in favor of large companies?
Mr. Snider, you talk about inconvenience as if it is merely a small nuisance akin to getting your latte made incorrectly.
Sir, these inconveniences are not first-world problems. They are the very things depriving billions of people in every country their rights as humans.
Freedom is not an easy thing to live with. Many prefer to live without having to make any decisions. Poor them.
Freedom is not an easy thing to defend. Those who do defend it are not always understood, but they don’t care because they know freedom is not an inconvenience to be dismissed with a quick quip from a shortsighted viewpoint.
What you call infantile feet stomping is actually the sound of feet of those who value freedom and are willing to march for it, stand up against its enemies, drive their trucks across continents to demand it, cause thousands to purchase gas cans and fill them to deliver fuel to drivers denied it, vote out school boards, teach their children at home, and more.
Do you think the Ukrainians are merely being inconvenienced by the Russians? You want them to roll over in acquiescence and wear the metaphorical mask? Or do you want them to sing the very words you wrote, Dee? Or don’t you believe them anymore?
We’ve got the right to choose
and there ain’t no way we’ll lose it
This is our life, this is our song
We’ll fight the powers that be
just don’t pick our destiny ’cause
You don’t know us, you don’t belong
We’re not gonna take it
No, we ain’t gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it anymore
Oh, you’re so condescending,
your gall is never ending
We don’t want nothing,
not a thing, from you
Your life is trite and jaded,
boring and confiscated
If that’s your best,
your best won’t do
We’re not gonna take it
No, we ain’t gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it anymore
Freedom is a fight that never ends.
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Born and raised in Georgia, Angela K. Durden is an author, publisher, editor, songwriter, performer, and more, living in the Metro Atlanta, Georgia, area. Support your Citizen Journalist by visiting her Consolidated Author Page and buying a book or three. See more about Angela here. Want to watch a fun video? Click here.
