ROLLINS to Australian Prime Minister:’You’re a sissy’
February 22nd, 2006
Henry Rollins 
has been getting a lot of attention these days from the Australian media — after all, it’s not every day that some American punk icon calls Australia’s prime minister a “sissy.” Prime Minister John Howard caught Hank‘s wrath during the rocker’s most recent trip to Australia. On the flight from New Zealand, Rollins said he was reading a copy of Wall Street Journal correspondent Ahmed Rashid‘s book “Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia.” The man sitting next to him took objection to the book and reported Rollins to the Australian government. Now, here comes the part where you say to yourself that stupidity isn’t ONLY running amuck in our government.
“The guy phoned me in to their, like, anti-terrorist board, and they found me — they looked me up,” he said. “They looked up the flight and found out who was sitting in seat 10A and they got to me. And they said, ‘OK, you’re now a person of interest. The man next to you does not agree with your politics and he didn’t like the book you were reading.’ This kind of provocation, I don’t respond very well to. I was furious. And so I wrote back, ‘You can tell everyone at your office, including your boss, to go f— themselves. This book has been read by a ton of people — I am not a threat to your state or any state or any republic.’ ” In the actual text of his online response, Rollins added: “Baghdad‘s safer than my hometown, and your PM is a sissy.”
-note to self, only read comic books on airliners
February 25th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
never liked henry rollins, so if stupidity is going to happen to any of us, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving, ( and as apparently the writer of the article forgets “Hank’s” utterances in the U.S. …) a more opinionated ass.
February 26th, 2006 at 7:00 am
Well J, I must tell you that I feel that it is extremely important for people and their opinions, to be heard. Afterall, you seem to like the ability to voice yours. I don’t disagree that many people turn out to seem the ass when speaking their minds, and that’s ok by me. I don’t always agree with Rollins, but his thoughts at times sure are interesting. And that is what leads us to new discoveries.
It has always been difficult to be a real person.
February 27th, 2006 at 10:43 am
If the book had been about Bush or about deforestation or something there’s no way Henry Rollins would have got in trouble, assuming he was reported to the government in Australia. Now, Bush may be controversial, and so may be deforestation, but you need to look at the particular content here: People are afraid to say or do anything that may upset the Middle-Eastern Muslim bloc. I have many friends who are Muslim, and they agree: People are becoming afraid of discussing the religion, and fear can lead to terrible things.