“This is a time for choosing,” John Ondrasik declared yesterday and repeated to me in a new interview this afternoon. John released a new song and video protesting the eruption of anti-Semitism in America and the ghastly support for Hamas after its genocidal barbarities of October 7.

More than three months later, the cultural rot has been exposed here and around the world, and the lead singer of Five For Fighting puts it into stark exposure in the video for “OK,” launched yesterday and featured nearly immediately here at Hot Air:

This is a time for choosing…

New Song/Music Video – "OK"#WeAreNotOK pic.twitter.com/prBgT55ZqR

— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) January 18, 2024

John and I have known each other for a while, and he is a regular reader of this site, so he reached out to me to feature the video. I was delighted to do so, and even more delighted to have him as a guest on The Ed Morrissey Show Podcast today. John has a number of media appearances lined up, but he graciously carved out some time to discuss “OK” and the reason he felt the need to speak up.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation, from the AI-generated transcript of the recording:

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Q: There is a grotesque barbarity here that needs to be discussed and needs to be accounted for.

A: You know, it reminds me of Afghanistan and the atrocities we’re seeing there with our withdrawal and things you never could imagine. Certainly, some of the atrocities Putin’s committing in Ukraine are similar to what Hamas has done and continues to do. And I do think, you know, these are all interconnected, Ed. You know, the axis of evil line, I think some people kind of giggle at that, but I think we have to take that seriously. …

So yes, the Israel-Hamas war, whatever you want to call it, is really the soul of the West against the soul of these evil actors. And I think, frankly, I’m not sure if we’re going to win that war, but hopefully this song’s just another little piece to say our side. Because there is no kind of moral equivalency here, as much as many in the media would like you to believe there is.

Q: It’s astounding to me how badly we have slipped. So I want to ask you — I mean, I’m pretty sure I know that was part of the impetus to write this. Was there a particular moment when you said, I really have to say something about this?

A: That’s a good question because you’re right. You know, there are some strong voices on the left and actually some that have kind of found their come to Jesus moment, like the ADL for being one. Right. And I agree with you. This is not the time for tribalism and petty grievances. You know, and my song, you know, and the video’s been out less than 24 hours. And you see a common reaction of like, thank you for saying this. Because nobody else is. Well, people are saying it, but thank you for saying this.

It’s similar to the Afghanistan song when our Afghan vet said, thank you for saying this withdrawals catastrophe. Thank you, because I feel alone in this. And I think we all feel like Why is everybody so silent? I said this yesterday on Fox News. Someone said, why did you write this song, John? And I said, no, that’s not the question. The question is, why are so many so silent?

But there are heroes. You know, Bari Weiss, you know, she made a speech kind of in November that made me start thinking about the fact that This atrocities Hamas committed is unbearable. You can’t even think about it. It’s still happening. Every day we hear something horrible. But she said this is just a symptom. And I think she’s right. When Jews are attacked and anti-Semitism is raging on our campuses and media is spouting, you know, Hamas propaganda, that’s a symptom of a broken society.

Q: I kind of expected [October 7] to be its own ‘come to Jesus’ moment, which, you know, use that term, right? Instead, and I’ve said this a number of times before for people who are old enough to remember the film Cabaret, it almost feels like the “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” moment where the Nazis are standing up and taking over and everybody’s trying to run away from them or ignore them. And we can’t ignore them. We have to confront this now.

A: You’re exactly right. And tragically, you know, you see that so much in the arts. Many of the leaders of the entertainment business are Jewish. And they are the most silent. And again, I don’t want to name names. I’m sure people have compassion. But you ask yourself, how could the Holocaust ever have happened? It’s so just evil and brutal and that can’t happen in a civilized world. But we’re seeing how it happened because we’re seeing it happening. We’re seeing it on our college campuses. We’re seeing people probably of good conscience on some level, that care about Israel, afraid to speak up, especially in the entertainment industry, because they’re afraid to lose.

Q: The issue for me here is that we have spent the last 60 years cutting ourselves off from the pillars of Western civilization in education. And we have generated three or four generations, we’ve created three or four generations of people who are indoctrinated rather than educated. And I mean, you see this constantly is that you can’t even have debates anymore on college campuses or practically anywhere else, because the people who you’re engaged, trying to engage in debate, can’t debate.

A: I think what we all thought for many years were, well, you know, this is kids. They’re radical. They’re going to have to get a job. They’re going to have to pay taxes. They’re going to grow up and, you know, they’ll see the light of the real world. But that’s not happened. What has happened now is those kids are now running the New York Times. They’re programming the BBC. They are the secretary general of the UN. So they’re in and they’re members of Congress. And they’re being elected members of Congress. So I think that’s the real scary thing is this mindset is now enabling the terrorists.

You know, if it was just Hamas committing this terrible atrocities, it’d be terrible, it’d be horrible. And I think we could get beyond it, but it’s not. When they know they have allies, you know, Hamas, the leader of Hamas said to the general secretary of the UN, thank you for your words of wisdom when he was basically, you know, saying Israel deserved it. So when you have allies in the media, in the UN, in the US House of Representatives, that only encourages the next massacre. And it makes it much harder to stamp out, you know, these, cultures that have this culture of death.

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John has much more to say in the video, including why he titled the song “OK,” so be sure to watch it all. And then send John’s song and video to family, friends, and on your social media accounts as well.