Editing Frank Zappa (section)

==Beliefs and politics==
===Drugs===
Zappa stated, "Drugs do not become a problem until the person who uses the drugs does something to you, or does something that would affect your life that you don't want to have happen to you, like an airline pilot who crashes because he was full of drugs."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.online.no/~corneliu/Part03.html |title=Interview by Bob Marshall, October 22, 1988 – Part 03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130223085837/http://home.online.no/~corneliu/Part03.html |archive-date=February 23, 2013 |access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref> Zappa was a heavy [[Tobacco smoking|tobacco smoker]] for most of his life, and critical of anti-tobacco campaigns.{{refn|group="nb"|He considered such campaigns as [[yuppie]] inventions and noted that "Some people like garlic.&nbsp;... I like pepper, tobacco and coffee. That's my metabolism."<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|234–235}} and once described tobacco as his "favorite vegetable."<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDYzuwG-gOE&t=481 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211027/UDYzuwG-gOE| archive-date=October 27, 2021|work=[[Today (U.S. TV program)|The Today Show]] |time=8:01 |publisher=NBC |title=Jamie Gangel interviews Frank Zappa |date=1993}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}

While he disapproved of drug use, he criticized the [[War on Drugs]], comparing it to [[alcohol prohibition]]; he stated that the [[United States Treasury]] would benefit from the decriminalization and regulation of drugs.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|329}} Describing his philosophical views, Zappa stated, "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|315–316, 323–324, 329–330}}

===Government and religion===
[[File:Praga 7 zappa havel.jpg|left|thumb|Zappa with [[Václav Havel]], 1990]]
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that."<ref>{{YouTube|id=XgJvMwAscO0|''web Interview with Mienfoking Films''}} (4:50)</ref> Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "[[Conservatism in the United States|practical conservative]]."{{Refn|group="nb"|"Politically, I consider myself to be a (don't laugh) 'Practical Conservative'. I want a smaller, less intrusive government, and lower taxes. What? You too?"<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|315}}}} He favored [[limited government]] and low [[Taxation|taxes]]; he also stated that he approved of national defense, [[Social Security (United States)|social security]], and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|315–316, 323–324, 329–330}} He opposed military drafts, saying that military service should be voluntary.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/frank-zappa-you-are-what-you-is-feature/ |title='You Are What You Is': Frank Zappa's Savagely Satirical Pop Masterclass |last=Atkins |first=Jamie |date=September 23, 2022 |publisher=uDiscoverMusic |access-date=September 27, 2022}}</ref> He favored capitalism, [[entrepreneurship]], and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-12-19-fi-721-story.html|date=December 19, 1989|title=Frank Zappa, Capitalist Rocker|author1=Apodaca, Patrice|access-date=October 3, 2016|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> He [[Anti-communism|opposed]] communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw."<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|315–316, 323–324, 329–330}} He had used his album covers to encourage his fans to [[Voter registration|register to vote]], and throughout 1988, he had registration booths at his concerts.<ref name="miles"/>{{rp|348}} He even considered running for president of the United States as an independent.<ref name="miles"/>{{rp|365}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music |edition=illustrated |first1=Jonathan C. |last1=Friedman |publisher=Routledge |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-44729-7 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC16oLUzlSIC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=BC16oLUzlSIC&pg=PA151 Extract of page 151]</ref>

Zappa was an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaylan|first1=Howard|last2=Tamarkin|first2=Jeff|title=Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa, etc.|date=2013|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-1-4803-4293-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQ5OjILuPywC|access-date=October 21, 2014|quote=I was an atheist. Zappa was atheist.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Atheism|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-964465-0|page=722|editor1=Stephen Bullivant|editor2=Michael Ruse |quote=Of numerous atheist rock musicians, Frank Zappa ranks among the most outspoken.}}</ref> He recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. He felt disgust towards [[organized religion]] (Christianity in particular) because he believed that it promoted ignorance and [[anti-intellectualism]]. He held the view that the Garden of Eden story shows that the essence of Christianity is to oppose gaining knowledge.<ref>{{cite interview |first=Frank |last=Zappa |interviewer=[[David Sheff]] |title=Frank Zappa's 1993 Playboy Interview |url=https://www.playboy.com/read/frank-zappa-s-1993-playboy-interview |work=[[Playboy]] |date=May 2, 1993 |access-date=March 14, 2019}}</ref> Some of his songs, concert performances, interviews and public debates in the 1980s criticized and derided Republicans and their policies—President [[Ronald Reagan]], the [[Strategic Defense Initiative|Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)]], [[televangelism]], and the [[Christian Right]]—and warned that the United States government was in danger of becoming a "fascist theocracy."<ref>{{cite AV media |first=Frank |last=Zappa |date=2003 |title=[[Does Humor Belong in Music? (video)|Does Humor Belong in Music?]] |medium=Motion picture (DVD) |publisher=EMI |orig-date=Recorded 1984}}</ref><ref name="CNN TV Debate">{{cite web|date=March 1986|title=Crossfire with Frank Zappa and John Lofton|publisher=CNN [TV Debate]|url=https://archive.org/details/FrankZappaOnCrossfire|access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref>

