Dear Mr. Reznor
My name is Alaa, and I’m a 28 years old guy from Homs – Syria. If you follow international news then you know what kind of trouble we’re in here. We went out demanding freedom and democracy in March 15th2011, and the regime’s been killing us with every way possible. Tanks, mortar, helicopters, machineguns, you name it!
Now that I’ve done the “who” and the “where”, I’ll do the “what”.
I am a big fan of your work. Nine Inch Nails has been a major influence in my life since I discovered With Teeth in 2005, your lyrics spoke to me and your music touched my soul.
In 2007 you released Year Zero, and it was about the year 2012, and you even mentioned Syria in one of the Year Zero websites. Of course I grabbed that record the day it was out and enjoyed it a lot, but now it’s something different. It’s something much bigger than it was in 2007.
I hear the tracks on that record now and they tell exactly what we’re going through here. Syria 2012 is Year Zero. Songs like The Good Soldier, Survivalism, and The Beginning of the End are our lives these days.
My Violent Heart is really MY violent heart.
In fact, I used one of the Year Zero “resistance meeting” quotes. “WAKE UP AND GIVE A SHIT!” hoping the world would care more and do its part towards us.
Now I wanna go a bit deeper, into my own soul. If I had the potential to make a record that tells what I’ve been feeling since the uprising began, I would’ve written the entire Downward Spiral. I now enjoy that record in a whole new level. Songs like Piggy and Ruiner say everything I want to say. Listening to the entire album before going out in peaceful demos gives me so much strength and hope. I even made a “Nothing can stop me now sign”, too bad I couldn’t use it yet.
Mr. Reznor. I just wanted to show you how much your music helps me personally to deal with this cruel world we live in, and wanted to thank you for the amazing music and lyrics you keep putting out and not just in NIN but in HTDA and the amazing movie scores you’ve been doing.
Thank you sir.
PS. I was lucky enough to see NIN live in Turkey back in 2009. Also, I didn’t mention many songs from the rest of your records so I can keep the message as small as possible.
Hello, i'm not Trent Reznor, but i'd read your message and i feel fear in each word. I hope you someday find your freedom, and you know what you have to do: Keep on fighting until end.
ReplyDeleteI hope too that Trent read it, as you desire.
Thank you for reading and for the nice words. I really appreciate it.
DeleteAlaa,
ReplyDeleteI have a unique set of feelings for your situation given that I'm probably one of the few Americans who is both a huge NIN fan (my favorite band since the early/mid 90's) AND I've been to your city of Homs. In the spring of 2009, my friend and I traveled throughout the Middle East. We started out in Iran (very hard to visit as a tourist if you are from the United States), and moved through UAE, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. It was an incredible experience and it turned out to be somewhat foreboding for things to come. We were in Iran just three weeks before their student "soft" revolution, and we could feel it coming while we were there as we talked to people we met on the streets, some who would invite us into their homes.
While in Syria, a taxi driver ended up hosting us in his home for the night in Homs as we were making our way to see the Qal'at al-Ḥiṣn (Krak des Chevaliers). We talked with him and his young son about growing up in Homs, the conflicts of the past, and desire, for some, to seek change. It was a very pleasant city, but we could sense the paranoia citizens had for their government, and for people they suspected as spies, even their neighbors and family members. Honestly, we were a bit relieved to finally leave Syria, as much as we enjoyed its sights and people, as Americans, we were always worried about who was following us.
Now, with everything that I am seeing in the news and on social media about what is happening to your country, and especially in the city that hosted me, my heart aches. The problems we fight over in the United States are so vastly small compared to the daily struggle for survival and safety in an environment where every word is monitored, where thoughts can't be freely expressed, and where people are explicitly terrorized and stamped out by the hands their so-called leaders.
While I may be powerless to offer any help of material substance to you or your fellow citizens, at least take heart knowing that I, and many others around the United States and the world, are paying attention to your struggle, hoping for change, and starting the conversations that will hopefully translate to greater awareness and attention placed on this situation, for bigger eyes to see.
I live in Los Angeles, work in a skyscraper, and our worlds couldn't be further apart, but I feel for your situation, I really do, and now, I can begin to identify with it even more than I ever though, knowing that at least someone there shares appreciation for the same band I do- and understandings the messages on a such a profound level that I could never begin to identify with.
Here's to strength in enduring your struggle, and good speed in enacting the change you hope to see in your country, and peace, prosperity, and openness for all who cherish it.
"We will never die, beside you in time."
Jason Brooks
PS- Here are pictures from that Middle East trip, feel free to connect: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.82191117461.85529.598762461&type=3&l=c12198a9a1
Thank you! I understand how you felt when you were here. We all were terrified as you can see in my post Chapter One : The Beginning. And turns out we were right to be terrified. The word freedom caused this beast to destroy cities. The things here are unreal. I hope you'll come by later and see the REAL Syria. The Fear free one.
DeleteI am looking at the photos in your FB. Keep those photos as Homs doesn't look like that anymore.