The time has come for some ridiculous news. A 31-Year-Old man named James Evans has been arrested for posting song lyrics on Facebook! God forbid! His particular song of choice was the Exodus track “Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)”, a response to the Virginia Tech shootings. The particular lyrics he posted were, “Student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate. Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends in debate.”
Let’s just say there was a strong reaction from the local school system and Mr. Evans ended up being arrested and held for 8 days. For song lyrics! Upon his release, James had the following to say:
“It’s nonsense. I feel like my civil rights have been violated. You know first amendment freedom of speech out the window. Even all the guys I was in the cell with they thought it was nonsense themselves. I had several officials tell me it was nonsense that there was no reason why I should have even been here.”
Exodus themselves responded to the situation by saying:
“The idea that an individual in this great country of ours could be arrested for simply posting lyrics to a song is something I never believed could happen in a free society. James Evans was simply posting lyrics to a band he likes on Facebook, and he was locked up for it. The song ‘Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)’ was written as a view through the eyes of a madman and in no way endorses that kind of fucked up behavior. It was the Virginia Tech massacre perpetrated by Seung-Hui Cho that was the subject and inspiration to write the song, one in which we put the brakes on playing it live after the Sandy Hook shooting, as we did not want to seem insensitive.”
“As some of us in Exodus are parents, of course these things hit close to home, it’s every parent’s worst fear. These moments are the stuff of nightmares, and life, as well as music, isn’t always pretty. But when we start to overreact to things like lyrics by any band, including Exodus, and start arresting people, we are caving in to paranoia and are well on our way to becoming an Orwellian society.”
Have a listen to the song in question and keep your eyes out for the new Exodus album, “Blood In Blood Out”, dropping October 14th!
Links: Facebook // Official Website // Merch
