A Sixteen Year Old Girl's Open Letter In Defense Of Mr. Roger Waters

By GabeMc (Own work) CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL via Wikimedia Commons 

Because people have been saying bad things about him, or what they think are bad things.  People seem to think that it is a bad thing to tell the truth, but I don't, not anymore.  When I was growing up I used to wonder at how much the Israelis were acting to the Palestinians like the Germans did to the Jews in the Leon Uris books (Exodus, Mila 18) my mom had. I read them over and over, and wondered to myself.

Anyway, I could never say anything about what I thought or my mom would kill me.  We're Jewish, although not practicing, and we have a lot of Jewish friends -- actually, its more like she does - and I knew better than to come up with any of my 'smart ideas' around any of her friends.  

Click to enlarge.

But if Jon Stewart is right when he says that we shouldn't compare people to Nazis when they do things that don't involve really bad things (like torture, or oppression, or killing people because of their race) -- well, what do we do when people do things that do?

I always felt a little bit like I was lying when I didn't say anything about how I felt.  I always wanted to say something.  It seems like a long time ago, even though it hasn't even been a year, because so many things have happened: I am not living with my mother anymore, or even Back East.  But very importantly for me, one of my favorite people in the whole world has come out and said, to the whole world, what I thought was obvious and what I bet a lot of people were also thinking. 

I don't see anything wrong with that.  Just the opposite.  Even if I thought he was wrong, I wouldn't see anything wrong with that:  if it wasn't true, what would really be the harm in it?  It would be like the time some people called me bad names -- but you don't need me to tell dumb stories., you know what I mean.  

It's only when we think something might actually be true that we get really upset.  Isn't it? 

"What does a twelve year old boy have to say to Roger Waters?  

Quite a bit actually, and it can add up 

over the years," 

muses Bidini.[emphasis mine.]  I bet he's mad he couldn't get 

an autograph or something.  Maybe a birthday show got canceled? 

Everyone liked to say I was a precocious kid; in fact, I am dumbing myself down quite a bit right now to sound like what you'd expect from a sixteen year old.  I figure it makes sense, considering the letter which gave me the idea to write this in the first place wasn't really written by a twelve year old, you know what I mean?  I mean, the reason I am writing this is that I think I figured that out, and even though maybe a few other people did too, I still think it's unfair that so many people  will listen to him, and have their heart strings tugged on or whatever.

Like a twelve year old asking about what Mr. Waters said makes it any more quote wrong unquote.   (Actually its 'end-quote.'  I just learned that.) I also just learned that people aren't supposed to edit their own Wikipedia pages
, which it sure looks like this old guy who I think was pretending to be a twelve year old did, if Encyclopaedia Brown and Sherlock Holmes have taught me anything.  (I never liked Nancy Drew).  

click to enlarge.

If you compare Dave Bidini's Wikipedia page to almost any other biography, well, there seem to be a lot of the things missing that make it sound all grown-up and official, like details about his life, and schooling, other stuff.  The first versions of his page actually really tell you a little about him, like that he has two kids. (I wonder how old they are?)  Best of all, they doesn't have those corny lines in them (paragraphs all by themselves, to make it worse: "Dave Bidini hates society, but society loves Dave Bidini" and "If you don't know what it means to love, then how could you ever know Dave Bidini?"  I have never heard of Wikipedia sounding like that.  

I'm sorry if I am going on about this, but I thought it was important, so I'm going to talk about it some more.  Like I was saying, if you look at the early versions of this guy's wikipedia page (the ones that I am pretty sure he didn't completely write about himself), and then look at the later ones (the ones that I am pretty sure he did), and look at who does most of the edits -- well one guy really stands out.  And if you go look at what all he has written for Wikipedia or hasn't -- well, I think I will stop there, at the name of the guy.

A twelve year old asking a question doesn't make it more wrong, and it doesn't make it more right.  Even if it was a real twelve year old, which Dave Bidini is not anymore, any more than I'm sixteen.  But, all things considered, I hope one day I'll grow up to be the kind of artist who tries to make the world a better place with my art.

Your Lifelong Fan,



a female faust.


NOTE: the poem that was here originally (and will be again) is not a reference to any recent event, and is not a criticism of Mr. Waters.  It is in fact a request for a brief face to face appointment, concerning an artistic matter. As soon as I get the chance, I will explain in full and reinstate the poem, which for now you can view here if you wish.

Be seeing you.