| [ |
mood |
| |
 busy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
F.R.I.E.N.D.S on lappie |
] |
Ok I tried doing this on blogger but it just refused to load. So much
for Firefox. xP anyhows, I was just doing some thinking, knowing me,
always thinking too much, and was reading Bad Religion's essay on the
so called Punk Fiasco. So everyone knows I'm seeing a punk, and lately
I've been hanging out with hardcore punk dudes and some people are
questioning me like "Don't you think punks are scary?" or some sort u
know? And when they find me going to gigs and see some of my bruises
cuz sometimes we just get pulled into the moshpit, they ask why I'm
chilling with so called "barbarians". AND some idiots even asked "Are u
a punk rock girl, mar?"
Laugh.
Laugh now.
Ok let me
get this straight to all those who get freaked out by my blue hair, by
the badges given to me by maomao, by my tall intimidating darling with
(now) purple hair and his adorable sense of dressing.
I, am not a
punk. I cannot define the whole true meaning of 'punk' as it is,
because it's a whole subculture and to define it, I'd have to do an
extensive study of which I haven't. and I'm not one of those who stray
around the edges of something and just claim I know every bit of it. So
whatever I say here, comes from the limited knowledge I have on this
interesting subculture that I read up on, and ofcourse, from my own
opinion. So if anyone reading this gets unhappy with whatever that's
been said, feel free to email me here.
So I believe that all of us are smart people, yes?
So I presume all of us know what social norms are, yes?
Well I learnt, that social norms do have
their own power exerted onto society, but this, we cannot feel unless
we rebel. Social norms form the basis of a society, forming regular
patterns in our lives. Most of us carry on with life as it is, with a
desire in us to be socially accepted. At times we get blinded by this desire and conform to every will and fancy of society and become almost robotish.
OK putting that in nicer words, we've somehow learnt to stop asking
questions and go through life, acting out our specific parts that
society has incurred upon us. Now, an ideology in this 'punk'
subculture is to do the opposite. No, I'm not saying they go all out
against society to destroy the whole system government, the idea that
they have is to question more on the reasons to why society wants us to
be and act in a certain way, and in this way, they create a certain
kind of individuality.
Does that sound familiar to u and me?
If
it does, u can call yourself a punk too, because punk doesn't only
consist of those with studded leather jackets and crazy hairdos. The
whole punk ideology comes from within, meaning, even I could be a punk,
if I think and act as an individual and not conform to what everyone else wants me to be.
What
punks desire on the other hand, is to beseech the world to question
social norms, to provide reasons as to why the rest of us are relenting
to the wants of people who don't even matter. And
since blogging in Singapore has been put on a leash, I can't really
mention specific examples that include our Big Brother, if you know
what I mean. (if you don't kindly email me or add me up on MSN
and we shall talk.) Ok anyhows, we all know that sg has got one media,
so now how, how would anyone even try to go against this monopoly?
Hence, there is a sort of alternative communication network (and in the
words of Anti-flag: underground network)
that has been created to spread the word on political issues, on social
repression, on individuality and this, is done mostly through songs (e.g. Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, Propaghandi, Thought Riot) and also through underground newsletters or what they call zines and also ofcourse through the internet as well.
Now you ask, what's with the outrageous wear????
=) well I have a few opinions on this. Bringing this all down to a more
personal level, all of us know now that I have a punk boyfriend, and
many of you who have seen him lately might think "what's so punk about
him?" cos Mao seldom adorn his leather jacket and such and here's one
of my opinion. Being a punk doesn't mean you're forced to wear such things.
The leather jackets and funny patches on pants DO have meaning to it
but that I shall try to explain later. Here what I'm trying to say is
that, a girl who's being forced to go to church by her parents every
Sunday and does so with Lime Green Mohawk and a "There is NO GOD" shirt
(no racism intended here. This is for the sake of an example) is as
punk as a professor who has conflicting views with the rest of his
colleagues and sticks by his own opinion. As I've said before, being
punk isn't being barbaric or rebellious, it just means having your own
opinion, breaking away from social oppression. So yes, once again, I
repeat: both you and I are punks in our own way, if we stick by our
beliefs and our principles.
[I would like to thank Greg from Bad Religion at this point for his splendid ideas.]
