As much as I like Woody Guthrie's music, his tendency to alter the facts irks me. It detracts from my enjoyment of the songs. Looking at all the links, I couldn't find any evidence that any "thugs held the door" or stood outside and "laughed at their spree." It makes you wonder if Pretty Boy Floyd killed that deputy in cold blood. It makes you wonder if the radio announcer really said "they were just deportees." If he wants to invent a character to assasinate, like old Creeko the buffalo skinner, that's just fine. It doesn't pretend to be historical. But I think it's a rotten thing to make a song about a historical event involving real people and to convict them without a trial.

The owners of the copper mines and the strikebreakers they hired were real people, whose descendants have to bear the obloquy of blame for a tragedy they may not have caused. In America, you're innocent until proven guilty, unless you cross paths with Woody Guthrie, or Bob Dylan, or some other popular icon who has no respect for the truth. They complain about politicians, capitalists and police abusing their power, but isn't this lyrical dishonesty in the name of rabble rousing an abuse of power? How can you holler for justice if you're willing to deny justice to people because you've chosen to hate them?