#punk ethic

[ramennotdiets]

DIY is so totally self-care because when I wear/use something that I created/customized with my own hands I just think about the love and care that I put into that thing and how that thing was created by me just for me.

[wisteela]

Screw consumerism and capitalism

[ramennotdiets]

One thing I find sad is the deterioration of punk as a concept. Punk ethic is all about being your authentic self, challenging corporations, challenging institutions, making your own shit, not acknowledging society's standards, if you want to do something? Do it! It doesn't matter if it's "good" or not, it's real, it's raw, it's a testiment to your self-sufficiency and you don't need anyone to validate it. But I grew up at the height of pop-punk, I had no idea. I thought punk was hair gel and leather cuffs, I thought it was middle-class white-boy angst. You could buy t-shirts that said "punk" from Walmart. Punk is buying a bleach stained shirt from a thrift store and scralling "punk" across it in fabric paint, I didn't know that. When something tries to challenge a system it is only a matter of time before it get comodified, it's how you trivialize it, you make it a part of the system it's challenging. When I found out what punk really was, what it meant, that's when I began to appreciate it, it made me more confident, it alleviated the stress of always having to meet a certain criteria. How sad is it that there are people out there who like to draw and they don't draw because they aren't "good"? It's heartbreaking. But people don't know, they think a studded headband and pastel hair is punk and they leave it at that. And no, most people looking at me and my lifestyle wouldn't call me a punk, but I definitely want to take what I've learned about punk ethic and apply it. While I'm not too concerned about "looking" punk, I do want to curb my consumerism, I do want to be more authentically me and I do want to challenge the system at least half as much as I question it.

[fritfilter]

Annoying, maybe. The thing is that I largely don’t really give a fuck what people think about me. What does bother me is that I have to spend time and energy dealing with the ramifications of what people do think about me. Let’s say for instance people say, “He’s a really totalitarian, strict guy, he’s hard to work with or whatever.” I don’t think it’s true, but people’s perception of me leads that direction, like I’m a fundamentalist person. I end up having to spend extra time saying, “I’m not a fundamentalist.” I have other stuff to do. Or for another example, I’ve been a vegan for the past 26 years, not a big fucking deal for me, it’s just a decision I made. If I go to someone’s house for dinner, people get weird about it, but it’s something that I don’t like to broadcast if they don’t know..... Oh, I don’t know. Record labels have enjoyed a 100-year monopoly of selling plastic and now they’re up against a different format. And I have a record label, so I can speak to that. They’re now erecting tollbooths at every corner to try and fight the new format. They’ll probably succeed to some degree, but we live in an age where you can easily circumvent those strategies too. I can’t predict things though because it’s almost impossible and I don’t care to. I don’t really give a fuck about it......Totally another bread and circus, when you think about it. That’s a Roman concept where the government can do anything, as long as you give the people “bread and circuses.” And I’d say this culture right now is similar, as long as people have money, fun, and food, our government can do heinous, heinous things. Even against its own people. The food thing is crazy to me. In this town the beer thing is also crazy to me. Frankly even with Brightest Young Things, it’s such a celebration of [beer and food], all this stuff. I don’t think it’s bad or evil, but there’s something out of bounds. It’s like, “A bar opened!” Who cares? Think about that. Bars are meeting places and places to unwind. But at some point, what is culture unwinding from, and why can’t they meet anywhere else? Why do we celebrate the opening of a bar so much?

Ian MacKaye Interview - BrightestYoungThings - DC