The Gene-ie Is Out Of The Bottle (Water, Not Booze)

Ókay, let me state from the outset I am not defending what Gene Simmons said.  I am merely trying to analyse what he said, and why he said it.  People appear to be losing their shit over an interview Kiss bassist Gene Simmons gave - I think - around 31 July 2014.  In that interview Simmons stated he has no time for drug addicts or people with 'a dark cloud' hanging around them.  He stated his mother was in a Nazi concentration camp, but she gets up and loves life, and he has no patience for gloomy 20yos from Seattle.  The furore has come out in the wake of the tragic circumstances surrounding Robin Williams taking his own life.  For those of you who have spent the past week on the moon, Williams suffered depression, and it is well known he battled the spectre of addiction through his life.  Here's the thing: Simmons's comments pre-date Williams's death, so I cannot see how Simmons can be accused of being insensitive.  Well, maybe he is naïve to other people who have to deal with depression and addiction.  I actually don't think he was having a go at people who genuinely suffer depression, but rather attention-seekers. He might be a bit sensitised to drug addiction and alcoholism, because after all, he WAS in a band with Ace Frehley, which would have sorely tested him.  He apparently doesn't understand the illness that is depression, and that addiction is after all another illness.  But he has quite likely had negative experiences with alcoholics (hey, Ace!).  Gene has always been vocal in his disapproval of drugs, and he is a teetotaller.  But Gene, for the record, addiction is an illness.  So is genuine depression.

Yes, the comments really have me puzzled, because Gene is actually not a stupid man.  It would be a stupid, pig-ignorant person who would say insensitive things.  But I imagine he was asked to give an opinion in this interview, and that's his opinion.  For my work, I have done a mental health first aid course.  It was fascinating, and helped me understand the people I have loved and known over the years who have had to deal with this dark spectre.  Gene, I'm sure you can get yourself booked into a similar course.  It will help lots.

The other thing that has me shaking my head is the MMM radio network has pulled Kiss from their playlist in the wake of these comments.  Guys, why?  It might not be a bad thing because someone I peripherally know commented you only play 'God Gave Rock And Roll To You' anyway.  If this song has been pulled, people are wiping their brows and giving a sigh of relief because that one just blows the foreskin off a bull elephant.  But if you are going to remove from your playlist tracks associated with anybody who has ever said or done anything politically incorrect, questionable, illegal, or just downright unpardonably stupid, what are we going to hear coming from our radio?  Static, that's what.