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Watch Your Mouth
To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a study to see the effects profanity has on children. One would naturally assume they'd become serial killers if they heard too many four-lettered words. Surely, just thinking the word "shit" can have a detrimental effect on you. It's hard to even imagine what violent acts you are now going to participate in, having just read that word. Ever wonder why society gets so worked up over these forbidden words? Would our world crumble if we didn't have the FCC there to wash people's mouths out with soap? I'm pretty convinced that almost all school children commonly use profanity, they just know to not use those specific words around adults. So the reality with this is the children are protecting the adults, not the other way around. So why are adults so skittish about using certain forms of expression? If those same adults learn a foreign tongue, one of the first things they will want to know is the language's "forbidden words". But are they really speaking obscenities if the uptight society isn't there to scold them for it? I say to lighten the fuck up--express yourself as you wish. Anyone who has a problem with that, it's their problem, not yours. If you're at a loss for words, just ask a kid. They probably have a better grip on profanity than you do. Is there really a problem with that? Just ask yourself this--how young were you when you started swearing?
November 28, 2002
Traffic as a Microcosm
If you want to size someone up, just ask them to drive you somewhere through rush-hour traffic. Very few activities so blatantly reveal the real nature of our species--second only to watching sports fans react to their team's defeat. We express ourselves through our cars. The poorly endowed men with their big trucks and huge tires. The teenagers, who never got enough attention as children, with their blaring bass-heavy car stereos annoying the shit out of everyone. The women in their gigantic gas-guzzling SUV, yapping on cell phones while their children (who will grow up to have those annoyingly loud car stereos) sit solmenly in the backseat watching the same old Disney movies on the built-in VCR. The passive-aggressive cowards (and there are so many of them) who cop an attitude with everyone only because they know that they will most likely not have to fess up to their actions. The assholes who speed up as soon as you turn on your blinker to enter their lane, for no other reason than they do not want you to get ahead of them. Want to play a fun game? Try this, it always works. Always. The next time you're driving on the highway alongside a male driver, keep pace with them for a while, and then slightly increase your speed. They won't even notice, but instinctually they will pass you. Never fails. It's in the genes--we're pre-programmed to beat each other down. And nothing shows this better than traffic. You'll know when we're actually ready for world peace, it'll be evident in the way people react to one another on the road. To know our species is to watch us behind the wheel. And what a pathetic thing it is.
November 21, 2002
The Liberal Media, or The Fourth Branch of Government?
I challenge you to find more than one liberal news program on network television. After sifting through hours and hours of conservative shows and hosts, you may find one. Possibly two, but even that is unlikely. Of course, conservatives love to point out NPR, but what is one radio program to the countless shows on all the major networks doing the government's handiwork? Is our media truly free? If a corporation does some unsavory things to mankind, and they happen to own the media, do you think their actions would make the news? The media is hardly free, both figuratively and literally. It's a business owned largely by the same corporate giants that financially back the politicians. Liberal? Only as liberal as the government itself.
November 14, 2002
Future of Punk
Punk will be remembered as a vital part of the 20th century history. This is not my opinion, this is reality. Flappers, beatniks, hippies, punks--all with their unique philosophy, style, and colorful histories that make for such great reads. And that is exactly what punk needs more than it needs another shitty band rehashing the same old shit, barking out the same old attitude, reinventing the wheel over and over. The future of punk is in the written word. Books. Compelling stories that have the power to strike a nerve in anyone, from any background. To the general public, punk is noise. It's a style of music, and nothing more. To me, it's much more than that. It's a philosophy and a way of being. It's an experience that needs to be written and read, and understood and cherished by insiders and outsiders. Who from our generation will be the F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, or Jack Kerouac of our times? It's the obvious next step. It's the future of punk culture.
November 7, 2002