i may have mentioned here before my complete and utter obsession with dave grohl, and my love of the foo fighters. so i was very excited about the release of their newest album – pre-ordered from iTunes for immediate download gratification.

as i was listening to it, i started to google around, to get the correct album order (as my iTunes decided to alphabetise it by song title) and i came across the wiki entry for the foo fighters.

and this:

In 2000, the band generated controversy through their public support of “Alive & Well”, an organization that denies the link between HIV and AIDS, questions the validity of HIV tests, and advises against taking medication to counter the disease.[3] Foo Fighter bassist Nate Mendel learned of “Alive & Well” through “What If Everything You Thought You Knew about AIDS Was Wrong?”, a self-published book written by Christine Maggiore, the organization’s founder. Mendel passed the book around to the rest of the band, who supported his advocacy.[3]

In January 2000, the band played a benefit concert for the organization, which Mendel helped to organize.[3] The band also contributed songs to “The Other Side of AIDS”, a controversial documentary film by Maggiore’s husband Robin Scovill, which questions whether HIV is the cause of AIDS.[4] The band’s position caused alarm in the medical community, as “Alive & Well”’s advice ran contrary to established medical wisdom about HIV and AIDS.[3][4] In a 2000 interview, Mendel spoke of using the Foo Fighters’ popularity to help spread the group’s message and of holding more benefits for the organization.[3] No further benefits have taken place and the band no longer continues to list “Alive & Well” as one of its causes on its website.[5]

in fact, the band *did* have “alive and well” linked as a cause from its website, as recently as tuesday. because i checked.

i know we tend to build up celebrities in our heads. i know we unfairly idealise our rock stars, when they’re just ordinary, sometimes misguided people. i know it’s unrealistic to expect that they live by the same principles you do, or believe the same beliefs.

and so i know i shouldn’t be surprised at how disillusioned i felt when i discovered this. how very crushed i was, as if it was a personal hurt. a suckerpunch to the gut.

the thing is, i do take this personally. hiv/aids issues have been very near and dear to my heart since my days in new york. it’s something any regular reader of this blog knows i feel very passionately about.

i understand that rock stars are not astrophysicists. and i understand that, to a layperson, the kind of information put out by the “alive and well” site (which i will not link to here), looks like it might be somewhat plausible. i understand how people with no scientific background can get confused and sucked into believing the aids denialists.

what i don’t understand is how using their international fame to promote a “cause” which promulgates a course of action that virtually all of the world’s most esteemed doctors, scientist and research foundations agree is wildly dangerous, can be seen as anything but egregiously irresponsible. what i don’t understand is why a group of rock stars think they are in *any* position to advise people on life and death medical decisions.

you don’t have to know better – just know what you don’t know.

this is different than just having political views i don’t agree with. this is different than say, for example, finding out that dave grohl was a bush supporter, or rabidly pro-life, or a religious evangelical. because even if i vehemently disagree with those views, his *personal espousal of them* wouldn’t directly cause someone to jeopardise their life. but his reckless endorsement of “alive and well” and their dangerous message easily could.

and i am even more distressed to know that i have (albeit unwittingly and indirectly) helped support this message by buying their albums. i’m not generally one to automatically boycott stuff on principle – but once i know where my money is going, i can’t in good conscience continue to spend it.

i know a lot of people would say i’m being sanctimonious. maybe i am overreacting. after all, they seem to have taken down the link now. maybe that means something, maybe it doesn’t. maybe it’s this particular topic, or maybe i’ll feel differently with time. i guess i’m just sad that the innocence of my fandom has been ruined for me. my little balloon of idyllic love has been popped. it has cast a pall over their music for me. it’s like realising santa isn’t real – or more aptly, like discovering santa encouraging little kids to go play in traffic.

i’m going to be writing to them and asking for my money back for the album i just bought. i don’t expect a refund or an answer, but it will make me feel better to ask.

dar williams – the mercy of the fallen

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