Lately a lot my roommate has been playing in the stereo seems to be Dead Kennedys albums. Not any new stuff (has the Dead Kennedys even put out anything new?!) but their old 1984 timey stuff. It’s ok, I’m not a huge DK fan, but listening to it has made me realize something: punk bands have been saying the same shit since the 80’s. The EXACT same shit. The same “conservatives are evil, corporations are BAAAAD, war is not ‘cool’ and they are going to take away your rights” message I’ve heard all my life, but never seems to happen one way or the other.
Why is this interesting? Because we’re in a situation much like the 80’s. There is someone the political opposition calls a “Neo-Con” who is the same ultra conservative type Reagan was. There is a matter we have to face (whether we like it or not) in terrorism you can liken to the Cold War. And there is political hatred between the White House and the press not seen since the Reagan White House. What are punk bands saying about this time that they were in the 80’s? There’s gonna be a draft and we’re all going to die, the current President is polluting the air, between war and environmental destruction we’ll all be dead in ten years, our civil rights are going down the crapper, there is a war on the poor, corporations are ruining everyone’s lives, we support/are in wars for oil… it goes on and on!
So, seeing how the 80’s boosted America’s economy and standard of living up so well, and seeing as in those ten years the Earth hasn’t crapped out and we all aren’t dead from a World War III scenario, why should I believe any of these bands? They were just as honest and up front about their concerns as today, but nothing happened. We’re all ok. Reagan didn’t kill the US, he actually made it better! He was a great President, even though I didn’t like many of the moral matters (like being against homosexuality) but damned if this country isn’t better for his policy.
But, back to the question. If history is any indication, shouldn’t Bush’s Presidency work out well too? Maybe the Reagan-esque things that he’s been trying to achieve (aside from that Gay Marriage Constitutional amendment BS) won’t hurt the country? Maybe?
Of coarse, you wouldn’t know it looking at the punk scene. It’s actually funny to see an individualism movement be so perverted by people who, not only don’t really know what they are talking about, but have been repeating the same “know-nothings” for nearly the past 30 years! Hell, Jello Biafra is still saying the same shit as before!
Probably most ironically of all, the punk movement, who’s one unifying factor seems to be the fact that they need to rebel from their parents’ generation, is falling into the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story that their parents probably once told them about to try and teach them a lesson about life. Since the punks are trying to get away from their parents’ ideals and philosophies, they stumbled right into what their parents tried to teach them so long ago…
That if you keep spouting bullshit, no one is going to listen to you.
This, I now think, is why teens and college students believe in things that the modern punks try and advocate. These people are too young to know that this BS story has been told and failed before! Once they grow up and see nothing happened, they go off into the world, make a living and create more kids who inevitably fall into the bullshit line of punk philosophy. It’s a never ending cycle of stupidity, lead by Jello Barfa, or how ever the fuck you spell his asinine last name. Talk about the blind leading the blind!
Author: =][= Morok
Email: evilcanofjoy@kidsloveguns.com
