�They took it as, I don�t know what you call that � a mission statement � that he wrote up there, and they totally cut it to where it was kinda downplaying the events which took place and saying the United States was at fault, and they totally misquoted him. Everything he said was true, be honest with you.�
�You have to agree with the truth. I mean there is no way around it, but one thing we all agree on, including Serj � and Serj came to realise this � he wrote it in a moment of passion and frustration with what happened and being upset at what happened, and people, not just that the event occurred, but that it was terrible for the families. It was something that came out of his heart, but we all agreed that it was the wrong time. You have to give people a little bit of time to learn before (verbally) attack the country that they are living in, and it wasn�t even a personal attack on the united States. It was a kind of a statement for the world in general. We have to stop fighting each other, we have to stop hating each other, and it comes to an understanding that we are all just people, no matter where we live.�
Apparently the bands received death threats after the posting, is that true?
�No, I mean thousands of people go on the website every day. Maybe four or five people wrote something derogatory. You�ve gotta understand that that is coming out of their fear. They can�t explain what happened. They�re afraid of what happened. They�re angry, and they have to direct their fear at something. So what is that gonna be, you know? �Who am I gonna direct my anger at? So whoever said something or anything, we take our fear and manifest it into patriotism, we�ll call it that'�- but it�s just perpetuating hate again. You know, someone went and killed an Indian guy in Texas. What the hell does he have to do with the Taliban or bin Laden or whoever? Nothing, it�s just out of fear � they call themselves �patriots�.
�Human beings need something to hate, for some reason they have to have something to fear. I don�t know why. I can�t explain it to you because I�m not a scientist, but this is what I have come to realise. We always need some one to be alienated. Look at England. You have soccer teams, football teams, whatever you call them. Manchester hates who? Who hates them?�
Errr, actually everybody hates Manchester Utd.
�Name a rivalry?�
Liverpool�
�OK, so Manchester and Liverpool hate each other right? They are in the same fucking country. But let�s say Manchester were playing against Germany, then the people of Liverpool would hate Germany more than they would hate Manchester, right? OK, so let�s take it to a smaller level. Your neighbourhood: you don�t like people that live south of whatever Boulevard and they don�t like you. You�re in the same fucking city. You know what I mean? You will always need someone to put your negative energy towards.�
So, do you agreed with what�s going on in Afghanistan right now?
�I don�t agree with the killing of any civilians, but definitely you have to get those terrorist, you have to get them. You have to take care of them.�
In this so-called �War On Terrorism� do you think that after they�ve dealt with the Taliban and bin Laden they will go after other terrorist organisations? What about the IRA?
��Maybe they�ll go after the Middle East where the money is. The whole reason the IRA still exists is because there is no money over there. There is no oil or them to fight over. There are no diamond mines that I know of. They don�t see it as a problem because they can�t profit from it. They�re not selling arms on a large scale to these areas either. A lot of the things we do in the name of globalisation and also the things that we do, which we don�t approve of, are done in our corporations name, and that goes from England, America and probably just about every country in the world. It�s all about money. Don�t think that people are fighting for religion, that�s what the rich people want you to believe. I highly doubt bin Laden, who has grown up rich, would go and kill himself for his class- but you can definitely get someone who has grown up poor and raised from birth to have certain beliefs, and send them off to make a martyr of themselves.