Anyway,
back to the subject of clothes and spikes. Many times I've asked the
people I meet, ok the punks I meet, about their hair. Their clothes,
everything. And generally even I have mixed views on this but let's
just try to be objective here. Alright, several answers that's been
given and some I absolutely hate because they're just being plain
stupid like, oh "cos it's cool." (laugh now.) but really what I learned
is that the purpose of all their outrageous clothing is such that. To
outrage people. Ok that was being a teeny bit harsh but it's part of a
process called "Shock Culture". Recall what I said earlier about
beseeching the society about their norms and such, and through their
own sense of fashion, they wake the society up, and show them that
being normal isn't always being smart. And why patches, and such? Well
this whole punk subculture is to suit everyone, from the oldest richest
man to a young kid from a broken home. so yes this whole diy concept is
so that anyone and everyone can afford it. If you think it's stupid,
try being the only kid in class without a father, with hardly any money
for yourself, trying to compete with jocks wearing Ralph Lauren shirts
and Armani jeans, and further more, getting ostracized
cos you can't afford to go to that party or catch the latest talkies on
show. Further more, having things made by your own hands gives enables
you to create something of which is truly yours, hence again, directing
again the whole idea of individuality.
I, for one, am very much against violence.
I hate fights, let alone wars. And if I haven't mentioned before, punks
aren't violent people. We learn from cartoons and from media and books
that there are so many different kinds of "fights". Ok so let's take
this into consideration: If I decide to murder someone, out of sheer
anger for stealing my shoe, for example, what would that make me? A murderer.
But
if I decide to join the army, fly over to Iraq and kill innocent
civilians I've been ordered to kill, just so some supreme authoritative
body can take over a country for their own personal gain, what am I? A hero.
The
lines that exist between social norms, aren't clear cut. And here, let
me try to explain the common misconceptions people get about punks
being so called "violent" and "barbaric". If a bunch of punks start
beating up an innocent bystander, for being too "normal" then yes, I
would think that's definitely wrong and foolish.
But think about this, when you're the only one in school, without that
crisp new pair of pants and that splendid ironed shirt, and you get
beaten up for being "out of klass" then here's where I figure a fight,
if any other methods proves to be a failure, is necessary. This is the
kind of fight to show these so called superiors that knowledge isn't
the display of expensive clothes, or limited edition shoes, to show
that everyone deserves a place in this world. But ofcourse, I'm not
encouraging anyone to fight "for their right" here, you've really got
to think it through. Fights aren't always worth it. (especially for me,
I hate violence.)
And then there's the idea of "anarchy". Now,
this, I'm not too sure about because I haven't done a whole reading-up
on. But anarchy consist of a society without government, run by the own
free will of the people. Or what some may call "freedom". But what most
people tend to forget is that, this freedom that they seek comes with discipline.
Moral ethics are still important in the idea of anarchy. Anarchy does
not give you the right to kill someone and walk away scott free. What
"anarchy" actually focuses upon is putting the need of the people
before anything else, hence the absence of the government.
Adorning
thousands of badges, and those "punk-wear" or so you call it, doesn't
make you a punk. Unless you wear these with the proper purpose and
understanding of the whole sub-culture, you're just a fashion-victim,
mindless in every way. The same idea goes to those who think drinking
and smoking will earn you higher social points cos it's oh so cool,
well you're wrong. (wth, I'm a smoker. O_o hehe) Just as those who
think the more girls you score with shows just how popular you are,
well you're wrong. And those of you who do wear your studded jackets
and look down on those who don't, but still claim yourself to be a
punk, please refresh your whole knowledge on this subculture. Being a
punk includes the idea of being open-minded,
towards the differences in people. Being open minded does not mean you
have to agree to opposing ideas, it just means accepting and
acknowledging the different types of mindsets that exist around you,
learning from reputable and righteous ones as well as questioning them
for your own benefit.
I've tried my very best to summarize and
put together the whole idea of punk to make it easy for the majority to
understand, and I hope you people do. I think all of us could do with a
little less discriminating. I believe that we should all read up on
what we do not know about rather than create misconceptions that lead
to judgmental views on people. We have enough wars in the world
already. We do not need one amongst ourselves. We're all people. We
exist together, so why can't we do it peacefully?
=)
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kyokult's journal