In early 1990, Zappa visited [[Czechoslovakia]] at the request of [[President of the Czech Republic|President]] [[Václav Havel]]. The meeting had been arranged by keyboardist [[Michael Kocáb]]. A longtime admirer of Zappa's commitment to individualism, Havel designated him as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism."<ref name="Pompilio">{{cite web|last=Pompilio|first=Natalie|title=Frank Zappa: Revolutionary|publisher=Legacy.com|date=December 4, 2013|url=http://www.legacy.com/news/legends-and-legacies/frank-zappa-revolutionary/1726|access-date=November 9, 2014}}</ref> Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa, who had great influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. [[The Plastic People of the Universe]], a [[Czechoslovakia]]n jazz rock group associated with [[Prague underground (culture)|Prague underground culture]], took its name from Zappa's 1967 song "[[Plastic People]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mitchell|first=Tony|title=Mixing Pop and Politics: Rock Music in Czechoslovakia before and after the Velvet Revolution|journal=Popular Music. A Changing Europe|volume=11|issue=2|date=May 1992|pages=187–203|doi=10.1017/s0261143000004992|s2cid=154964927 }}</ref> Under pressure from Secretary of State, [[James Baker]], Zappa's posting (as Czech 'Special Ambassador') was withdrawn.<ref>{{cite book|title=Negotiated Revolutions: The Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile|first1=George|last1=Lawson|publisher=Ashgate|date=2005|isbn=978-0-7546-4327-2|page=103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YrRdTA-B6PcC}}</ref> Havel made Zappa an unofficial [[cultural attaché]] instead.<ref name="miles"/>{{rp|357–361}} Zappa planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.<ref name="Pulse1993">{{cite news|url=https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm|last=Ouellette|first=Dan|title=Frank Zappa|newspaper=[[Pulse! magazine|Pulse!]]|pages=48–56|date=August 1993}}</ref>

===Anti-censorship activism===
Zappa expressed opinions on censorship when he appeared on [[CNN]]'s ''[[Crossfire (U.S. TV program)|Crossfire]]'' TV series and debated issues with ''Washington Times'' commentator [[John Lofton]] in 1986.<ref name="CNN TV Debate"/> On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the [[United States Senate]] Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] or PMRC, a music organization co-founded by [[Tipper Gore]], wife of then-senator [[Al Gore]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s12103-019-09495-3 |last=Deflem |first=Mathieu |date=2020 |url=https://deflem.blogspot.com/2020/03/music-censorship-labeling.html |title=Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labeling |journal=American Journal of Criminal Justice |volume=45 |number=1 |pages=2–24 |s2cid=198196942 |orig-date=July 24, 2019}}</ref> The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content.<ref>{{cite book |last=Day |first=Nancy |date=2001 |title=Censorship: or Freedom of Expression? |page=[https://archive.org/details/censorshiporfree00nanc/page/53 53] |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |isbn=978-0822526285 |url=https://archive.org/details/censorshiporfree00nanc/page/53}}</ref> During Zappa's testimony, he stated that there was a clear conflict of interest between the PMRC due to the relations of its founders to the politicians who were then trying to pass what he referred to as the "Blank Tape Tax." Kandy Stroud, a spokeswoman for the PMRC, announced that Senator Gore (who co-founded the committee) was a co-sponsor of that legislation. Zappa suggested that record labels were trying to get the bill passed quickly through committees, one of which was chaired by Senator [[Strom Thurmond]], who was also affiliated with the PMRC. Zappa further said that this committee was being used as a distraction from that bill being passed, which would lead only to the benefit of a select few in the music industry.<ref name="pmrc-statement">{{cite web |url=https://urbigenous.net/library/zappa.html |title=Frank Zappa: Statement To Congress, September 19, 1985 |date=September 19, 1985 |via=urbigenous.net |access-date=March 14, 2019}}</ref><ref name="cspan">{{cite AV media |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?69484-1/rock-lyrics-record-labeling |title=Rock Lyrics Record Labeling |date=September 19, 1985 |access-date=March 14, 2019 |work=[[C-SPAN]] |time=1:23:00}}</ref>

Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|267}} and called their proposal for voluntary [[Parental Advisory|labelling of records]] with explicit content "extortion" of the music industry.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|262}}

In his prepared statement, he said:

<blockquote>The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, [[First Amendment]] issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating [[dandruff]] by [[decapitation]].&nbsp;... The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a [[Yellow badge|large yellow "J"]] on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?<ref name="pmrc-statement"/><ref name="cspan"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.joesapt.net/superlink/shrg99-529/p51.html|title=Record Labeling. Hearing before the committee on commerce, science and transportation|publisher=U.S. Government printing office|date=September 19, 1985|access-date=December 31, 2007}}</ref></blockquote>

Zappa set excerpts from the PMRC hearings to Synclavier music in his composition "Porn Wars" on the 1985 album ''[[Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention]]'', and the full recording was released in 2010 as ''[[Congress Shall Make No Law...]]'' Zappa is heard interacting with Senators [[Fritz Hollings]], [[Slade Gorton]] and [[Al Gore]].<ref name="lowe194">{{cite book |title=The Words and Music of Frank Zappa |first1=Kelly | last1=Fisher Lowe |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-8032-6005-4 |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAYfqgGf4yYC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=uAYfqgGf4yYC&pg=PA194 Extract of page 194]</ref>