Like their previous music videos, Fall Out Boy’s “I Don’t Care” features a few brief cameos from pop culture celebs and emo/punk artists. Spencer Pratt from the Hills, Gabe Saporta from Cobra Starship, and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 all make an appearance. But the best cameo comes at the end of the video.
It’s a little less Sixteen Candles, and a little more Sarah Palin! But its just a Sarah Palin look-alike.
Was Fall Out Boy attempting to mock the VP candidate? It is a possibility, considering bassist Pete Wentz told People Magazine that he and his bandmates were all “liberal democrats from the suburbs of Chicago,” and FOB Drummer Andy Hurley is a vegan and supporter of the radical left-wing animal rights group PeTA. Though comparing Palin to an aging, conceited rocker doesn’t seem to match up with the conventional criticism of the Alaskan governor. Maybe the rocker’s disdain for the current generation of rock represents Palin’s support for traditional conservative values. Or maybe the mask Palin is wearing symbolizes her hidden agenda of wiping out polar bears, banning books, and firing state troopers. Or maybe FOB simply thought it would be really fun to put a popular figure in their new music video to make pundits and bloggers struggle to find some nonexistent political meaning in it.
Conservatives can’t expect to find many punk rock bands that share their political views. I am a huge fan of the genre, but I manage to separate the music from the politics because most of the bands that I have seen live seem to do the same. To FOB’s credit, they have never made a political statement at any of the concerts that I have attended.
If the inclusion of a Palin look-alike was truly meant as a criticism of the Alaskan Governor (which I highly doubt), then I’m inclined to remind FOB that their own music also prevents them from voting Obama, since “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago.”
