Vandaag kwam ik op een fansite van Bob Dylan het volgende bericht tegen van ene John Ardern:

“Bob Dylan has just warned the World!

At 84, Bob could have stayed silent – he could have let the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show just fade away in America’s endless culture wars under President Donald Trump. His statement included :

“When I was a boy in Minnesota, I used to sit in a tiny room, playing my father’s old guitar. Every time the neighbours knocked on the door and told me to be quiet, it felt like the music in my heart was being strangled. If i had obeyed back then, maybe I would never have sung again”

“Do Disney and ABC TV think that by bringing Jimmy Kimmel back (on air) will calm us? NO, this isnt about just one show – it’s about the freedom and creativity of an entire generation. When the right to speak is suffocated, art withers and we step into an age of darkness.”

“When you silence comedians, when you punish artists for speaking, you’re not protecting society – you’re teaching people to fear their own voice”

He is also quoted that he said – when he heard about the death of Charlie Kirk – “If you want people to speak kindly after you’re gone, speak kindly while you’re alive”.

Even if this is a misquote, it is still so very apt and true!

In a World where words can wound or heal, choosing empathy to one another is so important. By speaking kindly and treating one another with dignity, Bob Dylan’s message reminds us that political or religious affiliation or ideology is secondary to our shared humanity.”