"In regards to people having opinions, when we say things at shows, sometimes people don't like, I hear, us mentioning that we are at war. Even if we bring out a veteran and introduce them to somebody who has been involved. Some people feel that this is time when we could be playing a B-side or something. To me, this is equivalent to somebody sitting in the back seat of a car, and the car is hitting people and killing them, and they're asking for the heat to be turned up or the air-conditioning to be turned down -- something in regards to their comfort level."

what's really at stake in all of these discussion is whether or not you feel that all aspects of life should in some way be politicized. Should music be an escape, or should it be a way to motivate people to think and get engaged

Exactly. In my opinion Pearl Jam is both and always has been. That's one of the reasons I like them so much.

Don't even get me started on this. Professor Ed teaching all of his students the state of the world, because he knows things that we don't.

I think it depends on how you perceive politics in the 1st place. If you see those people up there, elected by us down here, us somebody who is kind of paid to make decisions in our places sort of representing our positions, i understand politics being everywhere. It's even more understandable when the current leaders and their decisions are not shared by the majority or those with the power make decisions that directly or indirectly damage us.
The reason people like Ed use their power to spread what they believe to be right and important is the fact many people don't want to have anything to do with it or hear about it. Another reason is having people with opposite opinions argument their views with "just because".

It's a kind of a paradox because, in this case, by disagreeing with Ed's lecturing you give him the reason to do so even more.

I guess that I don't have an escapist mentality. I want to be challenged to think about difficult issues.

I find this quote particularly apt. For years the citizens of the US were like people riding in the backseat of a car, not looking or seeming to care where that car was headed. Even when institutions were being destroyed and people were being stripped of rights that we had come to take forgranted. We were worried about trivial issues that regulated the comfort level of certain special interest groups, but none of us seemed to be aware of which direction this car was headed. Even today, many don't want to see 35,000 soldiers who will never be whole again flooding a military and veteran's healthcare system that does not have the funds to accomodate them.

You know, you and I don't really seem to agree on all that much. Love ya anyway, toots.

I think where Ed's a bit offbase is that he thinks he's having a dialogue but he's really lecturing. A dialogue requires a flow of information from back and forth from both parties. Ed basically gives lectures in the form of opinion piece editorials. The majority of people who like the content of the his opinion pieces think this is a great use of concert time. The majority of people who don't like the content of his opinion pieces think this is a waste of concert time. Some just want Ed to shut up and sing regardless of the editorial and their view of the content.

I've seen Ed give editorials where he's so drunk he can't even remember the name of the group he was editorializing (West Memphis 3). That one really turned me off Ed's opinion pieces. If I wanted to hear a drunk ramble on about topics he knows nothing about at the moment due to his drunkiness I'd be having Sunday dinner at my Uncle Jim's house. He's a complete idiot when he's drunk (which isn't so bad), the annoying part is he's a complete idiot who won't shut up.

i respect the band (Eddie) more because he has a political opinion and uses his fame to be heard. We don't have to agree with what he's saying.

When i think of bands with zero political/environmental conscience, it just makes them seem like they have less substance. If they have no substance, what could they possibly say in their lyrics that I can believe? How can i get behind them if they aren't saying anything about the big picture?

Classic case .... Chris Cornell??

I'm all for being challenged on my views but there's a time and place for everything. I feel sorry for Ed's wife if in the middle of sex he just stops to talk about dead soldiers and what an idiot Bush is.

Perhaps the following people should also lecture me about the war: (1) the bus driver announcing my stops; (2) the guy in the ticket window at the movie theatre; (3) the NFL referee announcing the proverbial false-start penalty on No. 72 of the Lions; (4) the tortilla chick taking my order at Chipotle; (5) my dry cleaner; or (6) Ticketmaster when sending my ticket-purchase confirmation.

What a joke.

Excuse my ignorance as a non-American, but is it fair to say that someone who tends to vote Republican would be the type of fan that doesn't want to hear Ed make these rants? Whereas someone who votes a different way (Democrat or otherwise) doesn't mind hearing what Ed has to say?

I voted democrat last election and I don't want to hear Ed's rants during a concert.

As a stereotype that may be right. But does anyone want to hear a drunk guy ramble on about the West Memphis 3 when he can't even remember their name? Or having writers introduced on stage?

I'm just of the mindset people shouldn't have expectations or demands for what Pearl Jam as a whole, or members of the band individually should or should not do, regardless of how logical, sensible, or pedagogically sound their expectations are.

I guess I'm a libertarian like that.

I will say independent of what they choose to do or not do, I like that Ed's well aware of the b-side needing contingent of the fanbase but has a value system that prioritizes speaking out against what he sees as wrong in the world over fulfilling their need for the obscure song; that he's comfortable making a choice which resonates and fulfills his instincts and gut, that he's not indentured to someone else's, be it Epic or the uber-fan*.

*Possible berating synonyms for uber: dork, nerd, loser; sophisticated synonym: beholden aficionados; social commentary synonym: members of the human race who've created a hierarchy of meaning for their life around the comprehensiveness of witnessing one entertainers' entire repertoire

I don't understand where the joke lies here. I have had political discussions with most of these people at one time or another, when they have not been pressed for time with repect to the doing of their jobs. Many don't agree with me, but I consider myself fairly well-informed. If I don't agree with someone, I want to know what piece of information they have that is convincing them that their viewpoint is the correct one and mine is incorrect. Ed may spend a good deal of time expounding on his viewpoints at concerts, I have no idea, but the car analogy has nothing to do that.

I find the car analogy to be a particularly good one. It has nothing to do with the specific beliefs of Ed or anyone else. It has to do with being informed enough to know whether one's car is heading east or west on the highway. I feel that it is clear that many Americans had no idea where their country was heading in the early 2000's.

No, I think that it is Ed himself. People are offended by him. They would be if he were a Republican supporting George Bush. I've never seen them live, so I can't address why. Whatever this quality is, it is not conveyed on the boots, at least the ones that I have heard.

I wonder if Ed's ever checked the thermostat in his houses or a hotel room? If so, does he educate himself on the source of energy being used before touching the thermostat?

PS About the war, does everyone forget we aren't in conscripted times anymore? That even if you signed up before the the start not expecting to fight, after one tour you could leave, and that if you haven't left you are doing it voluntarily, and that for all the complaints about how mismanaged this damn thing is, we've only lost 3,100 Americans, which when compared to the 400,000+ lost in the 4 years of our Civil War, 115,000+ in the 2 years of WWI, 400,000+ in the 5 years of WWII, or the 50,000+ in Vietnam, 3,100 is a drop in the bucket, not to make light of the individuals who've bravely given and offered their lives for a cause they believe in enough to be there...

It has to do with a concert being neither the time nor place to suddenly take the soapbox to lecture people. You have political discussions because you choose to engage in them. When I'm sitting there waiting for the band to play during their encore, I really have no choice but to sit and listen to Mr. Vedder share his political rants with me (unless I want to leave before the band plays again).

The car analogy is stupid. If you're in the backseat of a car going from point A to point B, and the driver is running over people, you're part of the process whether you like it or not. By using a concert as a mechanism to lecture people, you're trying to make the concert a part of the process, which is the joke.

Next time Vedder should announce that, after the last song is played at a Pearl Jam concert, he will come back out and hold court about what's right and wrong in the world. And the people that want to stay and listen can. But he can give others the choice of whether they want to listen. I guarantee that 90% of the people will hightail it out of there.