Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton has noted that he is completely unapologetic about using his social media platforms for political opinion.
Amid a controversial political climate, many musicians have used their social media platforms to voice their opinions on politics and the current state of affairs.
While some maintain that President Donald Trump is the worst president the United States has ever seen, others reckon that he’s doing an okay job, and musicians haven’t been shy with noting who they’ll be voting for come time for the U.S. election.
Just like others, guitarist Mike Morton of the heavy metal collective Lamb Of God has used his Twitter to not only voice his political stance, but to use his outlet to create awareness of important social issues.
While interviewing with A&P Reacts, Morton was asked about his use of Twitter, and what he thinks about using his fan-followed accounts for personal opinion, and he had a bit to say, including that he was not going to apologise for using his platform for such thoughts.
“I’m starting to. I’ve been pretty vocal, and, I guess, at times controversial. It’s its own little bubble. And if you had asked me this a couple of years ago, I would have said that it’s not important; it’s just kind of what I do. But I’m starting to wonder if it’s not important.
“When something’s really wrong or there’s a discussion not being had or there’s something being ignored… I have a platform, and I have a platform in our music, in what we talk about lyrically, and social media, for better or worse, is a platform — I don’t know if it’s the best one, but it is one, and it’s one I engage in.
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“So I do speak my mind,” he noted. “And I try to be open to other people’s opinions and the fact that not everyone’s gonna agree with me. I don’t think my opinions can be put into a tight, neat little box, because there are things that I’m very liberal on, things that I’m very conservative on and things that I’m in the middle on. But lately, particularly in the last week or so, I’ve had a hard time keeping my mouth shut.”
Although he knows that sometimes people will disagree with his beliefs, he notes that he doesn’t “make any apologies for that” stating: “Look, if I had a nickel for every time someone told on social media to just shut up and play guitar… I always actually take it as a compliment, because I’m like, no matter how mad I made them, they’re still saying that it’s worthwhile for me to play guitar. [Laughs] So I’m doing something right; that’s a compliment to me.
“I get to have an opinion, too — I just do,” the Lamb Of God guitarist stated. “Everybody does. And hopefully we can all start learning to respect each other’s opinion and even maybe find some common ground. ‘Cause a lot of that seems to be getting overlooked lately, and I hope we can plug into that.
“It’s a trying time, man — there’s so much going on — and everybody’s really tense and anxious, and there’s a lot of fear and a lot of anger,” he added. “And I don’t know what to do except to talk about when I see something that’s wrong. And I’m not always great at not riling it up — sometimes I’m venting in anger myself; I’m a human being — but I’m trying to be a little more positive as I go. That’s all I can do.”
Check out ‘Walk With Me In Hell’ by Lamb Of God:
