[Originally posted in April 2015, prior to CV-19]

This weekend I was looking through a couple of rock websites, checking up on tours and music and such, and I came upon a photo of a band where the lead singer is giving the finger, with both hands.  So I guess that would be “giving the fingers,” plural.  Stereo.  A two-fer. Whatever. This gave Dub Warrant pause, and a few questions popped into his beer-soaked head:

To whom is this gesture being directed?  To “give the finger” is to say to someone, through a hand gesture, “fuck you.”  I have given it to many people when I am driving so I am sure it means at least “fuck you.”  Maybe it has a bunch of other meanings, too.

When a band is posing and someone gives the finger towards the camera, what is the message?  Is the message, “Fuck you, photographer”?  If so, what is the problem with the photographer?  No, that doesn’t make sense.

Does it mean, “Fuck you, people looking at this photo”?  If so, how many non-fans of the band are going to see this hand gesture and say, “Wow, this band is cool, they are using an obscene hand gesture and it’s directed at me, among many other people, so I think I will go buy their new album”?

Does it say, “Fuck you,” to the band’s fans who are certainly viewing the photo?  Is that any way to treat your fans, middle-finger-giving rock stars?

Is it a sign of rebellion?  Rebellion against whom?  Against what?  This isn’t the Sixties.  You aren’t Lemmy or Johnny Cash.  What is the use of the middle finger saying about you?  What is your message?  Is this supposed to be cool?

Come on, rock stars, ‘fess up:  Why the fuck are you posing for photos giving the middle finger?

[Dub Warrant, ©2020]