Tim “Ripper” Owens Tweets Demonstrate Jingoism, Casual Racism

So last week, after Tim “Ripper” Owens (Charred Walls of the Damned, ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth) tacitly endorsed Donald Trump for president, Toilet Ov Hell ran a really fun quiz in which readers were asked to identify quotes as belonging to either Trump or Ripper. It’s actually much harder than you’d think — I’m not ashamed to admit, I did not do very well. And now I’d like to discuss the quotes in question. So go play before I spoil the whole thing for you. Scroll down when you’re ready to proceed.

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Alright! So, as you now know, the quiz has a twist ending: all the quotes are by Tim “Ripper” Owens. ToH was even kind enough to supply screen caps of most of the tweets in question, none of which paint a very nice picture of Owens. For example…

So either Ripper is under the impression that a family owns something called “of the dead police,” or he blew his chances of being taken seriously right out of the gate. I’m guessing it’s the latter, but either way, he’s a dummy.

Ever notice how 99% of the assholes who invoke 9/11 are people who weren’t anywhere near New York on 9/11? In fact, they tend to live in Bumfuck, where there is never ever going to be a danger of a terrorist attack. Everyone I know who was actually in downtown Manhattan at the time of the attacks — myself included — never, ever pulls this shit, which cheapens the tragedy in the name of…

…of what, exactly? How does taking a knee during the national anthem in order to protest police brutality and institutional racism dishonor the men and and women who died on 9/11? Would those men and women have been happy to watch cops kill black people and get away with it again and again and again?

Those people died because they were American, and as these Rippers of the world love to remind us, America is all about freedom — be it freedom of speech or the freedom to peacefully protest against a governmental authority that is treading all over the rights (or, you might say, freedoms) of American citizens. Ripper isn’t really arguing for American patriotism; he’s arguing for blind jingoism. It’s the “You’re either for us or against” mentality, which is, y’know, really, really stupid.

Well, gee, that comment isn’t racist or anything.

“If you don’t support race-fueled murder you don’t support law enforcement” is the new “if you don’t support the war you don’t support the troops.” Nobody is asking anything of the police except for them to do their jobs and do their jobs properly. And cops killing African Americans without any cause isn’t just a lousy trend or the work of a few bad apples — it’s an epidemic.

Let’s put it another way. Imagine if the police were going around shooting people who “look metal” for no discernible reason. Do you think Ripper would be so pissy about people protesting then?

This one is absolutely baffling. What does the first thought about Obama backing Hillary have to do with the second thought about people allegedly abusing welfare? He must know Hillary Clinton isn’t on welfare, right? So this tweet is basically total nonsense.

Well, Andrew Harrison is black, so I don’t know why Ripper would think that somehow makes it okay for him to drop n-bombs. But even if we follow his logic, we have to assume this means Ripper has never ever heard a hip-hop song before, ’cause if he had, he’d have been throwing around the n-word years ago.

Oh, wait, he was:

So the Harrison incident was really just an excuse for Ripper to complain that there’s a word black people are allowed to use that he is not. Presumably, this upsets Ripper because he loves America and loves freedom.

So long as that freedom isn’t used to protest the chronic mistreatment of minorities.

Unfortunately, there’s no screen cap for my personal favorite quote from the quiz, but I think it’s worth discussing anyway:

“Love that people complain about showing an ID for voting but not for their welfare check or beer or airports! Some sad people”

God, this one drives me nuts.

First of all, the fact that he went right from discussing an issue that primarily impacts African Americans directly to welfare is so racist it makes me wonder he doesn’t just change his name to Tim “Racewar” Owens. The only part of this statement that’s funny is the fact that Ripper has actually toured with a guy who did steal welfare.

Second of all, the reason no one complains about showing an ID for beer or at the airport is because underage people try to find ways to get hammered daily, and, as Ripper’s beloved 9/11 made clear, you need to know who’s on your goddamn airplane. The reason people are pissy about voter ID laws is because they’re so clearly used to target minorities, and they’re certainly not addressing a real problem: voter fraud is literally less likely than being struck by lightning. Or, as John Oliver so brilliant explained a little while back…

SO, there you have it. You can now go back to not feeling sorry for Ripper that Rob Halford re-claimed his job.

You can check out a few more of Ripper’s charming tweets here.