What is the impact of hardcore or hardcorepunk again?
Mostly a bunch of party people who copy the same thing
all over again and who made it an achievement to suck up
to each other. Some days we experience some of the best
things about punk, and the worst things about punk: the negative,
self-righteous, dogmatic thinking of most people in it. For years
now we have been dwelling in this strange sub-culture and
it is clear that there are both liberal and conservative wings of it.
In that sense it is a microcosm of society in general. Somehow
we were linked by what we thought was a deeper cause,
some desire to overcome societal pressure. At every level
of society and culture there are teachings that dictate how
people are supposed to behave. And in some way or anothe
that controls people's freedom to express themselves and
live happy lives. You can challenge and confront this and
share new ways to evoke originality from other people.
Life taught me that the way to move about in our society
is to walk that fragile line between understanding the dogma
that the prevailing ideology and showing people that you have
your own ideas too.
Throughout the years our personal social surroundings
have gotten more sophisticated. We get older, we evolve
on most levels and this ensures individuality. And learning
to be an individual was the best gift we got from growing up
in hardcorepunk. We are conscious of stereotypes, and try
not to fit into them. Or maybe we do. We are unpredictable
(or perhaps not) and we are proud of this.
Punk has quickly become mainstream. People buy into it.
You buy your way into it. Why else would entire music labels
market themselves as "punk labels"? Because they are
selling fashion and building a traditional sub-cultural instead
of promoting honesty and creativity and individuality.
This is sad and occurs everywhere. Even on the level of
ideology and political awareness, where the pressure of
fitting the stereotype and matching dogmatic views is even
stronger. You have to be accepted socially, musically,
politically, ideologically. And that leaves no room for the
individual. The scene-stars sitting at the bar are ready to
discriminate people who challenge their learned ideology.
How easy is it to follow the party line and advocate unoriginal,
thoughtless sentiments, which in turn motivates us more
and more to provoke.