Above is a photo of ISIS, the now-defunct loud-as-fuck American hardcore/metal band who put out classics like Panopticon and Oceanic. And below is a photo of ISIS, the ruthless terrorist group trying to create an Islamic state and impose Sharia law across Iraq and Syria:
photo via The Telgraph
Videos by VICE
Aside from the unfortunate coincidence of them sharing a name, the two have nothing in common. That seems like the most obvious distinction in the world to clarify, and yet, here we are clarifying it, because apparently, we live an age where common sense is virtually extinct.
Recently, an article ran entitled “ISIS the Rock Band Mistaken For Terrorist Group” which seems like a headline from The Onion but was actually from ABC News. In it, former ISIS drummer Aaron Harris talks about the band ISIS being inundated with posts by people mistaking them for the terrorist group responsible for beheading American journalist James Foley. Harris comments to ABC: “Fans have emailed us that they’re reluctant to wear our t-shirts now and we’ve also gotten some off-color comments.” The band also changed the name of their Facebook page from “ISIS” to “Isis the band” as a result. “It is an unfortunate situation and of course a few less than enlightened people are not seeing the distinction between an inactive band of musicians and a band of terrorists involved in current world affairs,” a representative from the band’s label Ipecac told ABC.
OK, the t-shirt thing kinda makes sense. It’s an extremely heated issue at the moment, and your average Joe Schmo on the street has probably never heard of the band. If a radical terror group arose named CONVERGE, you’d probably think twice before putting on that Jane Doe hoodie in public. But the fact that people are apparently making off-color comments on Facebook is ri-goddamn-diculous. What sort of dumbshit thinks that ISIS, an amorphous and elusive terror group that even our own military has difficulty pinning down would be searchable on Facebook? Seriously, what moron thinks to himself, “I’ll bet I know where the President forgot to look… Facebook!” It’s an extremist group, not Outback Steakhouse, you idiot. And then once that person smashes his Neanderthal fingers into the keyboard until they successfully type “ISIS,” how do they not take literally half a second to see that the verified fan page is labeled as “Musician/Band” and that there’s all sorts of music imagery over the whole thing?:
These are most likely the same gullible dummies who earnestly share links from “satire” website, The Daily Currant [not linking here because it is cultural dogshit] and also clog your Facebook feed with this sort of garbage:
So once again, for clarification purposes: ISIS the band = no relation whatsoever to ISIS the terrorist group. All settled? Good. Now let’s go back to only mistaking ISIS for Pelican.
Dan Ozzi is on Twitter, please ‘Like’ this article and he will donate one dollar to some charity – @danozzi
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Also check out:
Loud and Louder: Aaron from Isis Interviews Trevor from Pelican
